SWPPP questions, answered from the permit text
Every answer below comes from one of three places: the 50-state scan of construction general permits behind this site, a clause of the EPA 2022 Construction General Permit that our generator already carries, or a plain fact about what SwpppDraft does. Questions we cannot answer from those — state filing deadlines, penalties, county rules — have no page here, on purpose.
- Who can prepare a SWPPP?
For a 1–5 acre construction site, 40 of the 50 states let the operator prepare the SWPPP themselves; nine require a licensed professional and one (Missouri) publishes no permit text we could read, so we treat it as a no. - Which states require a licensed professional to prepare a SWPPP?
Alabama, California, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island require a licensed professional for a 1–5 acre site state-wide, and South Carolina requires one above 2 disturbed acres. - Which states make you take a course before writing a SWPPP?
Maine and Montana require the SWPPP preparer to hold a certificate from an open-enrolment course before the plan is written; Minnesota and Indiana require training but accept in-house or any-provider training with no exam. - Does my site need a licensed professional even though my state allows self-preparation?
In Connecticut, New York, Oregon, Utah and Vermont the answer depends on the site: water within 50 feet, a steep slope, an engineered basin, the project type, or a state risk score can each move a 1–5 acre project onto the licensed-professional side. - What acreage thresholds change SWPPP requirements?
Below one disturbed acre federal permit coverage is usually not required at all; above that, the thresholds that change who may write the plan are state-specific — 2 acres in South Carolina, 5 acres in Tennessee and Utah, 20 acres in Oregon, and 5,000 square feet in New Jersey. - Why does my state call it something other than a SWPPP?
The document is the same but the name is not: Texas and Ohio call it an SWP3, Kansas an SWP2, Alabama a CBMPP, Rhode Island an SESC plan, Vermont an EPSC plan, South Carolina a C-SWPPP and Pennsylvania splits it into an E&S plan and a PCSM plan. - Do I need a SWPPP?
If your construction site disturbs one acre or more — or less than an acre but as part of a larger common plan of development — you almost certainly need permit coverage and a SWPPP; below that threshold, coverage is usually not required at all. - How much does a SWPPP cost?
A consultant-prepared SWPPP for a small site is commonly quoted at around $497 — a market figure we have not re-verified; SwpppDraft intends to charge $99 for the plan and $149 with the forms pack, and is not open for sale yet, so nothing can be bought here today. - What does a SWPPP template actually give you?
A template gives you the federal Part 7.2 structure with every site-specific fact still blank; the work that remains is the site map, the phases, the controls, the receiving water and your state's own preparer clause. - What is a SWPPP?
A SWPPP is the stormwater pollution prevention plan a construction general permit requires, describing the site, the controls that will keep sediment and pollutants out of surface water, and how those controls will be inspected and maintained. - What is a Notice of Intent (NOI)?
The Notice of Intent is the filing that asks for coverage under a construction general permit; the SWPPP then has to hold a copy of it, the coverage correspondence, the authorisation letter and the NPDES tracking number (Part 7.2.11). - What is a Notice of Termination (NOT)?
The Notice of Termination ends permit coverage, and it is normally filed only once the site meets the permit's final stabilization conditions — filing it early ends coverage while the site can still discharge. - How often does a construction site have to be inspected?
Federally, either once every seven calendar days, or once every 14 calendar days plus within 24 hours of a storm producing 0.25 inches or more of rain in 24 hours; sites discharging to certain impaired waters must use the seven-day-plus-storm schedule. - What are BMPs on a construction site?
BMPs are the erosion, sediment, pollution-prevention and dewatering controls the permit requires you to describe, install and maintain — perimeter barriers, stabilized entrances, inlet protection, slope protection, washout areas and the rest. - What has to be on a SWPPP site map?
Part 7.2.4 requires the map to show site boundaries and drainage, every control at its actual location, surface waters and any buffer kept, on-site and off-site support activity areas, and the areas of exposed soil with their stabilization. - Who signs a SWPPP?
The operator's signatory signs and dates the plan, and who may sign — or be authorised to sign on their behalf — is defined in Appendix G, Part G.11 of the federal permit, which SwpppDraft has not verified against the current text. - How long do I have to keep SWPPP records?
Inspection reports and the corrective action log are kept for at least three years (Part 4.7.4 and Part 5.4.4), and the plan itself has to be available at the site for as long as the permit covers the work (Part 7.3). - When do I have to update my SWPPP?
Within seven days of a change in design, construction, operation or maintenance that affects discharges, or when an inspection or corrective action shows a control is not working (Part 7.4.1). - When does exposed soil have to be stabilized?
Stabilization must be initiated immediately in any area of exposed soil where construction has permanently ceased or will be temporarily inactive for 14 or more calendar days, and "immediately" means no later than the end of the next business day after work stops. - What changes if my site discharges to an impaired water?
For the portion of the site discharging to a water impaired for sediment or nutrients — or identified as Tier 2, 2.5 or 3, or within Lands of Exclusive Federal Jurisdiction — inspections move to once every seven calendar days and within 24 hours of a qualifying storm (Part 4.3.1). - Does my dewatering discharge need turbidity monitoring?
Part 3.3 applies when dewatering water is discharged to a sensitive water — one listed as impaired for sediment or a sediment-related parameter, designated Tier 2, 2.5 or 3, or within Lands of Exclusive Federal Jurisdiction — and the benchmark is 50 NTU compared against a weekly average. - What does my SWPPP need to say about endangered species?
Part 7.2.9 requires the plan to hold the endangered-species documentation from the Notice of Intent or the Appendix D worksheet, showing which eligibility criterion the site relies on, and any federally listed critical habitat in the action area also has to appear on the site map. - What training records does my SWPPP have to hold?
The federal permit requires the stormwater team and the inspectors to be trained and the training records to be kept with the plan (Part 6.2–6.3); SwpppDraft provides no training and does not verify it. - Who counts as the operator of a construction site?
The permit asks for the operators and the area of the site each one controls (Part 7.2.1) — a list of company names without their areas does not meet the clause. - Do county or city rules apply on top of the state SWPPP requirement?
They can, and this site does not cover them: the scan behind every state page answered the state-level question only, so a local authority may require more even where the state permit allows a self-prepared plan.