 | Vol. 3 No. 4 Spring 1996 |
| A Newsletter About New Jersey's Water Quality Programs |
These proposals will provide the technical and administrative mechanisms for coordinating the development and implementation of comprehensive watershed planning and management. In the past, the DEP generally issued permits on a site specific basis considering a single project or permit at a time. Under the proposed changes, the emphasis will shift from the site-specific approach to a watershed-based approach, providing a means to evaluate all impacts to a watershed in a coordinated manner.
The watershed-based approach will enable the DEP to better address regional problems and opportunities, assess the implications of various water supply allocation scenarios, obtain a sound scientific basis for evaluating pollution from all sources, and identify the most prudent and effective way for controlling nonpoint source pollution.
"We're confident this reform will result in improved protection of New Jersey's waterways," said DEP Commissioner Robert C. Shinn, Jr. "This restructuring, incorporating a watershed approach to examine all factors impacting water quality, will allow us to better identify and address pollution problems that affect human health and the environment."
"Our watershed-based approach will embody key aspects of the Netherlands model of environmental protection and pollution control. This model emphasizes cooperation and partnerships between the regulated community and government based on scientifically sound principles," Shinn said.
The DEP has undertaken this extensive regulatory reform to address significant problems within the existing programs that have made it difficult to implement an effective and efficient water resources management program. The major changes included are:
New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES) Rules
The NJPDES rules are restructured to include the following changes:
Administrative Reforms designed to make permit application and issuance procedures more efficient. Some examples include: allowing permittees to submit draft permits, expanding the scope of minor permit modifications, establishing expedited reviews for permit renewals, allowing concurrent review and processing of water quality management plan amendments and NJPDES permit applications, and providing for increased use of general permits.
Surface Water Permitting Programatic Changes that shift discharge permitting from a site-specific to a watershed basis using an approach set forth in both the NJPDES and WQMP rules. These changes involve identifying waterbodies for which comprehensive water quality management plans are needed, establishing a public participation process for developing watershed management plans, assigning loading allocations to pollutant sources, assigning mixing zones, establishing an interim permitting strategy for point sources, establishing procedures for calculating water quality based effluent limitations, and implementing antidegradation policies.
Ground Water Program Changes integrating relevant federal rules into NJPDES rules for underground injection control, ground water monitoring at municipal solid waste facilities (sanitary landfills) and hazardous waste facilities, and providing new, clear requirements for implementing ground water protection and monitoring programs.
Industrial Pretreatment Program Changes consolidating the pretreatment requirements for delegated local agencies, specifying baseline program criteria, and including a model enforcement response plan.
Sludge Management Program Rules integrating federal permitting and procedural regulations into the NJPDES rules and establishing standards for the land application of residuals (sludge). The rules establish requirements for the final use or disposal of sewage sludge applied to land for a beneficial purpose and applied to surface disposal sites (sludge lagoons).
Stormwater Program Rules that continue most of the provisions proposed in May 1995 with some additional amendments including:
The Phase 1 rules included in this proposal will:
Surface Water Quality Standards
Numerous technical and administrative changes are proposed, the most significant of which are:
Update: As of May 1, 1996, the comment period for the proposed NJPDES rules has been officially extended for 60 days.
The department strongly recommends commenters, who have access to any of the word processing software packages listed below, submit comments on diskette (either 3 1/2 (preferred) or 5 1/4) as well as on paper (this facilitates the DEP's efforts to address comments).
The preferred word processing software for submitting comments is Microsoft Word for Windows versions 2.0 or 6.0. Other acceptable word processing software includes: WordPerfect 4.2; WordPerfect 5.0; WordPerfect 5.x; Word for Windows 1.0, Word for DOS; Display Write RFT; Office Writer; Windows Write 2.0; WordStar; and ASCII. MacIntosh formats should not be used. If you wish to use software not listed above, please contact Victor Staniec at (609) 292-4860 to discuss compatibility. (Note: Comments should be submitted in plain text format, since text enhancements such as underlines, bold, etc., are often not converted across different software programs.)
Since the rule changes listed in this article only briefly highlight some of the changes proposed, parties wishing to submit comments should obtain a copy of the full rule proposal by contacting Patricia Tonzini at (609) 292-4543. Copies are available in the following formats: