– The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality’s Water Permits Division has announced a modification to the Sewage Sludge and Biosolids Use or Disposal General Permit, effective August 1, 2012. The permit provides authorization to facilities currently holding a Louisiana Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit that have sewage sludge removed from a sanitary wastewater treatment works, and subsequently transported off-site for a fee or other consideration.
"The modified permit will clarify the applicability of the general permit, while streamlining the methods to obtain coverage under the general permit," said Mitch Mitchell, Administrator of DEQ’s Water Permits Division. "The permit also refines the recordkeeping and reporting requirements, thereby expediting the overall process for both DEQ and applicable facilities."
Coverage under this modified permit will not require submittal of a Notice of Intent, provided the facility meets the eligibility requirements of the permit.
Effective August 1, 2012, facilities eligible for coverage and seeking coverage under this general permit will be automatically covered. Effective January 1, 2013, all minor LPDES sanitary wastewater treatment facilities that do not receive domestic septage and/or portable toilet waste into their systems shall automatically become authorized permittees under this permit, provided the facility is not authorized under a different Louisiana Sewage Sludge or Biosolids Use or Disposal Permit.
The modified permit is available on the DEQ Sewage Sludge and Biosolids Web site: http://www.deq.louisiana.gov/portal/DIVISIONS/WaterPermits/Biosolids.aspx.
For more information, please contact Eura DeHart of the Water Permits Division at (225) 219-3213 or (225) 219-9371.
