North Carolina Stormwater-General: What you need to know

National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program: 15A North Carolina Administrative Code (NCAC) 02H.0126 and 15A NCAC 02H.0127

Stormwater permits: North Carolina General Statutes (N.C. Gen. Stat.) 143-215.3

North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Division of Energy, Minerals, and Land Resources (DEMLR) Land Quality Section Stormwater Permitting Program

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4

See ADDRESSES & CONTACTS for addresses and telephone numbers.

See national section for basic information and federal regulations.

• Rules. North Carolina is authorized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to administer the federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program for wastewater discharges, including stormwater discharges. The state generally follows the federal stormwater permit rules for industrial facilities, construction activities, and municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s). See the national section STORMWATER—GENERAL for more information on the federal stormwater permitting program.

The Division of Energy, Minerals, and Land Resources (DEMLR) administers two major stormwater permitting programs throughout the state. The first program regulates general and individual point source discharges of stormwater from specific activities under the NPDES program. The second program is the State Stormwater Management Program, which specifically protects sensitive water bodies from new development activity impacts.

• Administration and enforcement. DENR's Stormwater Permitting Program administers the state stormwater management program and the federal NPDES ...