← EPA Federal Register rules

NPDES Small MS4 Urbanized Area Clarification

water-quality · Rule · Published 2023-06-12 · Effective 2023-07-12 · 88 FR 37994

Document

Document number
2023-12494
Federal Register citation
88 FR 37994
CFR reference
40 CFR 122
Type
Rule
Action
Final rule.
Category
water-quality
Publication date
2023-06-12
Effective date
2023-07-12
EPA docket
EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0834

Abstract

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing clarifications to its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Stormwater Phase II regulations due to recent changes made by the Census Bureau. The changes to EPA's regulations are limited to clarifying that the designation criteria for small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s), which have been used since the promulgation of the regulations in 1999, will remain the same. These clarifications are necessary due to the Census Bureau's recent decision to discontinue its practice of publishing the location of "urbanized areas" along with the 2020 Census and future censuses. The clarifications in this final rule replace the term "urbanized area" in the Phase II regulations with the phrase "urban areas with a population of at least 50,000," which is the Census Bureau's longstanding definition of the term urbanized areas. This change allows NPDES permitting authorities to use 2020 Census and future Census data in a manner that is consistent with existing longstanding regulatory practice.

Source

Authoritative
Federal Register document
Machine
JSON-LD · Markdown