In a Federal Register notice published June 23, the EPA proposed changes to its permitting program under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to ensure the use of sufficiently sensitive analytical methods for monitoring chemical pollutants in discharge water.

Specifically, the new rule affects the CWA’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). Its purpose is to specify that applicants and permittees must use analytical methods that are capable of detecting and measuring pollutants at, or below, current water quality criteria.

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EPA has finalized national effluent limitations guidelines (ELG) and new source performance standards (NSPS) for construction and development sites to help address improvement of water quality throughout the nation. While the standards focus on discharges occurring during stormwater events, these new guidelines affect all discharges of pollutants from construction activities into waterways, including dewatering and concrete washout.

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