WHEN DO YOU NEED TO OBTAIN A NJPDES DGW PERMIT
FROM THE DIVISION OF WATER QUALITY?
The discharge of pollutants to the ground waters of the State is regulated by the Department under the authority of the New Jersey Water Pollution Control Act (WPCA) N.J.S.A. 58:10A. The WPCA specifies that "No person shall discharge any pollutant except in conformity with a valid NJPDES permit." The permit program is called NJPDES which stands for New Jersey Pollutant Elimination System, and the regulations are found at N.J.A.C. 7:14A.
NJPDES permits are required for discharges to ground water of both sanitary and industrial wastes, as defined in N.J.A.C. 7:14A-1.9. These permits, which limit the mass and/or concentration of pollutants discharged, are issued to sanitary and industrial facilities that have ongoing, operational discharges of wastewater to ground water. The pollution control requirements contained in NJPDES ground water permits are those conditions necessary to restrict the discharge of pollutants to the ground waters of the state and protect the public health and the environment.
The types of discharge activities that are regulated by the Division of Water Quality and its NJPDES program include: surface impoundments; infiltration/percolation lagoons; overland flow systems; spray irrigation systems; and various types of subsurface disposal systems that are classified as underground injection systems. The types of facilities regulated include: mines, pits and quarries; schools and hospitals; potable water treatment plants; large corporate office buildings; industrial manufacturing facilities; campgrounds and mobile home parks; food processors; and sewage treatment plants and other dischargers of wastewater that can impact ground water, including dredge spoils disposed onto land.
Discharges that are not regulated by the Division of Water Quality and its NJPDES program are probably regulated by either the Site Remediation Program, or by the Division of Solid and Hazardous waste. These discharges are from past activities such as spills, or from the impact of non-operating or closed landfills. These discharges must obtain pollution control approvals such as MOAs or voluntary cleanups, from the relevant group in either of those programs. The types of discharges not covered by the DWQ NJPDES program are:
1. Past Discharges and the subsequent leaching of metals and petroleum product from contaminated soils
2. Monitoring at officially closed Sanitary landfills (Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste)
3. Underground storage tanks and remediation associated with them
4. ISRA contaminated sites
The Bureau of Nonpoint Pollution Control also coordinates the Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program for New Jersey. Underground injection systems include a number of different types of subsurface disposal systems such as: sanitary septic systems which do not conform to the Standards for the Construction of Individual Subsurface Sewage Disposal Systems (N.J.A.C. 7:9A); any septic system receiving industrial wastewater; true wastewater injection wells; subsurface trench systems; dry wells; seepage pits; etc. In New Jersey, the UIC program is managed under the umbrella of the NJPDES Discharge to Ground water Program, and there is no individual unit called the UIC program.
 Regulatory Bureaus
Ground Water Permitting Information
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