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By Damien Breen, Regulatory Consultant Environmental Communication Strategies
THE WAYS CONTRACTORS GET IN TROUBLE WITH STORM WATER CONTROL AGENCIES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM! Rainy season is coming, don’t let it turn your job site into a regulatory swamp.
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s we head towards the winter months in California, construction companies will increasingly have to deal with rain, storm water and those who regulate it. However, by knowing who the water control agencies are, how to contact them, their rules, and what they look for, you can keep runoff managed and be focused on the work at hand. Like the air district’s we discussed in the summer magazine, California has nine Regional Water Quality Control Boards (Boards) each with its own set of rules. Those rules govern construction stormwater discharges, stockpile storage, litter and track out prevention, for sites of 1 or more acres. If you work on smaller sites you might think you should stop reading now but that would be a mistake. There are also municipal post construction stormwater standards for much smaller sites you may still need to comply with. I’ll get into the specifics below. There is a sizable amount of red tape here but also some good news. When I talked to the Boards, their answers regarding potential problems for the construction industry were almost identical. I received responses from 6 of the 9 Boards, covering most of the State and including feedback from Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and San Diego. I asked each agency what rules were most applicable to contractors, and which infractions were contractors most cited for. They responded as follows: 28
W W W.U N I T E D C O N T R AC T O R S . O R G
RULE: (NPDES) GENERAL PERMIT FOR STORMWATER DISCHARGES ASSOCIATED WITH CONSTRUCTION AND LAND DISTURBANCE ACTIVITIES Most Common Violations: Housekeeping • Concrete waste stockpiles managed incorrectly. • Stucco debris (wet and dry) stored directly on the ground. • Site trash and debris not properly contained.
Site Controls • Perimeter silt fences and fiber rolls not properly installed. • Grading occurring without complying with best management practices (BMP). • Stormwater infrastructure (e.g., drop inlets, flowlines of curb and gutter conveyances, etc.) not properly protected. • Improperly installed or poorly maintained site entrances resulting in track-out of sediment on to roadways. • Lack of erosion controls for active, inactive, interior, and exterior project slopes and stockpiles.
Record Keeping • Failure to keep storm water pollution prevention plans (SWPPP) on site, including maps, lists of contractors, sub-contractors, and individuals involved in implementation. • Failure to keep SWPPP up to date. Does not reflect current site conditions and anticipated completion date.