(4/1/11)

BACKGROUND

The Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC) was issued National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit MAS010001, which became effective on October 29, 1999, authorizing stormwater and allowable non-stormwater discharges from its municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4). The permit expired five years later on October 30, 2004; however, EPA administratively continued the permit as allowed by regulation.

DRAFT PERMIT

EPA is currently preparing a draft permit and fact sheet (which provides EPA's technical basis for establishing permit conditions) to replace the expired permit. In the development of the draft permit, EPA has examined the status of the City of Boston as an owner or operator of a regulated MS4 and is intending to include the City of Boston as a co-permittee in the draft permit.

EPA is considering new and necessary enhancements to best management practices (BMPs) to include in the permit to reduce stormwater pollutant loadings to the MS4 and receiving waters. As required by regulation, BMPs are based on measures to reduce pollution to the maximum extent practicable, attain state water quality standards, and support achievement of applicable waste load allocations included in EPA-approved Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) developed for the Charles River and the Neponset River. EPA is also considering changes to existing permit requirements for outfall and receiving waters monitoring, as well as various other updates to the Stormwater Management Program.

• Any person who wishes to receive information regarding this permitting process should send their contact information to Glenda Velez (velez.glenda@epa.gov) with "Draft Boston MS4 Information Request" indicated in the subject line.

• Once final, a notice of availability of the draft permit and fact sheet will be published in the Federal Register, posted on EPA's website, and mailed directly to the Boston Water and Sewer Commission and the City of Boston, as appropriate. EPA will solicit comment on the draft permit during a public notice period of at least thirty (30) days.

Contact:
Newton Tedder (tedder.newton@epa.gov)
Tel: (617) 918-1038

You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more about PDF, and for a link to the free Acrobat Reader.

Related documents:

• 1999 NPDES BWSC MS4 Permit and Fact Sheet (PDF) (46 pp, 2.6 MB)
• 2010 Stormwater Management Report (PDF) (79 pp, 10 MB)
• BWSC Stormwater Management Website Exit
• Final Total Maximum Daily Load for Nutrients in the Lower Charles River Basin, Massachusetts (CN 301.0, June 2007) (PDF) (196 pp, 1.8 MB) Exit
• Final Pathogen TMDL for the Charles River Watershed (CN 0156.0, January 2007) (PDF) (155 pp, 3.2 MB) Exit
• Final Total Maximum Daily Loads of Bacteria for Neponset River Basin (CN 121.0 May 2002) (PDF) (50 pp, 1.7 MB) Exit