Featured Webinar Series: Improving CWA-NPDES Permit Compliance

Have you attended webinars from the Improving CWA-NPDES Permit Compliance series of technical assistance webinars put on by the EPA and the Significant Noncompliance Rate Reduction National Compliance Initiative? (Also known as the SNC NCI).

These webinars are meant for plant operators, municipal leaders, TAPs, and compliance inspectors who are working to improve surface water quality and drinking water impacts by ensuring compliance with Clean Water Act and/or National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permits. Attending live will provide you with a certificate of attendance that may be eligible for CEU credit in your state, depending on your state’s certification authority. The EPA has an archive of webinar recordings dating back to 2019, but watching these recordings does not make you eligible for a certificate of attendance or any CEU credit.

All the same, the recording archive contains information on a wealth of topics under the umbrella of CWA/NPDES permit compliance. We have put together a few recommended highlights below, but be sure to examine the whole archive as you grow your knowledge in pollutant discharge.

Recording Highlights

POTWs – What Does Your Permit Say? (Part 1)
January 22, 2024: This presentation covers how to read and understand a NPDES permit, how permittees can ensure that permit requirements are met, and a discussion of the most common reporting requirements for NPDES permits. Presented by Dan Connally, vice president of ERG Group with 22 years of experience in NPDES permit development.

POTWs – What Does Your Permit Say? (Part 2)
February 28, 2024: Part two of ‘What Does Your Permit Say?’ covers the permit requirements for pretreatment and biosolids, associated federal regulations, and both standard and special conditions for publicly owned treatment works. Presented by Dan Connally, Bob Brobst (Principal Environmental Engineer at PG Environmental), and Chuck Durham (Principal Engineer and Senior Project Manager at PG Environmental).

Fats, Oils, and Grease: What We Know After 23 Years of FOG Work
October 12, 2023: This presentation focuses on managing the impacts of FOGs on collection systems and wastewater treatment plants, as well as fees, public outreach, and enforcement for food service establishments. Presented by Byron Ross of Monitoring & Management Services, with nearly 40 years of experience in wastewater treatment.

Everything You Wanted to Know About PFAS But Were Afraid to Ask
April 12, 2023: This session examines the emerging contaminants PFAS and PFOA and discusses their uses, properties, impacts, and possible treatment methods in wastewater and drinking water. Viewers will also learn to identify the sources of these contaminants. Treatment options explored include activated carbon, ion exchange resin, reverse osmosis/nanofiltration, advanced oxidation, and biosolid removal. Presented by Jamie Hope, wastewater operator and training technician, with four decades of experience in wastewater treatment.

Small POTWs: What to Expect and How to Prepare for your NPDES Permit
June 16, 2022: This webinar explains what a small publicly owned treatment works can expect as they undertake NPDES permitting. It also features a step-by-step overview of obtaining a permit and insights on collaborating with permitting authorities. Presented by Sean Ramach, NPDES Training Coordinator for the EPA Office of Wastewater Management, Water Permits Division.

Increasing Attention to Significant Noncompliance Dischargers

Author Jill Wallitschek and WaterOperator.org would like to thank EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance for helping develop this blog post as part of its outreach to permittees about the Clean Water Act National Compliance Initiative.

National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit compliance protects public health and the environment from the release of harmful contaminants. During FY 2018 approximately 20% of the nation's 46,000 permit holders were in significant non-compliance (SNC) violations. SNCs are designated as serious violations warranting enforcement response if not promptly resolved. These violations ranged from significant exceedances in effluent limits to reporting failures. To better defend environmental and public health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has initiated a National Compliance Initiative (NCI) for NPDES permits and, in September, released a Compliance Advisory.

The NCI uses a full range of compliance assurance tools to reduce NPDES permittees non-compliance. By FY 2022 the NCI aims to reduce SNC rates by half. Small systems, this includes you too! This NCI will target facilities of all sizes equally. More attention will be directed toward facilities approaching or already in SNC. Facilities failing to comply can be subject to increased monitoring, inspections, enforcement actions, and other compliance activities. The NCI notes that permittees that voluntarily disclose and correct violations may be eligible for a reduction or elimination of penalties.

While this initiative might feel intimidating, the NCI offers resources to those taking immediate compliance efforts. The EPA recommends permittees first assess compliance by reviewing discharge monitoring reports (DMRs) and the Enforcement & Compliance History Online (ECHO) tool. If your facility does require assistance, reach out to your NPDES permitting authority for assistance. Other organizations like Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) and National Rural Water Association (NRWA) may also be able to provide assistance. Each state implements their own NPDES programs with the exception of New Mexico, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and areas within Indian Country which are managed federally.

Small system SNCs can originate from a variety of causes. Failure to monitor, analyze, and report wastewater samples according to your NPDES permit can lead to a violation. Alternatively, incomplete or inaccurate compliance data transferred from state systems to the EPA’s Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS) system can result in inaccurate identification of SNC permittees. Checking your compliance status in ECHO can prevent these complications. In addition to monitoring and reporting violations, unplanned discharges such as from a sanitary sewer overflow can also result in SNC. When wastewater effluent exceeds NPDES pollutant levels, utilities will also fall out of compliance. These exceedances typically arise as a result of operational, design, or administrative issues. We recommend the following resources to help improve your NPDES compliance:

Activated Sludge Process Control and Troubleshooting Methodology
Resolve 95% of your activated sludge process control issues using this Ohio EPA manual.

EPA’s ECHO Electronic Tool
The ECHO Detailed Facility Report tool helps facilities monitor compliance and verify the cause of SNC. Learn how to use the tool through the “Intro to ECHO Webinar” and other materials on this webpage.

EPA Webinars: Technical Assistance for Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs)
The EPA hosts free webinars once a month offering technical assistance to POTWs. Find these webinars on our national training calendar or at the link above.

Managing Small Domestic Wastewater Systems
This TCEQ guide helps utilities develop plans to maintain or achieve compliance. The guide includes compliance checklists and planning worksheets. For additional assistance, TCEQ has developed and referenced resources for troubleshooting anything from bacteria control to process control.

Why Is My Lagoon Not Meeting Effluent Limits?
This article from the November 2016 issue of The Kansas Lifeline summarizes how to troubleshoot lagoon effluent compliance issues.

To find solutions to more specific compliance challenges, check out the WaterOperator.org resource library and small systems blog posts.

Featured Video: Regional Collaboration for Clean Water in York County

Over 500 communities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are working to meet NPDES permit standards for stormwater discharges from their municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s). MS4s that discharge to impaired surface waters or directly to the Bay are required to develop Pollutant Reduction or TMDL Plans. Meeting these requirements while also addressing important local issues such as increased flooding can be a challenge for any municipality, regardless of size.

However, Pennsylvania's York County has proven that there is strength in numbers. This video from MOST (Municipal Online Stormwater Training Center, an initiative of the University Of Maryland's Environmental Finance Center) features Felicia Dell, the director of the York County Planning Commission discussing how municipalities in her county banded together in a consortium to attract funding, and then distributed this funding in an equitable way to construct projects that would benefit all.