Idaho Comments on 11/12/09 Conference call 1 

Idaho comments regarding NPDES reporting requirements. 

Resulting from NPDES Conference Call discussions on 11/12/09 

9.1 Annual Report. 

Will applicators that do not meet minimum thresholds limits be expected to keep and possibly 

submit the information required in the annual report. How will they be notified? 

Identification information: 

Perhaps the titles are defined elsewhere, but most of the information in the Annual Report is 

designed to identify the permittee. The fourth line requests information for the contact person. 

Why are these not the same? Are there different roles in the process for the permittee and the 

contact person? There are differences in contact information for the two different individuals, 

such as phone number and address. 

For the calendar year: 

The two bullets under this part were probably designed to provide information that can be cross 

referenced, but that is not how it will be recorded. Jurisdictions, quantities and pests will 

probably be listed as lump sums. For example, an applicator might list the jurisdictions as Ada 

County, Canyon County and Gem County; quantity directly to water as 25 pounds of 

cypermethrin and 200 gallons of malathion; quantity applied over or near waters as 5,432 gallons 

of malathion, 282 gallons of naled; and pests targeted a mosquitoes. 

Then for description of locations: streams, lakes, ponds and rivers in the listed counties. 

If you want to be able to verify that a product was used according to the label, you will need to 

require an EPA Reg. No., so that you know which specific label to reference. Most active 

ingredients are in multiple products and the labels can have very different use directions on them. 

If the intent is to receive general information, the EPA Reg. No. is not necessary. 

If you are expecting each application to have details, you will need to specify what information 

is required (such as Longitude and Latitude of locations). If you want specific information for 

each application, then you must state what information to provide for each site. Also, bear in 

mind that many irrigation districts and mosquito abatement districts make multiple applications 

to the exact same location. Many mosquito abatement districts also operate by complaint. When 

their customers start calling and complaining about the mosquitoes, the district comes out the 

next day and treats the area. There is a lot of this type of routine spraying done in Idaho and 

applications after flooding or heavy rains are rare. 

If you expect a record for each application, you will have to plan for over 500,000 records per 

year per region (storage may be a problem, especially if records involve multiple pages). You 

will also need to be prepared to make copies of these records for the public records requests. 

When the 6th district first ruled that the NPDES permits would be required, there were over 40 

notices of lawsuits filed in California in a very short time. Additionally, those records will need 

to be entered into databases and programming written to make the data usable. 
Idaho Comments on 11/12/09 Conference call 2 

The following is an excerpt from the PowerPoint presentation you sent us before the first 

conference call: 

OPP estimates that approximately 5.6 million such applications annually are performed by 

365,000 applicators for these types of pesticide uses. 

500 different pesticide active ingredients are contained in approximately 3,700 product 

labels. 

9.2 Adverse Incident Reporting 

This seems like a very subjective requirement. Who decides when the incident becomes 

adverse? 

Will individuals that do not exceed minimum requirements to submit an NOI be expected to 

report adverse incidents? How will they be notified of what is expected of them? 

Applicators will not voluntarily submit these forms. Submitting this form will probably 

guarantee that an applicator or permittee will be sued. Even though the purpose of this form is to 

help refine the NPDES permit process, it will be an open invitation to litigation by admitting to 

violations of the Clean Water Act. Unless these forms are protected from release to the public, 

compliance will probably be low. Additionally, the applicator may claim that he did not file the 

form, because he did not believe the incident was adverse enough. 

What role will state investigation reports play in this notification? One of the requirements in 

this section is to notify the State Lead Agency for pesticide investigations, once the permittee is 

notified or becomes aware of an adverse incident. Most state departments of agriculture 

primarily document whether a pesticide was used according to the label. A determination that an 

incident had adverse effects is not typically a part of the investigation and should not be expected 

to be a part of their investigation narrative. Additionally, label violations can occur, without an 

adverse incident taking place, such as failing to wear required protective equipment or having the 

proper pesticide license category. SLAs would not typically check for an NPDES permit for the 

application, unless the label requires it. 

Contact information for Questions on these comments: 

George Robinson, Bureau Chief 

Idaho State Dept of Agriculture 

(208) 332-8593 

George.Robinson@agri.idaho.gov