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National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
Mid-Atlantic NPDES Quick Finder |
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| NPDES Home ALCOSAN Blue Plains | Chesapeake Bay Nutrients Contacts - EPA Contacts - States | Permit DataDistrict of Columbia MS4 Permits |
National Information
Related Mid-Atlantic Information
- Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) Press Release
- Blue Plains Permit Modification
- Chesapeake Bay
- NPDES Permitting Approach for Discharges of Nutrients in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (PDF) (3 pp, 174K, About PDF)
- Annual Permit Limits for Nitrogen and Phosphorus for Permits Designed to Protect Chesapeake Bay and its Tidal Tributaries from Excess Nutrient Loading under NPDES (PDF) (5 pp, 409K, About PDF)
- District of Columbia MS4 Green Infrastructure Enhancement
The 1972 Federal Pollution Control Act created the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permitting Program. The NPDES program authorizes discharges from point sources to waters of United States. The term "point sources" is defined as any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, such as a pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, discrete fixture, or container. It also includes vessels or other floating craft from which pollutants are or may be discharged. By law, the term "point source" also includes concentrated animal feeding operations, which are places where animals are confined and fed. A permit is a license for a facility to discharge a specific amount of a pollutant into a waterbody under certain conditions to protect human health and the integrity of aquatic life. Permits are issued by the state or EPA, and are issued for a specific period of time that does not exceed five years.
EPA Mid-Atlantic Region's NPDES Program
EPA Mid-Atlantic delegates the administration of the NPDES program to the states of:
However, EPA administers the NPDES program for the District of Columbia.
The Mid-Atlantic EPA's Office of Watersheds administers the NPDES permit tracking process, while the Office of Compliance & Enforcement administers the enforcement of NPDES Permits.
