_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981017 (304)

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COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH & ENVIRONMENT- Water Quality Control Division Rationale - Page 2 Permit No. COR-040000 III. BACKGROUND (cont.) Other federal regulations, specifically 40 CFR subchapter N (mining operations are covered in sections 434, 436 and 440), were developed to control the quality of discharges from mills and mine drainage. Mine drainage is water drained, pumped, or siphoned from active mining areas. This water is generally classified as 'process water" and is covered under the pre-existing Colorado Discharge Permit System (CDPS). A. General Permits The Division has determined that the use of general permits is the appropriate procedure for handling most of the thousands of industrial stormwater applications within the State. 1. Types of General Permits: This general permit covers stormwater discharge from metal mining operations. Other stormwater general permits are available for light industry, heavy industry, sand and gravel mining (and other nonmetallic minerals), construction activities, and coal mines with surface discharge only. 2. Temporary General Permit Coverage: Coverage of most facilities under general permits is the fastest, most efficient means of implementing the program in the short term. However, as described elsewhere is this Rationale, general permit coverage may not be appropriate in the long term for some mining operations with a higher stormwater pollution potential. Therefore, the Division reserves the right to temporarily cover stormwater discharge from mining activities under a general permit, even though individual permit coverage may be more appropriate. Certification of these activities under a general permit does not in any way infringe on the Division's right to revoke that coverage and issue an individual permit or amend an existing individual permit, when such specialized facility attention is required. B. Permit Requirements This permit does not require submission of effluent monitoring data in the permit application or in the permit itself. It is believed that for many mining sites a fully implemented Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP) will be sufficient to control water quality impacts. However, for sites where a water quality impact from stormwater is known or suspected, an individual permit with additional requirements will be required. Discharges of stormwater associated with mining operations must meet all applicable provisions of Sections 301 and 402 of the Clean Water Act. These provisions require control of pollutant discharges to a level equivalent to Best Available Technology Economically Achievable (BAT) and Best Conventional Pollution Control Technology (BCT), and any more stringent controls necessary to meet water quality standards. The permit requires dischargers to control and eliminate the sources of pollutants in stormwater through the development and implementation of a SWMP. The plan must include Best Management Practices (BMPs), which will include measures that reduce sources and prevent pollution. This will constitute BAT and BCT and should achieve compliance with water quality standards. The Division requires all facilities covered here to make a judgment as to which BMPs are necessary at their site to achieve compliance with BAT and BCT. The narrative permit requirements also include prohibitions against discharges of non-stormwater. C. Violations/Penalties Dischargers of stormwater associated with mining activity, as defined in the Regulations for the State Discharge Permit System (6.1.0), which do not obtain coverage under this Colorado general permit, or under an individual CDPS permit regulating industrial stormwater, will be in violation of the federal Clean Water Act and the Colorado Water Quality Control Act, 25-8-101 et al. Failure to comply with any CDPS permit requirement constitutes a violation of the permit. Civil penalties for violations of this CDPS permit or the Act maybe up to $10,000 per day, and criminal pollution of state waters is punishable by fines of up to $25,000 per day.