Environmental Protection Agency to regulate runoff

Rule will improve water quality, decrease turbitity across the nation

Arth Pandya

Staff Writer

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a regulation on Feb. 1 to help reduce water pollution from construction sites. The rule takes effect in North Carolina August 2011.

The rule will place limits on the amount of turbidity in runoff from construction sites, and require sites to monitor the runoff.

This is the first time the EPA has imposed national monitoring requirements and enforceable numeric limitations on construction site storm water runoff, according to the EPA.   

Soil and sediment runoff is one of the leading causes of water quality problems nationwide, according to Dr. Rich McLaughlin, professor of soil science and an expert in water quality protection at the University.   

McLaughlin said the regulation will significantly improve the water quality, which impacts not only ecosystems, but also our drinking water supply.   

“This will have a direct impact on aquatic life, whether it is fish, insects — anything that is living in the water.  When water is too turbid, plants can’t get light and eventually die out.  Aquatic vegetation can’t survive, which can wreck ecosystems.  We get our water from lakes, and if that water is too turbid, it’s more expensive and difficult to clean it up,” he said.   

The EPA was sued by a consortium of environmental groups and states, according to McLaughlin, which forced them to enforce the clean water act for construction site runoff, just as they regulate other pollutant sources.

McLaughlin said the regulation will affect mostly the larger developers in the U.S.

“It’ll affect the people who develop the Walmarts, the Targets, developers like Beazer and Centex.”

The regulation will also affect University construction projects.

“Hunt library, the larger projects that we have, probably mostly on Centennial Campus, most of them will have to comply,” McLaughlin said.   

Ted Sherrod, a North Carolina Department of Transportation engineer, said McLaughlin’s research had been an instrumental part in formulating the rule.

“EPA looked at the work [McLaughlin] had done in formulating their rule,” he said.  “NCSU has been one of the top sites for leading the nation in research for controlling turbidity from work sites.”

McLaughlin said that its option allows sites to reduce the negative impact on water quality without having an extremely expensive impact.  

“Over many years, the EPA said there was no economical way to control [construction runoff],” he said.  “We provided them an alternative to what they thought was their only option, portable treatment plants, and it took 8 years for us to feel really comfortable that we had options that worked.”  

The EPA cites this approach as being much more cost effective than its original proposed rule.

According to McLaughlin, the EPA estimated that the financial impact on construction sites will be minimal, adding roughly 0.1 percent to construction costs.

“If they do it right, and plan it, they won’t even notice a change in the cost.,” he said.

The regulation, however, will be one of the greatest challenges the construction industry in the state and nation has ever faced, according to Sherrod.   

He said North Carolina faces unique environmental challenges with turbidity. 

“We have a lot of clay, and clay is usually the culprit behind high levels of turbidity. North Carolina generally has consistent precipitation throughout the year — our soil type, the typography. Our slopes are steeper in the piedmont area and it’s more difficult to contain that runoff,” he said.   

Sherrod said the general attitude toward the rule is one of anxiety.

“Putting in place the right contract provisions, the correct designs, the right site managers to manage it, the right tools to use — it’s quite a task.  [The rule] is certainly looked upon apprehensively,” he said.  “It’ll be difficult to meet the numeric limits, because right now construction discharge can be several hundred to several thousand NTU.  Our goal is to achieve a level of 280 NTU, the EPA standard.”

NTU is a measure of water clarity, for comparison, typical drinking water has an NTU of less than 1.

Despite the challenges,Sherrod said the NCDOT will strive to accomplish the arduous feat ahead of it.   

“However, as environmental professionals, as engineers in the field, we look at it as one of the challenges on the job site that we will strive to achieve,” he said. 

 ”We’re already underway in incorporating the turbidity regulation in all of our projects, and through efforts in addressing water quality discharge from construction sites, there will be a positive impact on streams that are already impaired and hopefully we can see water quality … rebound.”