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Home My WebLink AboutNCS000240_Charlotte Comments_20230906 Charlotte-Mecklenburg STORM WATERStormWater.CharMeck.org Services n 4100 W Tyvola Rd Charlotte, NC 28208 September 6, 2023 Isaiah Reed, PE, CPSWQ, MS4CECI 1612 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-1612 Subject: Comments on Charlotte's MS4 Permit Draft(NCS000240) Dear Isaiah: Charlotte Storm Water Services would like to thank you for all your efforts to work with us on developing the draft Phase I MS4 permit for the City of Charlotte.While we provided a number of comments during our meeting on July 2, 2023,we reviewed the draft permit,had additional discussions, and have the following additional comments for consideration by you and others at DEQ: (1) Section 3.3 "Public Involvement and Participation Program" • Under 3.3.1,we request deletion of the underlined words from the following sentence: "The permittee must invite the citizen advisory group to participate in the development of all parts of the permittee's SWMP."We will provide opportunity for the Charlotte- Mecklenburg Storm Water Advisory Committee to review and comment on our SWMP, including a summary presentation at their meetings and provision of copies of the SWMP to all members,but it is unlikely that they will participate in the development of all parts of it.The remainder of the sentence after deleting those particular words will, we believe,still fulfill the requirement and embody its purpose. • Also under 3.3.1,combine the last two sentences (grammatical error). (2) Section 3.4"Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination Program" • Under 3.4.2,we request changing the last sentence to,"The permittee shall document potential edits to the IDDE Ordinance throughout the permit term and shall update the Ordinance once per permit term,as deemed necessary,to address identified issues."As issues come up in dealing with various IDDE cases,we track potential edits in a Word document on an ongoing basis.This has worked very well for us. During the permit term,we can comprehensively review the documented potential edits and determine if an Ordinance revision would be warranted. Our past Ordinance revisions,which involved presenting to Charlotte City Council and their subsequent vote,were multi- year efforts. • Sub-sections 3.4.4 and 3.4.7 are redundant with each other and parts of 3.4.3 in terms of having an IDDE Plan,written procedures to detect and eliminate illicit discharges,and a frequency requirement for revising the IDDE Plan/procedures. For the City of Charlotte, all of our IDDE-related procedures are part of our overall IDDE Plan.We request addition of the following sentence to 3.4.3 (suggest as either the second or last sentence): "The permittee must review the IDDE Plan at least once per permit term and update as necessary."Along with this addition,we request deletion of 3.4.4 and 3.4.7 as they would be redundant requirements. Cem CITYof CHARLOTTE Isaiah Reed September 6, 2023 Page 2 (3) Section 3.5 "Construction Site Runoff Control Program" • Regarding 3.5.5,the City of Charlotte does not have the authority to prohibit the types of discharges listed. Clean Water Act regulations at 40 CFR Section 122.44(s)(1)(ii) do allow the State to include language in our NPDES MS4 permit"to require construction site operators to control waste such as discarded building materials,concrete truck washout,chemicals,litter,and sanitary waste at the construction site that may cause adverse impacts to water quality."That is the exact language in 3.5.9,so we request that the language in 3.5.9 replace the language in 3.5.5.To incorporate the other types of potential construction-related wastes included in 3.5.5,we would be okay with including fuels,oils,soaps,solvents,and wastewater from cleanup of paint,curing compounds,and other construction-related materials to the list as long as the word "control"and not"prohibit"is used. • Regarding 3.5.6,the NC Erosion and Sediment Control Manual calls an impoundment that collects water from less than one acre a"sediment trap",not a"basin",and does not require an outlet structure that withdraws water from the surface.To make this requirement clearer,we request the addition of"that drain one or more acres"after "impoundments".The NCGO10000 permit has this requirement which includes the one- acre threshold. • For 3.5.7,the version of Charlotte's draft MS4 posted on DEQ's website says,"Maintain an inventory of all active private construction sites and construction activities undertaken by the permittee that result in a total land disturbance of an acre or more." The version emailed to Charlotte Storm Water staff on July 14,2023,says,"Maintain an inventory of all active non-public construction sites that result in a total land disturbance of an acre or more."We are prepared to meet the requirement either way, but the discrepancy between the two versions needs to be corrected. (4) Section 3.9 "Program to Evaluate Industrial Storm Water Discharges to Municipal Systems" • Under 3.9.2 the draft permit says,"The permittee must continue to maintain an inventory of all industrial facilities within its jurisdiction (regardless of ownership)that could discharge pollutants in stormwater to the MS4."We request that the underlined text be changed to match the types of facilities stated in 3.9.1 of the draft permit; specifically,hazardous waste treatment,disposal,and recovery facilities,industrial facilities subject to section 313 of Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA),and Industrial facilities identified with an industrial activity permitted (as defined in 4 CFR 122.26)to discharge storm water to the permittee's MS4.We request this change because including all industrial facilities that could discharge pollutants into the MS4 would add many more facilities to an inventory that already includes several hundred facilities,and it is assumed that we would be held accountable for inspecting facilities on our inventory at a certain frequency based on a prioritization process. • Under 3.9.3,we request the removal of items c,e,and f.For item (c),it's assumed that "physical location of discharge"means the location of facilities'outfalls. Collecting GPS coordinates at all of the industrial facilities on the inventory would be a very large effort with very little benefit.A more reasonable requirement would be that we collect outfall discharge locations during inspections and record that information in our facility inventory as the information is collected. It is assumed that items (e) and (0 are related to one another and that facilities may be identified,prioritized,and inspected to help address impairments to water bodies on the 303(d)list. First of all,there are many Isaiah Reed September 6, 2023 Page 3 pollutants that could potentially be generated by a site/source. Knowing and listing all of those pollutants would largely be just educated guesses. Second,industrial sites are just one minor source among many sources that contribute to impaired water bodies. Collecting and documenting information that takes a lot of time and is likely not very accurate is not an effective use of time and effort. (5) Section 3.10 "Water Quality Assessment and Monitoring" • We request replacement of the last paragraph of section 3.10 with the following: "Monitoring will be conducted in eighteen (18) watersheds within the permittee's jurisdiction annually. Monitoring protocols referenced in the permittee's Stormwater Management Plan will be implemented. Monitoring will be conducted to the maximum extent practicable as safety,site access,weather and field conditions allow." Charlotte Storm Water Services has a very robust and dynamic water quality monitoring program. Having the specific requirements as stated in the draft permit regarding collecting samples for suspended solids,nutrients,and fecal coliform are fairly arbitrary and unnecessary. We respectfully request your consideration of our comments in preparing the final version of the City of Charlotte's MS4 permit. Should you have any questions,please contact me at(704) 533- 2149 or jordan.miller(@charlottenc.gov. Sincerely, Jordan B. Miller, PE Surface Water Quality and Environmental Permitting Program Manager Charlotte Storm Water Services City of Charlotte