Guidance for Complying with EPA Effluent Limitation Guidelines for Construction Runoff
On December 1, 2009, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized and published a rule in the Federal Register establishing, for the first time, numeric effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs). The numeric ELGs include turbidity limits and sampling requirements for stormwater discharges from construction sites. The original rule requires that sites that disturb 20 or more acres of land at one time are required to comply with a turbidity limit of 280 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTUs). In August 2010, EPA agreed to defer implementation of the rule and conduct additional analysis after being challenged in court by a number of parties. It is likely a new turbidity limit will be developed that will still be numeric but somewhat higher than the original requirement.These new requirements will place a special burden on departments of transportation (DOTs) and other entities, whose construction projects are linear in nature. Sampling of runoff on an active highway construction site can be technically difficult because of safety, access, and the number of potential discharge locations. In addition, the constantly changing conditions on the site will make the installation of permanent sampling sites infeasible. There are two primary objectives of this research. The first is to develop guidance for linear construction projects to help DOTs meet the impending numeric discharge limits. Construction projects pass through a number of discrete phases beginning with clearing and grubbing through final stabilization. The numeric standard must be met during each of these. Consequently, appropriate best management practices (BMPs) and guidance on their use must be developed for each phase of construction. Recent research on polymers has focused on sediment control, but additional work is needed on erosion control in early phases of construction before final grade is established. The second objective is to develop monitoring protocols that DOTs can present to their state regulators. Each state is allowed to adopt its own monitoring requirements and it is critical that those requirements recognize the special difficulties of monitoring on highway construction sites. Questions that need to be addressed include the following: (1) Must all discharge locations be monitored? (2) Can representative locations be designated that are typical for the project? (3) What is the appropriate frequency of sample collection? (4) How should samples be collected (grab or automated samples)? (5) What should the requirements be for sampling outside of normal work hours? and (6) How should access and safety impact sampling requirements?
- Record URL:
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Supplemental Notes:
- Contract to a Performing Organization not yet awarded.
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Proposed
- Funding: $300000.00
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Contract Numbers:
Project 10-90
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Sponsor Organizations:
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC United States 20590American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
444 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 225
Washington, DC United States 20001National Cooperative Highway Research Program
Transportation Research Board
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Project Managers:
SRINIVASAN, NANDA
- Start Date: 20141208
- Expected Completion Date: 0
- Actual Completion Date: 0
- Source Data: RiP Project 38250
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Compliance; Construction projects; Effluents; Environmental impacts; Environmental monitoring; Guidelines; Runoff; Turbidity
- Identifier Terms: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Subject Areas: Construction; Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology; Law; I15: Environment;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01547381
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
- Contract Numbers: Project 10-90
- Files: TRB, RIP
- Created Date: Dec 9 2014 1:00AM