Stormwater is the leading contributor to water quality pollution of urban waterways. The EPA stormwater regulations establish two phases for the stormwater permit program. Stormwater discharges from industries and construction sites are regulated under separate general permits that were issued by Ecology in November 1995. The municipal stormwater permits require the implementation of a Stormwater Management Program. The Stormwater Management Program is a plan for the term of the permit to reduce the discharge of pollutants, reduce impacts to receiving waters, eliminate illicit discharges, and make progress towards compliance with surface water, ground water and sediment standards.
Ecology is in the process of reissuing the municipal stormwater permits.
Our proposal is to issue a single statewide general permit for Phase I municipal stormwater permit holders in the summer of 2000. The Phase II regulations expand the requirement for stormwater permits to all municipalities located in urbanized areas, and to construction sites between one and five acres. The rule also requires an evaluation of cities outside of urbanized areas that are more than 10,000 in population to determine if a permit is necessary for some or all of these cities. Under the new rule up to 90 additional municipalities in Washington may need municipal stormwater permits. The expansion of the construction site permit is likely to affect thousands of sites.