Transcript Building Green in Bowling Green What to Expect in Future Construction Site Stormwater Management Requirements Barry Tonning Tetra Tech.

Building Green in Bowling Green
What to Expect in Future Construction Site
Stormwater Management Requirements
Barry Tonning
Tetra Tech
US EPA Post-Construction Rule
• Environmental groups sued in 2010 to
force performance standards for postconstruction runoff (Chesapeake Bay suit)
• US EPA confirmed March 19 it is deferring
action on new post-construction rules
– Too difficult to develop national standards
– Electing to provide tech assistance, incentives
– Promoting green infrastructure
US EPA Post-Construction Rule
• HOWEVER: new construction still subject
to antidegradation reviews
– Must demonstrate that project won’t lower
water quality below standards
– Must justify lowering water quality via
technological, social, economic criteria
• No new requirements for existing
development – but retrofits still attractive
US EPA Construction Phase Rule
• 2009 Construction & Development rule
– Mandated required site BMPs
– Sediment basins for > 10 acres
– Set a 280 NTU turbidity limit for > 30 acres
• Lawsuits filed by homebuilders, others
– US EPA agreed to delay the turbidity limit
– Left open the door to future limit
US EPA Construction Phase Rule
• New C&D rule from US EPA
on 3/6/14
• Reaffirms mandatory 50 ft
stream buffer
– Allows BMPs to reduce its size
– Defines when it’s “infeasible”
to do so
• Some changes in BMP
provisions
• Removes the numeric
turbidity limit
Kentucky buffer zone requirements
• 25 ft undisturbed buffer between disturbed
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areas and bankfull elevation of high quality
waters / impaired waters
50 buffer required between sediment-impaired
waters with no TMDL and disturbed areas
Dredge/fill areas,
stream crossings,
or other deviations
require “adequately
protective” alternate
practices, explained
in SWPPP
US EPA Buffer Requirements
• Surface waters include
intermittent/perennial streams,
rivers, lakes, wetlands, coastal
waters
• If you have surface waters on or
adjacent to your site, you must
have a 50 ft vegetated buffer
• If your site work requires
disturbance within the buffer,
you have to use erosion and
sediment controls that provide
equivalent protection
Buffers near streams, rivers, lakes, etc.
• If practicable, leave
undisturbed naturally
vegetated buffer of 50 ft
• Use equivalent measures if
buffer width is not adequate
• If work is necessary in buffer
areas, must stabilize
immediately when work stops
for 7 days
US EPA Construction Phase Rule
• US EPA mandated BMPs for sites:
– Buffers next to surface water bodies
– Direct stormwater to vegetated areas
– Preserve topsoil
– Stabilize soil
– Use basin outlets that draw from top of water
US EPA Construction Phase Rule
• Control stormwater volume and velocity
• Control peak flow and volume to minimize
channel & stream erosion
• Maintain natural buffers by waterways
• Minimize soil compaction
• Preserve topsoil where feasible
US EPA Construction Phase Rule
• Stabilize soil immediately when grading on
a “portion” of the site ceases permanently
• Stabilize immediately portions of the site
where activity has ceased for 14 days
• Minimize exposure of materials, products,
waste, trash, fertilizers, pesticides,
herbicides, detergents, etc
What does this mean to you?
• No stormwater sampling requirement
– Some states do have them, though!
– Not Kentucky (at least not yet)
• Trend toward enforcing “conventional”
BMPs will continue
What to expect with TMDLs
• Some streams are “impaired” due to high
sediment / muddy water
• If a TMDL cleanup plan is developed, you
might have stricter requirements:
– Shorter inspection intervals
– Stricter buffer requirements
– Quicker revegetation / stabilization
Inspections
and Audits:
Identifying
What’s Important
to the Regulators
What inspectors usually do:
• Walk the perimeter of the entire site
• Note downgradient controls
– Inspect silt fences, culvert/ditch outlets
– Significant sediment discharges?
• Walk around internal disturbed areas
– Idle for more than 14 days . . . stabilized?
• Inspect all inlets and ditches
– Inlets protected, ditches stabilized?
