General Permits, Real Impacts: What Maryland Communities Should Know
A discharge permit may shape what happens in your stream, neighborhood, farm field, construction site, or local watershed long before a specific project ever appears on your radar. That is the practical effect and importance of general permits: environmental agencies use them for categories of discharges they believe can be managed under common terms and conditions, rather than writing a separate permit for every facility, site, or activity. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) recently opened public comment on several draft general discharge permit renewals, including permits for composting toilet discharges , hydrostatic testing and related dewatering or groundwater remediation activities , and pesticide applications to waters of the State . Those examples may sound obscure, but general permits are also used for significant categories of activity that affect many Maryland communities, including construction stormwater, industrial stormwater, animal feeding operatio...