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COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH & ENVIRONMENT -Water Quality Control Division <br />Rationale -Page 2 Permit No. COR-040000 <br />Il/. BACKGROUND (cont.) <br />Other jederal regulations, specifically 40 CFR subchapter N (mining operations are covered in sections 434, 436 and <br />440), were developed to control the quality of discharges from mills and mine drainage. Mine drainage is water <br />drained, pumped, or siphoned from active mining areas. This water is generally classified as "process water" and is <br />covered under the pre-esisring Colorado Discharge Permit System (CDPS). <br />A. Genera[ Permits <br />The Division has determirsed that the use of general permits is the appropriate procedure for handling most of the <br />thousands of industrial stormwater applications withirs the State. <br />Tvoes o(General Permits: This general permit covers stormwater discharge from meta! mining operations. <br />Other stormwater general permits are available jot light industry, heavy industry, sand and gravel mirsing <br />(and other nonmetallic minerals), construction activities, and coal mines with surface discharge only. <br />2. Temporary General Permit Coverage: Coverage of most facilities under genera[ permits is the fastest, most <br />efficient means of implementing the program in the short term. However, as described elsewhere is this <br />Rationale, general permit coverage may not 6e appropriate in the long term for some mining operations with <br />a higher stormwater pollution potential. Therefore, the Division reserves the right to temporarily cover <br />stormwater discharge from mining activities under a general permit, even though individual permit coverage <br />may be more appropriate. <br />Certification of these activities under a genera! permit does not in any way infringe on the Division's right to <br />revoke that coverage and issue an individual permit or amend an ezisrirtg individual permit, when such <br />specialized facility attention is required. <br />B. Permit Requirements <br />This permit does nor require submission of effluent monitoring data in the permit application or in the permit itself. <br />/t is believed that for many mining sites a fully implemented stormwater Management Plan (SWMP) will be <br />sufficient ro control water quality impacts. However, for sites where a water quality impact from stormwater is <br />known or suspected, an individual permit with additional requirements will be required. <br />Discharges of stormwater associated with mining operations must meet all applicable provisions of Sections 307 <br />and 402 of the Clean Water Act. These provisions require control of pollutant discharges to a level equivalent to <br />Best Available Technology Economically Achievable (BAT) and Best Conventional Pollution Control Technology <br />(BCT), and any more stringent controls necessary to meet water quality standards. <br />The permit requires dischargers to control and eliminate the sources of pollutants in stormwater through the <br />development and implementation of a SWMP. The plan must include Best Management Practices (BMPs), which <br />will include measures that reduce sources and prevent pollution. This will constitute BAT and BCT and should <br />achieve compliance with water quality standards. The Divisiors requires all facilities covered here to make a <br />judgment as to which BMPs are necessary at their site to achieve compliance with BAT and BCT. The narrative <br />permit requirements also include prohibitions agaiut discharges of non-stormwater. <br />C. Violations/Penalties <br />Dischargers of stormwater associated with mining activity, as defined in the Regulations for the State Discharge <br />Permit System (6.1.0), which do not obtain coverage under This Colorado general permit, or under an individual <br />CDPS permit regulating industrial stormwater, will be in violation of the federal Clean Water Acr and the Colorado <br />Water Quality Control Act, 25-8-101 et a[. Failure to comply with any CDPS permit requirement constitutes a <br />violation ojthe permit. Civil penalties for violations ojthis CDPS permit or the Act may be up to $10,000 per <br />day, and criminal pollution of state waters is punishable by fines of up to $25,000 per day. <br />