Originally published in the June 4, 2007 issue of AGC's Environmental Observer. Reprinted with permission of the AGC. The original article may be found here.
Stormwater Excellence
We are still seeing sediment washing off many construction sites. Noncompliance with stormwater rules is one of EPA's top concerns with your industry. In spite of an enforcement crackdown and an outpouring of assistance, less than half of regulated construction operations even get required stormwater permit coverage. An industry "self-policing" experiment in Colorado is catching EPA and states’ attention because it's producing impressive results.
By Peter Truitt
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Construction Industry Point-of-Contact
The Colorado Stormwater Excellence Program (CSEP) is the brainchild of Bill Robinson, president of Stormwater Risk Management, LLC (SRM), based near Denver. Mr. Robinson, formerly a construction contractor, entered into a partnership with Colorado's Water Quality Control Division and AGC of Colorado in a self-policing pilot program to improve compliance. Here's how CSEP works:
Participating companies commit to excellence in managing stormwater at all their Colorado sites. State-approved independent auditors (currently SRM) train construction crews in stormwater pollution prevention planning, best management practices, record-keeping, and all other requirements of EPA, the state and the municipality. SRM inspects every site each month, advises on how to fix potential violations, and reports findings to the participant within 24 hours. Five days later the SRM inspectors return to see if problems were corrected. It's all carefully documented, including photos, in reports to the participant’s field and upper management. SRM periodically sends reports to the state summarizing problems found, corrected, and not corrected, but details for each site are not disclosed to the state. Companies with persistent performance problems are booted out of the program (hasn’t happened yet) and the state notified.
Independent, reliable auditors (inspectors) are of course crucial for the integrity and effectiveness of the CSEP. Responsibility for expanding the pool of auditors (beyond SRM alone) and monitoring their performance lies with a CSEP Advisory Board. AGC of Colorado has a representative on the Board. The Chapter also has other administrative responsibilities and provides NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) training and education as well as CSEP promotional resources.
Participating companies don't get immunity from government inspections. So, why pay an industry inspector to check you out? The answer is simple: confidence – confidence that you are on the road to full compliance, with documentation to prove it and with on-site assistance to help you get there. You have confidence that if government inspectors stop by, you won’t be fined thousands of dollars. If the state does find violations, it will recognize a company's efforts to maintain compliance through CSEP when determining penalties.
Ten companies with a total of 49 active construction sites are in the program. During 2006, SRM conducted 796 compliance inspections. Average improvements for all sites, using six measures of compliance performance developed by SRM and the state, ranged from 60 percent to 90 percent.
A report on the results of the CSEP pilot program will be released this summer. I will be writing an article on its findings in the Environmental Observer.
EPA’s enforcement office is showing strong interest in CSEP. In February I invited SRM’s Bill Robinson and Nathan Moore from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to brief EPA headquarters officials. Following the meeting, EPA’s Deputy Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance reiterated her support for CSEP. “The program is a clear example of how we can work with industry to promote our common goal of compliance . . .” She said EPA is looking forward to reviewing the final data “in an effort to assess the broader applicability of the program.”
Self-policing should catch on. EPA and states get improved compliance and wider inspection coverage without further stretching their limited staff. Contractors get the security of compliance, lots of help, and positive recognition for their efforts from regulators. EPA Region 3 is working with SRM to try the CSEP approach in the mid-Atlantic states. Interest among contractors is brewing in Hawaii. Rhode Island will receive a grant from EPA to develop a construction compliance self-certification program. And I am having discussions with AGC of America on ways to promote CSEP-like self-policing nationwide. We are pursuing the idea of starting in the five states where EPA still runs the NPDES permitting program.
I would welcome hearing your thoughts about self-policing – or other ways to improve compliance. Feel free to contact me at .
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of EPA.