The legal foundation of the Erosion Control Plan

This is pretty complex stuff.  So here's a boil-down, provided by Jamie Saul.

The construction site stormwater requirements flow from the federal level on down:

• The Federal Clean Water Act, and EPA regulations on the subject, defined what state agencies are required to do
• State regulations, written by DNR, essentially implement these federal requirements within Wisconsin (they don’t necessarily mirror the EPA requirements in all instances)
• The City, as landowner and permittee, has the primary responsibility to follow the permit that it has received from DNR
• The Contractor, by city ordinance or simple contract (and possibly also by exerting control over the construction site itself), is required to follow the permit and the erosion control plan.

These various laws require erosion contnrol plans, based on best management practices (BMPs).  So the entires system depends on well-designed plans, which must be carefully implemented, well maintained, and well-inspected.

 

But because few people are out in the storm to see the discharge (inspectors and contractors included), and because the legal process is so complicated, erosion control has become the ugly stepsister of the industry.  To contractors, it seems like just another meaningless hoop to jump through.

 

Many industries are regulated in a different way--more goal oriented, based on how much discharge comes out of a smokestack.  That's easier to do, when the industry is always there, chugging away.

 

But construction sites are temporary, while the weather is unpredictable.  These features of the industry are what make erosion so difficult to regulate and control.