This permit is required for any construction sites which disturb a total of one or more acres.

However, any sites between one and five acres do not require registration under the Construction General Permit if the activity is reviewed and approved by a local land-use commission. This could be planning and zoning, wetlands, conservation commission, etc. The reviewing commission must also be following regulations pursuant to the CT Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Act.

Registration can be done through DEEP’s ezFile instructions. All registrations and accompanying documents must be electronic. Both Locally Approved and Locally Exempt projects must submit registrations and pay the registration fee what aligns with their project. Information of the specifics of what is required within the registration form can be found on pages 23-27 of the Construction General Permit. With your registration, you must provide a Stormwater Pollution Control Plan (SWPCP) addressing erosion and sediment control, as well as post-constructions measures.

Existing permittees have 120 days to submit a re-registration.

Locally Approved: construction activity for which the registration is not for a municipal, state, or federal project and is required to obtain municipal approval for the project.

As a locally approved project, you will still need to register under the permit and provide your SWPCP completed by a qualified professional. This SWPCP must also be reviewed and certified by a qualified professional of one of the five Soil Conservations Districts. Make sure you have a present contractor sign a certification stating that they are familiar with and will follow the SWPCP and the Construction General Permit. The registration for locally approved projects must be submitted at least 60 days before commencing any projects.

Locally Exempt: construction activity for which a registration is required under the general permit and which is not a locally approvable project

As a locally exempt project, you will still need to register under the permit and provide your SWPCP completed by a qualified professional. Make sure you have a present contractor sign a certification stating that they are familiar with and will follow the SWPCP and the Construction General Permit. The registration for locally exempt projects must be submitted at least 60 days before commencing projects under 15 acres and 90 days before commencing projects over 15 acres, discharges to a tidal wetland, or discharges to an impaired waters.

To confirm if your activity discharges directly to an impaired water, check with the Impaired Waters Table.

If this is the case, take note of the provisions which must take place:

You may not disturb more than 3 acres at any one time and you must provide temporary stabilization measures implemented within 3 days of a temporary suspension of over 14 days in the construction period, as well as permanent stabilization 30 days before disturbance; OR

Document the measures being taken to ensure there is no discharge to impaired waters during rain events of up to 2-year, 24-hour event during construction within you SWPCP; OR

If the impaired water has a TMDL, your SWPCP must show that there is remaining Waste Load Allocation (WLA) in the TMDL to allow for the discharge, ensure the WLA will not be exceeded, AND monitor the discharge for any indicator pollutant identified in the TMDL in the rain events where discharges are present.

All registrants must have a Plan Implementation checklist, schedule, and identification of the qualified professional who will be conducting inspections within their SWPCP. The plan must also keep track of any findings, actions, and results of all site inspections conducted.

These routine inspections must be conducted at the beginning of construction, at the end of every phase of construction, as well as weekly.

While solar arrays are a great source of renewable, clean energy, the construction process can pose a great threat to water quality if not properly managed. Construction for solar arrays pose a great threat for runoff, erosion, and sedimentation. Therefore, solar array construction sites, along with the general conditions of the permit, have further conditions to follow in order to prevent and minimize stormwater pollution. Examples of these conditions are the establishment of roadways, gravel paths, and transformers to be considered as effective impervious cover for the purposes of calculating Water Quality Volume (WQV). The solar panels themselves are considered to be effective impervious cover depending on the slope of the site as well. Specific setbacks and buffers are also required around the construction site depending on the surrounding environment. More information on Solar Arrays construction sites can be found within Appendix I of the Construction General Permit.

Estimated timetable and phases of the construction activity, including the erosion and sediment disturbance for each phase and for the activity as a whole. Where practicable, avoid disturbances of over 5 acres at a time and implement stormwater control measures in early phases of construction.

Information on surrounding environmental layout and infiltration ability, locations and narratives of post-construction management measures, runoff reduction practices, and LID designs, calculations of water quality volume and proposed impervious cover. See page 31 for details. Make sure the following is included:

• • Layout / locations of surrounding environmental areas (streams, floodplains, wetlands, etc)
  • Drainage patterns
  • Soils with suitable infiltration
  • Soils with unsuitable infiltration for building
  • Location and narrative of post-construction stormwater management measures, runoff reduction practices, and LID design measures
  • Areas suitable for infiltration of stormwater runoff
  • Calculations of retention of water quality volume as applicable
  • Description of site constraints preventing retention of water quality volume
  • Calculations of proposed effective impervious cover for site

Description and drawings of all control measures planned for implementation to minimize pollutant discharges. Make sure to include the calculations of the design of sediment and floatables removal controls and calculations of the design of the velocity dissipation controls.

All registrants must have a Plan Implementation checklist, schedule, and identification of the qualified professional who will be conducting inspections within their SWPCP. The plan must also keep track of any findings, actions, and results of all site inspections conducted. These routine inspections must be conducted at the beginning of construction, at the end of every phase of construction, as well as weekly. An example check list can be found here.