National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)

Any point source that discharges or intends to discharge to waters of the State must obtain a National Pollutant Discharge

Elimination System (NPDES) permit. A “point source” is defined as any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to, any pipe, ditch, channel, concentrated animal feeding operation, or well (40 CFR 122.2). A “Water of the State” includes any and all rivers, streams, creeks, branches, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, drainage systems, springs, wells, and other bodies of surface or subsurface water, natural or artificial, lying within or forming a part of the boundaries of the states, which are not entirely confined and retained completely upon the property of a single individual, partnership, or corporation (State Rules 391-3-6-.03).

NPDES permits are available for both industrial and domestic wastewater, and can be in the form of individual permits or general permits. The permit process below illustrates that of an individual NPDES permit process. For more information on the general permit process and those currently in effect, please visit our general permit page. 

New or expanding facilities may also be required to go through a technical design review alongside the permitting process. Facilities are encouraged to review these requirements early.

NPDES Permit Process

To ensure the timely renewal of a permit, please ensure that a complete application is submitted a minimum of 180 days before permit expiration.

Electronic permit applications and forms can be found here.

Permit Requirements

Upon the effective date of the permit, the facility is required to comply with all of the requirements of the permit. The permittee should carefully review their permit before it is issued to ensure all of the requirements are understood, such as: the identified monitoring locations, monitoring and reporting frequencies, parameters required for monitoring, and effluent limitations. The conditions listed below define some of the components that may be included in an NPDES Permit.

For more specific information on permit conditions and reporting conditions, please visit the corresponding links. Additional information is also available for special conditions and reasonable potential analyses.