Agencies requiring GIPs include the Port of Long Beach, transportation facilities and city yards. Construction site permits are issued on a temporary basis for construction or redevelopment projects of five acres or more. These permits must identify Best Management Practices for both construction and post-construction runoff, incorporate them into the development, and implement them after construction is finished. An example of a Best Management Practice is leaving as much area as possible unpaved, which reduces urban runoff by allowing the soil to absorb water. Municipal storm water permits regulate cities, counties and other municipal agency such as Cal-Trans.
Municipal permits are complex.
Some of their components include Best Management Practices, identification of illicit connections and discharges to the sewer and storm drain systems, public education, monitoring requirements, and enforcement and reporting programs. Heal the Bay helped achieve a great victory in July 1996 when a comprehensive, municipal storm water permit was approved by the Regional Board for Los Angeles County and all cities within it. Heal the Bay helped negotiate the terms of the permit and developed public and business support for it. All permits issued by the Regional Board last five years. Renewal is always a public process that includes hearings and opportunities for testimony from individuals and groups such as Heal the Bay.