[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 21]
[Revised as of July 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR122.32]

[Page 202-203]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 122_EPA ADMINISTERED PERMIT PROGRAMS: THE NATIONAL POLLUTANT 
DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM--Table of Contents
 
   Subpart B_Permit Application and Special NPDES Program Requirements
 
Sec.  122.32  As an operator of a small MS4, am I regulated under the NPDES storm water program?

    (a) Unless you qualify for a waiver under paragraph (c) of this 
section, you are regulated if you operate a small MS4, including but not 
limited to systems operated by federal, State, Tribal, and local 
governments, including State departments of transportation; and:
    (1) Your small MS4 is located in an urbanized area as determined by 
the latest Decennial Census by the Bureau of the Census. (If your small 
MS4 is not located entirely within an urbanized area, only the portion 
that is within the urbanized area is regulated); or
    (2) You are designated by the NPDES permitting authority, including 
where the designation is pursuant to Sec. Sec.  123.35(b)(3) and (b)(4) 
of this chapter, or is based upon a petition under Sec.  122.26(f).
    (b) You may be the subject of a petition to the NPDES permitting 
authority to require an NPDES permit for your discharge of storm water. 
If the NPDES permitting authority determines that you need a permit, you 
are required to comply with Sec. Sec.  122.33 through 122.35.
    (c) The NPDES permitting authority may waive the requirements 
otherwise applicable to you if you meet the criteria of paragraph (d) or 
(e) of this section. If you receive a waiver under this section, you may 
subsequently be required to seek coverage under an NPDES permit in 
accordance with Sec.  122.33(a) if circumstances change. (See also Sec.  
123.35(b) of this chapter.)
    (d) The NPDES permitting authority may waive permit coverage if your 
MS4 serves a population of less than 1,000 within the urbanized area and 
you meet the following criteria:
    (1) Your system is not contributing substantially to the pollutant 
loadings of a physically interconnected MS4 that is regulated by the 
NPDES storm water program (see Sec.  123.35(b)(4) of this chapter); and

[[Page 203]]

    (2) If you discharge any pollutant(s) that have been identified as a 
cause of impairment of any water body to which you discharge, storm 
water controls are not needed based on wasteload allocations that are 
part of an EPA approved or established ``total maximum daily load'' 
(TMDL) that addresses the pollutant(s) of concern.
    (e) The NPDES permitting authority may waive permit coverage if your 
MS4 serves a population under 10,000 and you meet the following 
criteria:
    (1) The permitting authority has evaluated all waters of the U.S., 
including small streams, tributaries, lakes, and ponds, that receive a 
discharge from your MS4;
    (2) For all such waters, the permitting authority has determined 
that storm water controls are not needed based on wasteload allocations 
that are part of an EPA approved or established TMDL that addresses the 
pollutant(s) of concern or, if a TMDL has not been developed or 
approved, an equivalent analysis that determines sources and allocations 
for the pollutant(s) of concern;
    (3) For the purpose of this paragraph (e), the pollutant(s) of 
concern include biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), sediment or a parameter 
that addresses sediment (such as total suspended solids, turbidity or 
siltation), pathogens, oil and grease, and any pollutant that has been 
identified as a cause of impairment of any water body that will receive 
a discharge from your MS4; and
    (4) The permitting authority has determined that future discharges 
from your MS4 do not have the potential to result in exceedances of 
water quality standards, including impairment of designated uses, or 
other significant water quality impacts, including habitat and 
biological impacts.

[64 FR 68842, Dec. 8, 1999]