MCM 4 Construction Site Stormwater Control

Construction site adjacent to water body

Introduction

Controlling sediment and other pollutants from construction sites is crucial to an effective stormwater management program. Minimum Control Measure (MCM) 4 of the MS4 General Permit requires permittees to have and enforce a construction site stormwater runoff control program to reduce the impacts of land disturbing activities to stormwater.

Requirements

The construction site stormwater runoff control program must include:

• A regulatory mechanism that establishes erosion, sediment, and controls as stringent as the Construction Stormwater permit requirements for construction sites.
• A procedure for conducting site plan reviews to ensure compliance with the regulatory mechanism, as mentioned above. See here for more information and descriptions of the items that the site plan review procedure should include.
• Written procedures for the receipt and consideration of reports of noncomplaince at construction sites received from the public.
• Site inspection procedures for inspecting public and private construction sites. The procdures should include: procedures for identifying and prioritizing sites for inspections, the frequency of site inspections, the name or title of the person responsible for inspections, and a checklist or other written means to document site inspections. See here for more information and File:SiteInspectionChecklist.xlsx for an example checklist.
• Enforcement Response Procedures.
• Documentation as described here.

Resources

Click on the blue links above in the "Requirements" section to get more information and resources specific to those permit requirements. In addition, all resources related to MCM 4 are below.

Fact sheets and guidance documents

• EPA MCM 4 guidance - EPA's guidance and suggested BMPs to successfully control runoff from construction sites
• EPA Stormwater Pollution Prevention for Small Construction Sites brochure - EPA's guide to minimizing discharge from small residential construction sites
• MPCA MCM 4 guidance - MPCA's fact sheet highlighting all requirements related to erosion, sediment, and waste controls
• MPCA Site plan review guidance - MPCA's guidance on what elements should be evaluated during a site plan review

Checklists

• MS4 Site inspection checklist - MPCA's template checklist that is consistent with the Construction Stormwater Permit requirements for erosion, sediment, and waste controls for MS4 inspectors to use.
• Construction site inspection checklist - City of Red Wing's construction site inspection checklist
• Construction site inspection checklist - City of Prior Lake's construction site inspection checklist
• Site plan review checklist - City of Cloquet's site plan review checklist

Example Procedures

• Site plan review procedure - City of Elk River's site plan review procedure
• Site plan review procedure - City of Cloquet's site plan review procedure

Other

Construction site good housekeeping reminder - City of Red Wing's tool to remind construction site owners/operators to maintain sites in compliance with their construction site stormwater runoff control regulatory mechanism Construction site good housekeeping acknowledgement - City of Red Wing's tool to acknowledge and appreciate sites that are in compliance with their construction site stormwater runoff control regulatory mechanism