Sec 2-2 definitions and acronyms Flashcards
Arid Areas
means areas with an average annual rainfall of 0 to 10 inches.
“Best Management Practices” (BMPs)
means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance
procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce the discharge of pollutants to waters of the
United States. BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practice to control plant site
runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material storage.
Commencement of Construction Activities
means the initial disturbance of soils associated with clearing,
grading, or excavating activities or other construction-related activities (e.g., stockpiling of fill material).
Control Measure
as used in this permit, refers to any BMP or other method used to prevent or reduce the
discharge of pollutants to waters of the United States.
“CWA”
means the Clean Water Act or the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. section 1251 et seq.
Discharge
when used without qualification means the “discharge of a pollutant.”
Discharge of Storm Water Associated with Construction Activity
as used in this permit, refers to a discharge of
pollutants in storm water from areas where soil disturbing activities (e.g., clearing, grading, or excavation), construction materials or equipment storage or maintenance (e.g., fill piles, borrow area, concrete truck washout, fueling), or other industrial storm water directly related to the construction process (e.g., concrete or asphalt batch plants) are located
Eligible
means qualified for authorization to discharge storm water under this general permit.
“Facility” or “Activity”
means any “point source” or any other facility or activity (including land or appurtenances
thereto) that is subject to regulation under the NPDES program.
Federal Facility
means any buildings, installations, structures, land, public works, equipment, aircraft, vessels,
and other vehicles and property, owned by, or constructed or manufactured for the purpose of leasing to, the
Federal government.
Final Stabilization
- All soil disturbing activities at the site have been completed and either of the two following criteria are met:
a. a uniform (e.g,, evenly distributed, without large bare areas) perennial vegetative cover with a density of 70 percent of the native background vegetative cover for the area has been established on all unpaved areas and areas not covered by permanent structures, or
b. equivalent permanent stabilization measures (such as the use of riprap, gabions, or geotextiles) have been employed.
2. When background native vegetation will cover less than 100 percent of the ground (e.g., arid areas,
beaches), the 70 percent coverage criteria is adjusted as follows: if the native vegetation covers 50 percent of the ground, 70 percent of 50 percent (0.70 X 0.50 = 0.35) would require 35 percent total cover for final stabilization. On a beach with no natural vegetation, no stabilization is required.
3. In arid and semi-arid areas only, all soil disturbing activities at the site have been completed and both of
the following criteria have been met:
a. Temporary erosion control measures (e.g., degradable rolled erosion control product) are selected,
designed, and installed along with an appropriate seed base to provide erosion control for at least three years without active maintenance by you,
b. The temporary erosion control measures are selected, designed, and installed to achieve 70 percent
vegetative coverage within three years.
4. For individual lots in residential construction, final stabilization means that either:
a. The homebuilder has completed final stabilization as specified above, or
b. The homebuilder has established temporary stabilization including perimeter controls for an individual
lot prior to occupation of the home by the homeowner and informing the homeowner of the need for, and benefits of, final stabilization.
5. For construction projects on land used for agricultural purposes (e.g., pipelines across crop or range land,
staging areas for highway construction, etc.), final stabilization may be accomplished by returning the
disturbed land to its pre-construction agricultural use. Areas disturbed that were not previously used for agricultural activities, such as buffer strips immediately adjacent to “water of the United States,” and areas which are not being returned to their pre-construction agricultural use must meet the final
stabilization criteria (1) or (2) or (3) above.
“Indian country” is defined at 40 CFR §122.2 to mean:
- All land within the limits of any Indian reservation under the jurisdiction of the United States Government,
notwithstanding the issuance of any patent, and, including rights-of-way running through the reservation; - All dependent Indian communities with the borders of the United States whether within the originally or
subsequently acquired territory thereof, and whether within or without the limits of a state; and
- All Indian allotments, the Indian titles to which have not been extinguished, including rights-of-ways
running through the same.
