Owner Responsibilities Under the Construction Stormwater Permit
Contents
Owner Responsibilities Under the Construction Stormwater Permit
An Overview
This fact sheet is meant to provide guidance to property owners who are not familiar with the construction stormwater permitting program. This may include a farmer developing land on his own, a bank taking ownership of an unfinished, foreclosed building project, or an individual purchasing a piece of property to build on, within a larger development.
=Defining “owner”
"Owner" means the person or party possessing the title of the land on which the construction activities will occur; or if the construction activity is for a lease, easement, or mineral rights license holder, the party or individual identified as the lease, easement or mineral rights license holder; or the contracting government agency responsible for the construction activity.”
The federal Clean Water Act requires permit coverage for any construction activity that disturbs one or more acres, or for a site that is part of a common plan of development or sale in which the entire development is over an acre of soil disturbance. Exceptions include some agricultural- and silvicultural-related soil disturbance.
Environmental protection
Stormwater-related pollution was included as one of Minnesota’s top-five environmental stressors, as reported by MPCA in its 2003 Environmental Information Report.
Sediment-laden runoff carries phosphorus, which encourages algae blooms that compete with fish for available oxygen. Urban stormwater runoff frequently contain metals, pesticides, animal wastes, oil, and other vehicle fluids.
Sediment in runoff smothers fish spawning areas, abrades fish gills, and harms other organisms.
State requirements
The purpose of the construction stormwater permit is to insure that soil stays on the site during construction activity. Permit-required best-management practices prevent soil from being washed directly to the lakes, rivers, or wetlands, or indirectly to them through ditches or storm sewers.
The permit also ensures that even as new roads or rooftops cover the land, the increasing stormwater runoff is controlled with permanent stormwater structures designed to slowly release water to the lake, river, or wetland similar to the rate in the natural state before construction.
Permanent stormwater-treatment structures also filter or settle out contaminates picked up from these new surfaces, such as winter sanding of roads. For some sites, the permit also addresses temperature increases for cold-water fish, like trout. Additionally, erosion-prevention and sediment-control practices serve as wind-erosion protection.