• Check out material/fuel storage areas
– Spills? Leaks? Leaching pollutants?
• Inspect concrete washout(s), site exit
What they’re mostly looking for:
• Posted permits, plans, info,
and inspection reports
• Graded areas stabilized
with seed, mulch, blankets,
mats, etc.
• Stabilized ditches
• Maintenance on silt fences
and curb/drop inlets
• No mud on the street
• Trash and litter managed
A Tale of Three Cities
Construction site audit
inspection results
City Number
One
From the
Louisville
MSD US EPA
Region 4
Stormwater
Program
Audit Report
US EPA report on MS4 inspectors’ work
• The MSD Site Inspector:
– “did not inspect each stormwater area inlet”
– “did not walk near enough to the silt fence to
ensure it was adequately maintained”
– “did not walk the perimeter of the large area
of the site that had disturbed soil”
– “did not inspect the area where the
aboveground fuel tank was located”
– “did not collect photographs to document his
observations”
US EPA notes from another site:
• “Concerned that (the inspector) spends an
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inordinate amount of time issuing (Field
Correction Notices) for non-compliance and then
conducting follow-up inspections to verify the
FCN identified items were corrected.”
“During the follow up inspection, he often writes
a new FCN for another non-compliance issue on
the same site. As described above, the FCNs
allow two days to make the correction.”
US EPA observations on compliance:
• “Apparently since the FCN’s do not include
any penalty, the individual lot owners and
developers allow the same non-compliant
activities to continue. When it appears
that the MSD may escalate enforcement to
the issuance of an NOV, then the owners
and developers will take corrective action
to address the non-compliance issue.”
US EPA auditor on contractor footdragging and slow pace of enforcement:
• During the inspection, a lot owner was observed
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excavating soil for a basement. No BMPs were
implemented to keep the soil on the site. Because
sediment had not moved off the site, (the inspector)
could only collect the information and at the end of the
day issue a FCN. The FCN would allow the
owner/construction contractor two days to install BMPs.
In this situation, EPA auditor “is concerned that the
basement excavation will be completed and the
contractor will leave the site before the required deadline
of implementing BMPs”
EPA auditor “is concerned that a stop work order can
only be issued after sediment has moved off the site”
Major construction oversight
program recommendation:
• “MSD should develop a Standard
Operating Procedure of inspection protocol
to include details such as how to conduct
an inspection and what items to inspect”
City Number
Two
Audit Inspection Report
• 18 sites in XXXX County inspected
• Conducted like a US EPA inspection
• Basic conclusions:
– Site compliance levels range widely
– City inspectors are finding and taking action
on most permit violations
– However: it is taking a lot of diligence and
pestering by the inspectors to get compliance
– What is missing is a culture of compliance
Common SWPPP/ESC Plan Deficiencies
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Streams and sinkholes not identified/labeled
Site address on plan documents not correct
Name/phone of site contact person not listed
Location of soil stockpiles not shown on map
Construction & stabilization schedule omitted
No notes to stabilize ditches immediately
Inadequate design of sediment traps
– pipe is at the bottom of the trap (no detention)
– trap bypassed when streets, curbs installed
Common Deficiencies Found in the Field
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Permits and contact names/numbers not posted
SWPPP not available for review
Self-inspection reports not available for review
Slopes at temporary or final grade not stabilized
Poor or no silt fence maintenance
Lack of ditch stabilization (seed, mulch, blanket)
No controls for trash, litter, construction debris
Poor maintenance or bypassing of storm drain
inlet protection
The Good
The Not-SoGood . . .
Inspection
forms:
incomplete,
unsigned,
unavailable
City Number
Three
Problems identified by audit inspections
• Minimizing the active construction area
• Building, stabilizing, and preserving the
drainage system (ditches, traps, ponds)
• Consistency between what’s in the SWPPP
and what BMPs are installed in the field
• Maintaining silt fences & other controls
Problems identified by audit inspections
• Good housekeeping &
pollution prevention
• Homebuilder lot BMP
compliance
• Open burning on
construction sites
• Slope stabilization
(seed, mulch, mats)