Large Construction Activity
” is defined at 40 CFR §122.26(b)(14)(x) and incorporated here by reference. A large
construction activity includes clearing, grading, and excavating resulting in a land disturbance that will disturb equal to or greater than five acres of land or will disturb less than five acres of total land area but is part of a larger common plan of development or sale that will ultimately disturb equal to or greater than five acres. Large
construction activity does not include routine maintenance that is performed to maintain the original line and
grade, hydraulic capacity, or original purpose of the site.
Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System” or “MS4”
is defined at 40 CFR §122.26(b)(8) to mean a conveyance or
system of conveyances (including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters,
ditches, manmade channels, or storm drains):
- Owned and operated by a state, city, town, borough, county, parish, district, association, or other public
body (created by or pursuant to State law) having jurisdiction over disposal of sewage, industrial wastes, storm water, or other wastes, including special districts under State law such as a sewer district, flood control district or drainage district, or similar entity, or an Indian tribe or an authorized Indian tribal organization, or a designated and approved management agency under section 208 of the CWA that discharges to waters of the United States; - Designed or used for collecting or conveying storm water;
- Which is not a combined sewer; and
- Which is not part of a Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) as defined at 40 CFR §122.2.
New Project
means the “commencement of construction activities” occurs after the effective date of this permit.
Ongoing Project
means the “commencement of construction activities” occurs before the effective date of this
permit.
Operator
for the purpose of this permit and in the context of storm water associated with construction activity,
means any party associated with a construction project that meets either of the following two criteria:
- The party has operational control over construction plans and specifications, including the ability to make
modifications to those plans and specifications; or
- The party has day-to-day operational control of those activities at a project which are necessary to ensure
compliance with a SWPPP for the site or other permit conditions (e.g., they are authorized to direct workers at a site to carry out activities required by the SWPPP or comply with other permit conditions).
This definition is provided to inform permittees of EPA’s interpretation of how the regulatory definitions of
“owner or operator” and “facility or activity” are applied to discharges of storm water associated with construction activity.
Owner or operator
means the owner or operator of any “facility or activity” subject to regulation under the
NPDES program.
Permitting Authority
means the United States Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, a Regional Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency or an authorized representative.
Point Source
means any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to, any pipe,
ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock concentrated animal feeding operation, landfill leachate collection system, vessel or other floating craft from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include return flows from irrigated agriculture or agricultural storm water runoff.
Pollutant
” is defined at 40 CFR §122.2. A partial listing from this definition includes: dredged spoil, solid waste,
sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, chemical wastes, biological materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, and industrial or municipal waste.
“Project Area” means:
- The areas on the construction site where storm water discharges originate and flow toward the point of
discharge into the receiving waters (including areas where excavation, site development, or other ground disturbance activities occur) and the immediate vicinity. (Example: 1. Where bald eagles nest in a tree that is on or bordering a construction site and could be disturbed by the construction activity or where
grading causes storm water to flow into a small wetland or other habitat that is on the site that contains
listed species.) - The areas where storm water discharges flow from the construction site to the point of discharge into
receiving waters. (Example: Where storm water flows into a ditch, swale, or gully that leads to receiving waters and where listed species (such as amphibians) are found in the ditch, swale, or gully.) - The areas where storm water from construction activities discharge into receiving waters and the areas in
the immediate vicinity of the point of discharge. (Example: Where storm water from construction activities discharges into a stream segment that is known to harbor listed aquatic species.) - The areas where storm water BMPs will be constructed and operated, including any areas where storm
water flows to and from BMPs. (Example: Where a storm water retention pond would be built.) - The areas upstream and /or downstream from construction activities discharges into a stream segment
that may be affected by the said discharges. (Example: Where sediment discharged to a receiving stream settles downstream and impacts a breeding area of a listed aquatic species.)
Receiving water
means the “Water of the United States” as defined in 40 CFR §122.2 into which the regulated
storm water discharges.
Runoff coefficient
means the fraction of total rainfall that will appear at the conveyance as runoff.
