Palm Beach County NPDES Program

Purpose: This web site has been authorized by the Palm Beach County MS4 NPDES (PBC NPDES) Steering Committee as a resource for all co-permittees within the county. It is intended that this site will provide the user with helpful information on understanding and complying with the requirements of the NPDES permit.



















Industrial and High Risk Runoff

The MS4 permit requires that co-permittees continue to implement a program to identify and control pollutants in stormwater discharges to the MS4 from:
  • any municipal landfill(s)
  • hazardous waste treatment, storage, disposal and recovery facilities
  • facilities that a subject to EPCRA Title III, Section 313
  • any other industrial or commercial discharge which the permittee(s) determine is contributing, as the potential to contribute a substantial pollutant loading to the MS4.


Inventory

In the first permit term, co-permittees developed inventories by searching various databases (described below) of information. An annual update of the inventory may be performed by reviewing current database information. Several of the databases are available on the U.S. EPA’s Envirofacts Data Warehouse website (http://www.epa.gov/enviro/index_java.html). This site will allow a multi-system query that will generate a list of facilities from the CERCLIS, RCRA Info, and TRI databases, matching the input search criteria. Please note that the query will match the search criteria exactly; therefore, if database information is mis-spelled or not accurate, the resulting list may not contain all the facilities of interest. For example, many facilities in Palm Beach County are listed with a city of "West Palm Beach," while they are physically located in other nearby municipalities.

Municipal Landfills: A list of operating and closed landfills in the County may be obtained from the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority. This list was provided to the Environmental Protection Agency in the Part 2 MS4 Permit Application, General Volume, Section 6. For updated information on landfills within Palm Beach County, contact the Solid Waste Authority at (561) 930-2727 or www.swa.org.

Hazardous Waste Generation, Transportation, Treatment, Storage, Disposal and Recovery Facilities: These facilities are required to report to the appropriate State agency under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Reported information is collected, validated and maintained by EPA regional offices in an information system (RCRIS) that can be accessed through the Environmental Protection Agency website.

Facilities reporting under EPCRA (Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act), Title III, Section 313: Section 3.13 of EPCRA requires that certain businesses submit annual Toxic Chemical Release Forms for each toxic chemical above the threshold amount. Reporting must be made to both the EPA and the respective State Emergency Response Commission. A list of the Section 3.13 facilities is found in the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), accessible through the EPA website.

The EPA site also maintains a list of abandoned and/or inactive or uncontrolled Superfund sites. The information system (CERCLIS) may be searched for these sites.

Private and Municipal Waste Handling Facilities: A list of these facilities can be obtained from the EPA's database of industrial NPDES permits, available at the EPA website.

Any Industrial Commercial Facility that the Co-Permittee Determines is Contributing a Substantial Pollutant Loading into Its MS4: Each co-permittee may add facilities to its inventory based on experience. Palm Beach County's wellfield operating permit database is an example of an inventory of facilities that co-permittees may want to review. Contact Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resource Management at (561) 233-2400. Information on Palm Beach County Wellfield Protection Program including the Wellfield Protection Maps can be obtained by accessing the Internet site (www.pbcgov.com/erm/protection/wellfield.asp).


Priority and Inspection
The MS4 permit requires that the co-permittee determine priority sites. During the 1st permit term, the co-permittees determined that facilities listed on the Toxic Release Inventory(TRI) and/or the Superfund list(CERCLIS), were priority sites.


Inspection procedures and schedules should be in place for all priority sites. A log of all inspections must be kept.

Monitoring may be required – on an “as-needed” basis, in the event that inspections disclose suspected illicit discharges to the MS4.

If you have any questions, comments, or would like to update information contained on this website, please email mockroos@mockroos.com