Michigan Project

EPA/ECOS Regulatory Innovations Proposal

Watershed Municipal separate storm sewer system General Permit

August 19, 2004

Overview of Project

This is an innovative approach to regulating discharges from municipal separate stormwater sewer systems.  Municipalities that are covered under the Clean Water Act, Phase II, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program for stormwater have the option of being covered by Michigan’s Watershed Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) General Permit, or they could obtain coverage under the more traditional Jurisdictional General Permit.  Michigan believes that the Watershed MS4 Permit, which emphasizes watershed approaches, provides greater opportunity for an effective approach to addressing these discharges.

Narrative of the Project

Michigan began pursuing the watershed MS4 permitting approach while more rigid approaches were being developed at the federal level.  The federal permitting approach relies on each community carrying out storm water control strategies independently; whereas, the watershed permit is based on the concept of watershed management and requires cooperation among dischargers within the watershed.  The three tenets of watershed management are:

·         Partnerships with jurisdictions and other stakeholders.

·         Iterative process of consensus-based decision-making.

·         Sound management techniques based on strong science and data.

Under the watershed permit, a municipality must develop an Illicit Discharge Elimination Plan and a Public Education Plan within one year of getting permit coverage.  The municipality must also implement a public participation process to solicit input from all jurisdictions in the watershed.  Watershed partners together develop and adopt a watershed management plan (including an assessment of the watershed ecosystem), establish long-and short-term goals for watershed protection/enhancement, and commit to implement sound management practices to help meet the goals of the watershed management plan.  The implementation of management practices is carried out independently by each municipality, guided by a plan they develop called a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Initiative, which must be submitted to the DEQ for approval.  Watershed management may include investigation and control pollution sources that are not usually regulated by NPDES permits, such as failing on-site sewage disposal systems.  The watershed management plan is to be reviewed and updated by the permitted watershed partners after 2 years.

This innovative approach was piloted in conjunction with the Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project (Project), and has become an integral component to the Project’s strategy.  The development of the Watershed MS4 Permit involved an extensive stakeholder review process and collaboration among local, county, and state governments, as well as the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Region 5 Office.  This approach has been rolled out on a statewide basis.

Project Status

The EPA has approved and endorsed the use of the Watershed MS4 Permit to satisfy the MS4 permit requirements of the Phase II regulations in Michigan.  This approval is for the term of the pilot project (through 2007).  Michigan reissued the Watershed General Permit (Permit No. MIG619000, effective until April 1, 2008) in December, 2002 to replace the initial voluntary watershed general permit (Permit No. MIG610000), which expired on April 1, 2003.  The Watershed General Permit has been popular with the regulated community.  In fact, of the 413 permitted municipalities in Michigan, 349 or almost 85% have coverage under the Watershed General Permit.   

Project Contact for Divisions

Water Division Contact

David Drullinger

Lake Erie and Huron Permits Unit

Address:  P.O. Box 30273,  Lansing, MI  48909

Phone:   517-335-4117

Fax:   517-241-8133

E-mail:   drullind@michigan.gov

Environmental Assistance Division Contact:

Amy Kohlhepp

Water Compliance Assistance Specialist

Address:  P.O. Box 30457,  Lansing, MI 48909-7957

Phone:   517-241-7965

Fax:  517-373-3675

E-mail:  kohlhepa@michigan.gov