Can i do my own SWPPP?
To write a SWPPP, you will need to familiarize yourself with your State’s Stormwater Construction General Permit (often referred to as the “CGP”). This document will layout all of the requirements necessary for your SWPPP. Every State’s CGP varies slightly, but the most common requirements to include in your SWPPP are a list of the potential pollutants that will be found on your site, a list of the ways you will control those pollutants (referred to as Best Management Practices or BMPs), and a list of the people who will be responsible for implementing and maintaining those controls.
To determine what pollutants you will have on your site, you’ll need to list out the activities that will take place along with a schedule of when the different construction activities will occur. The potential pollutants will vary based on what types of construction activities are occurring on the site.
You will also need to obtain a report on the soil types present on your site to determine how stormwater will flow on the site and what risk there is to pollutants penetrating to ground water sources.
You’ll need to determine the nearest waterbody (lake, river, stream, canal, wetland, etc.) to your site and discover whether that waterbody is listed as “impaired” by your State. Impaired waterbodies require increased pollution prevent control measures and increased inspection frequencies.
You’ll need to find out if stormwater discharges from your site will be entering into a municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4). If they will, you’ll need to check to see what requirements the MS4 has for construction projects.
All States require self-monitoring inspections to be completed and recorded in conjunction with your SWPPP. State’s requirements vary, so you’ll need to find out how often inspections are required and who is allowed to perform the inspections.
The SWPPP must contain instructions for the responsible parties on how to deal with any deficiencies that are discovered during the inspections, including the timeframe for actions to be taken and how they are to be recorded.
Many states require that you list any threatened or endangered species of wildlife that may be present within a certain distance of your site. You must include how they may be affected and how you will control that.
The SWPPP must include a drawn map of the site that shows where all the pollution prevention best management practices (BMPs) will be placed or installed. The map must be updated during each inspection to reflect the current conditions on site.
While this is a basic overview of what is required in your SWPPP, there may be more things depending on your State and municipal requirements. Upon submitting your SWPPP, it is very likely that the regulatory officials will return it to you with requests to add, remove, or otherwise amend the information to meet their requirements.