Highlights of EPA's anticipated proposed regulations of the construction and land development industry

摘要

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is scheduled to propose Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the construction and land development industry in 2002. Unlike many preceding guidelines for various industrial categories involving limitations for process wastewater discharges from traditional facilities, the proposed regulatory regime for the construction and land development industry will rely on several new approaches. These approaches are logical adaptations towell established analytical processes within the context of USEPA's long-standing methodology for developing effluent guidelines that are made necessary in response to the temporary nature of the construction activities at any one location. Most effluentguidelines are developed for industries that have a fixed location and predictable effluent quality, flow volume, and duration. The unique temporal aspects related to the effluent discharges from the construction and land development industry that present several interesting challenges for developing these proposed regulations will be examined in this paper. These temporal issues include increased frequency of bankfull flows and the duration of flows elevated above baseflow during wet weather, and reduced baseflow during inter-storm periods. The water quality problems associated with these aspects of runoff from the construction and land development industry will be described in the traditional sense of chemical pollutant issues as well as a description of USEPA's forthcoming integrated approach that considers the hydrological, geomorphological, and biological aspects of runoff from these sites both during and after construction activities occur. The technical basis for the approach being taken by USEPA under this proposed regulation will be presented along with summary results of a preliminary technology assessment of the best management practices used for erosion and sediment control and for post-construction storm water management activities at sites disturbed by the construction and land development industry. Finally, an overview of the environmental assessment of control options anticipated to be proposed will be discussed. This assessment relates the possible regulatory approaches to projected measurable outcomes in terms of incremental water quality benefits and the estimated ability of the control options to be protective of the aquatic environment when compared to baseline conditions and a hypothetical unmanaged condition. Information onthe anticipated schedule and the public participation process for the proposed regulation will also be presented.