Oregon DEQ: Water Quality Permit Program - Pesticide Applications into Surface Waters

Update on the Pesticide General Permit (2300A) and Irrigation District General Permit (2000J) as of 10/31/2011

The Pesticide General Permit is effective Oct. 31, 2011. The Pesticide General Permit is a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general water quality permit for certain pesticide applications that result in a discharge in, over or near surface water. DEQ believes the permits should result in long-range, beneficial impact on water quality in Oregon.

These permits affect operators who decide to apply pesticides or have day-to-day control over pesticide application. These operators include weed control districts, vector control districts, golf courses, lake and marina managers, large landholdings, public utilities, and federal, state and municipal agencies whose pesticides applications reach water.

Effective Oct. 31, 2011, permit coverage is available for the following pesticide applications:

While a wide range of operators are covered under the permit and need to follow its regulations, registration, fees, and reports to DEQ will only be required from government agencies, some districts and large-scale pesticide applications identified in Table 1.

To help operators complete the application for registration and satisfy the permit recordkeeping, notification and reporting requirements, DEQ has mapping tools and GIS layers available.

Use the geographic/facility search on the Facility Profiler to identify water bodies and water suppliers. For information on how to use Facility Profiler to identify water suppliers of source water, see the instructions.

Oregon Water Resources Department has Interactive Water Right Maps to identify points of diversion for domestic water users with water rights permits.

GIS layers are also available for lakes and rivers and surface water drinking water source areas.

A list of water quality limited 303(d) listed water bodies can identified by using DEQ’s Water Quality Assessment Database.

General Permit for Irrigation Districts (2000J)

The Pesticide General Permit will cover aquatic pesticide applications that irrigation districts perform until an Irrigation District General Permit is issued. Irrigation districts will have a separate Irrigation District General Permit (2000J) available in 2012.

Irrigation districts that currently have individual permits will continue to operate under those permits until such time as DEQ issues the proposed Irrigation District General Permit. The public comment period for the proposed new Irrigation District General Permit for the application of aquatic pesticides closed on Apr. 15th, 2011.

The proposed permit will replace individual permits that were first issued to irrigation districts in 2002. DEQ is proposing to issue a new general permit for the application of aquatic pesticides by irrigation districts formed under Oregon Revised Statute 545 or by entities previously covered by individual permits for the application of aquatic pesticides. The pesticides that may be used under this permit include acrolein, copper and xylene-based aquatic pesticides.

The following documents provide information on the proposed Irrigation District General Permit:

Proposed NPDES Irrigation General Permit 2000J

Proposed Supporting Fact Sheet for the Permit

NPDES permits do not apply to agricultural stormwater discharges and irrigation return flow from irrigated agriculture because these are excluded from permitting under the Clean Water Act.

Background on the PGP

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule in Nov. 2006 that clarified two specific circumstances in which a Clean Water Act permit is not required before pesticides are applied. The two situations are when:

pesticides are applied directly to water to control pests, including mosquito larvae, aquatic weeds and other pests in the water; and

pesticides are applied to control pests that are present over or near water where a portion of the pesticide will unavoidably be deposited to the water in order to target the pests effectively.

In effect the rule meant that pesticides legally registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for application to or near aquatic environments, and legally applied to control pests at those sites, were not subject to NPDES permit requirements. The rule became effective Jan. 26, 2007. Challenges to the rule were filed in 11 circuit courts around the country. The challenges were consolidated for hearing in the Sixth Circuit Court. On Jan. 7, 2009, the Sixth Circuit Court ruled that NPDES permits are required for:

all biological pesticide applications and

chemical pesticide applications that leave a residue or excess pesticide in water

When the applications are made in or over or near waters of the U.S. The Court ruling affects DEQ because DEQ is authorized by EPA to issue NPDES permits and conduct the compliance and monitoring for these permits.

The Sixth Circuit Court gave EPA two years to develop a general permit so that by Apr. 9, 2011, the regulated community was required to be covered under the pesticide general permit. EPA requested and received an extension on the court-ordered date. NPDES permits are required by Oct. 31, 2011. EPA issued the permit on Oct. 31, 2011.

EPA’s PGP covers discharges in areas where EPA is the NPDES permitting authority, which include six states (Alaska, Idaho, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Oklahoma), Washington, D.C., all U.S. territories except the Virgin Islands, most Indian Country lands, and federal facilities in four additional states (Colorado, Delaware, Vermont, and Washington).

EPA’s Pesticide General Permit