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Water: Construction

Construction and Development

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Status of Rulemaking to Revise Numeric Turbidity Limit

The EPA issued a numeric limit for turbidity in the 2009 final effluent guideline rule for the Construction and Development Point Source Category which established national monitoring requirements and enforceable numeric limitations on stormwater discharges from construction sites. Subsequently the EPA withdrew the limit to correct a calculation error that was identified in petitions filed by the Small Business Administration and the National Association of Home Builders. The EPA submitted a proposed rule to revise the turbidity limit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in December 2010. The EPA has recently withdrawn this proposal from OMB. In order to ensure that we adequately characterize the best performance achievable by the technology, EPA has decided to seek additional treatment performance data from construction and development sites before proposing a revised numeric turbidity limit. We plan to publish a Federal Register notice soliciting data in the near future.

Once review of a proposed rule revising the numeric turbidity limit is completed by OMB, the EPA will publish the proposed rule for public comment.

Federal Register Notice Requesting Additional Data

EPA published a Federal Register notice on January 3, 2012 requesting additional data on the performance of technologies in controlling turbidity in stormwater discharges from construction sites. The notice also requests information on other topics relevant to establishing numeric effluent limitations for stormwater discharges from these sites, including sample collection, applicability to electric transmission line construction, cold weather considerations, and the ability of small sites to meet a numeric standard. EPA will be accepting comments for 60 days after publication of this notice. EPA will use data and information submitted by the public in consideration of a future rulemaking for this category of dischargers.

Federal Register Notice | Print Version (PDF) (12 pp, 200K)

Stay and Correction of the Numeric Limit

Effective January 4, 2011, EPA has stayed the numeric limitation of 280 NTU that was published in the December 1, 2009, Construction and Development Effluent Limitation Guideline. EPA will propose a revised limit in a future rulemaking.

Final Effluent Guidelines

Construction Scene

On December 1, 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs) and new source performance standards (NSPS) to control the discharge of pollutants from construction sites.

The regulation is effective on February 1, 2010. After this date, all permits issued by EPA or states must incorporate the final rule requirements. All construction sites required to obtain permit coverage must implement a range of erosion and sediment controls and pollution prevention measures. Beginning on August 1, 2011 all sites that disturb 20 or more acres of land at one time are required to comply with the turbidity limitation. On February 2, 2014 the limitation applies to all construction sites disturbing 10 or more acres of land at one time. These sites must sample stormwater discharges and comply with a numeric limitation for turbidity. The limitation is 280 NTU (nephelometric turbidity units).

The December 1, Federal Register notice for the final rule contains incorrect compliance dates for the turbidity limitation for sites disturbing 20 or more acres at one time. This error appears on page 63050 of the preamble to the final rule as well as in the rule text at 450.22(a) on page 63058. Both the preamble and the rule incorrectly state this date as August 2, 2010. The correct date is August 1, 2011. A correction notice to address this error was published on March 8, 2010.

Support Documents

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

Proposed Effluent Guidelines

Support Documents

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Status Reports to Court

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Additional Information

For additional information regarding construction and development industry effluent guidelines, please see construction and development contacts.

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Background

EPA issued a proposed C&D rule in 2002 and withdrew the proposal in 2004. Documents on these actions are provided for reference purposes only.

C&D Regulations.gov docket

Final Action—Notice of Withdrawal

2002 Proposed Rule

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