Amendments issued following a March 2014 judicial settlement addressing EPA’s construction and demolition (C&D) rule have been included in the Agency’s draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit for stormwater discharges from construction activities (CGP). General permits under the Clean Water Act (CWA) are typically issued for 5 years; the current CGP is set to expire February 16, 2017.
 |
The CGP is available to site operators disturbing 1 or more acres of land or less than 1 acre that is part of a larger common plan of development or sale if the larger common plan will ultimately disturb 1 acre or more.
Two types of activities subject the operators to permitting: (1) construction of buildings and (2) heavy and civil engineering construction. Operators in these categories may also obtain individual NPDES permits. But the EPA notes that, nationwide, less than 0.5 percent of CWA construction permits are individual permits.