National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES): Applications and Program Updates

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes revisions to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System regulations to eliminate regulatory and application form inconsistencies; improve permit documentation, transparency and oversight; clarify existing regulations; and remove outdated provisions. This proposal would make specific targeted changes to the existing regulations and would not reopen the regulations for other specific or comprehensive revision. These proposed regulatory changes cover 15 topics in the following major categories: permit applications; the water quality-based permitting process; permit objection, documentation and process efficiencies; the vessels exclusion; and the Clean Water Act (CWA) section 401 certification process. These revisions would further align NPDES regulations with statutory requirements from the 1987 CWA Amendments and more recent case law requirements. By modernizing the NPDES regulations, the proposed revisions would provide NPDES permit writers with improved tools to write well-documented permits to protect human health and the environment. The revisions would also provide the public with enhanced opportunities for public participation in permitting actions.