The anticipated costs to contractors to comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s final rule addressing stormwater runoff on construction sites outweigh any benefits to water quality, say industry representatives. Critics charge the new rule, published in the Dec. 1 issue of the Federal Register and which will go into effect on Feb. 1, 2010, imposes new costs and burdens on builders while doing little to address water quality.
EPA and environmental advocates say the new rule, required under a 2006 court order, will help reduce pollution from construction sites into the nation’s rivers and streams. The final rule requires all construction sites that must obtain permits to use a range of erosion and sediment best-management practices to control sediment and soil runoff in stormwater. It establishes a numeric limit of 280 nephelometric turbidity units (NTUs) for all sites that disturb 20 or more acres of land at one time, beginning on August 1, 2011, and for all sites that disturb 10 or more acres, beginning in February 2014. These sites must sample stormwater discharges and comply with the numeric limitation or face penalties from state water pollution administrators. EPA says the new requirements will reduce the amount of sediment discharged from construction sites by about 4 billion pounds each year.