Public Notification Requirements for Combined Sewer Overflows to the Great Lakes Basin

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing a rule to implement section 425 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016, which requires EPA to work with the Great Lakes States to establish public notification requirements for combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharges to the Great Lakes. The requirements address signage, notification of local public health departments and other potentially affected public entities, notification to the public, and annual notice. The rule includes a two-stage approach with requirements that apply directly to existing National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permittees authorized to discharge from a CSO to the Great Lakes Basin, beginning on August 7, 2018 and a requirement that the public notification provisions be incorporated into NPDES permits when these permits are issued or reissued after February 7, 2018, unless the permit has been proposed prior to February 7, 2018 in which case the requirements would be incorporated into the next permit renewal. This rule protects public health by ensuring timely notification to the public and to public health departments, public drinking water facilities and other potentially affected public entities, including Indian tribes. It provides additional specificity beyond existing public notification requirements to ensure timely and consistent communication to the public regarding CSO discharges to the Great Lakes Basin. Timely notice may allow the public and affected public entities to take steps to reduce the public's potential exposure to pathogens associated with human sewage, which can cause a wide variety of health effects, including gastrointestinal, skin, ear, respiratory, eye, neurologic, and wound infections.