2014 Final Rule – EPA Revises Construction and Development Effluent Guidelines

Mar 26, 2014

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized changes to a 2009 Final Rule (40 CFR 450) addressing stormwater discharges from the Construction and Development (C&D) point source category on March 6, 2014.

In this 2014 rule, the EPA will no longer impose numeric limitations and sampling requirements for permits to discharge stormwater from construction and real estate development sites. In August 2010, the numerical limits were stayed by the EPA until they could be further evaluated. This documents a decision by EPA to drop the concept of a numerical limit.

The change provides relief to the real estate development community. Although most states hold the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting authority and require non-numeric requirements for Best Management Practices (BMPs), federal law will not create additional numeric requirements.

To learn more about this published update to the C&D Rule, please visit:

http://water.epa.gov/scitech/wastetech/guide/construction/index.cfm