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COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH & ENVIRONMENT -Water Quality Control Division <br />Rationale -Page 2 Permit No. COR-040000 <br />III. BACKGROUND (cont.) <br />A. General Permits <br />The Division has determined that the use of general permits is the appropriate procedure for handling most of the <br />thousands of industrial stonnwater applications within the State. <br />Types of General Permits: This general permit covers stornwater discharge from metal mining operations. <br />Other stonnwater general permits are available for light industry, heavy industry, sand and gravel mining (and <br />other nonmetallic minerals), construction activities, and coal mines with surface discharge only. <br />2. Temporary Genera[ Permit Coverage: Coverage of most facilities under general permits is the fastest, [Host <br />efficient means of implementing the program in the shon term. However, as described elsewhere is this <br />Rationale, general permit coverage may not be appropriate in the long teen for some mining operations with a <br />higher stonnwater pollution potential. Therefore, the Division reserves the right to temporarily cover <br />stonnwater discharge from mining activities under a general permit, even though individual permit coverage <br />may be more appropriate. <br />Cenification of these activities under a generalpermit does not in any way infringe on the Division's right to <br />revoke that coverage and issue an individual permit or amend an existing individual permit, when such <br />specialized facility anention is required. <br />B. Permit Requirements <br />This permit does not require submission of effluent monitoring data in the permit application or in the permit itself. <br />It is believed that for many mining sites a fully implemented stonnwater Management Plan (SWMP) will be sufficient <br />to control water quality impacts. However, for sites where a water quality impact from stonnwater is known or <br />suspected, an individual permit with additional requirements will be required. <br />Discharges of stonnwater associated with mining operations must meet all applicable provisions of Sections 301 and <br />402 of the Clean Water Act. These provisions require control of pollutant discharges to a level equivalent to Best <br />Available Technology Economically Achievable (BAT) and Best Conventional Pollution Control Technology (BCT), <br />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 stonnwater through the <br />development and implementation of a SWMP. 17te plan must include Best Management Practices (BMPs), which will <br />include measures that reduce sources and prevent pollution. This will constitute BAT and BCT and should achieve <br />compliance with water quality standards. The Division requires al[ facilities covered here ro make a judgment as ro <br />which BMPs are necessary at their site to achieve compliance with BAT and BCI'. The narrative permit <br />requirements also include prohibitions against discharges ofnon-stonnwater. <br />C. Violations/Penalties <br />Dischargers of stonnwater 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 stonnwater, will be in violation of the federal Clean Water Act and the Colorado <br />Water Quality Comrol Act, 25-8-101 et al. Failure to comply with any CDPS permit requirement constitutes a <br />violation of the permit. Civil penalties for violations of this CDPS permit or the Ac[ may be up to $10, 000 per day, <br />and criminal pollution of state waters is punishable by fines of up to $25, 000 per day. <br />