2023 Updates: Residual Designation Authority (RDA) Activities Underway for the Charles, Neponset, and Mystic River Watersheds
December 2023
Issuance of Draft RDA Permit
EPA continues its work on the technical analysis to support its decision-making and the administrative record for the development of the Residual Designation (RD) Permit in the Charles, Mystic, and Neponset watersheds. EPA is on track to issue the draft permit(s) by September 2024 and plans to update its website with additional supporting technical documents in early 2024.
Stakeholder Outreach
EPA, in partnership with the Consensus Building Institute, will be conducting outreach and informational sessions with interested stakeholders in the three affected watersheds beginning in early 2024. We will also be posting updates on the outcome of these stakeholder outreach sessions and providing opportunities for additional involvement by interested parties.
Technical Assistance and Tools
On October 19, 2023, Region 1 announced that it will be working with several MA communities, including Somerville, (Mystic River Watershed), Milford (Charles River Watershed) and Stoughton (Neponset River Watershed)in 2024 to discuss challenges and solutions for effective nutrient management through retrofits for targeted stormwater management in communities with environmental justice concerns. This work is supported by Charles, Mystic, and Neponset River Watershed Associations, the University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center, and the Consensus Building Institute. The effort will be particularly focused on low-cost green infrastructure options that align local needs with the municipalities' maintenance capabilities and provide additional benefits to communities with environmental justice concerns. It is expected that the lessons from these case studies will be shareable and benefit other municipalities and RDA permit holders in the Charles, Mystic, and Neponset River watersheds.
EPA plans to post on its website in early 2024 two additional technical assistance resources: an Impervious Cover Data Dashboard for each watershed that will allow users to see pollutant loading from the different types of land use categories. EPA is also finalizing municipal-specific technical information sheets that provide municipalities with some background on the RDA permitting process and highlight the specific types of parcels and associated pollutant loads that may be subject to RDA permitting within their town boundaries.
Related Permitting Actions
EPA continues to work on the permit renewal for the 2016 Massachusetts Small MS4 General permit that expired in 2022. EPA currently plans to release a draft permit for public comment in 2024 prior to the release of the RDA draft permit.
April 2023
Issuance of Draft RDA Permit:
EPA is developing a permitting approach for stormwater discharges consistent with the 2022 Clean Water Act Residual Designation Determination (RDA) for the Charles, Mystic and Neponset River Watersheds. EPA is aware that diverse stakeholders are keenly interested in this RDA matter and we expect that the draft RDA permitting action(s) may garner even more interest. In an effort to provide transparency on the development of our permit, EPA plans to provide the public with regular updates on the status of this work, including updates on EPA's estimated target of issuing a draft permit by the end of summer of 2024. As EPA has articulated in the past, (described here (pdf) ) this target is an estimate due to technical complexities and administrative uncertainties and may be adjusted accordingly, particularly for circumstances outside of our control. We want to assure the public, however, that issuing a draft RDA general permit is one of EPA Region 1's highest priorities.
EPA is committed to developing an environmentally protective, technically accurate, and legally sound draft NPDES general permit(s) that potential permittees can understand and implement. We are building internal capacity to accelerate the development of the draft permit. We are also undertaking the important, but time-consuming, technical analysis of relevant pollutant loadings in each watershed, a critical step to inform EPA's decision-making and administrative record for this permitting process.
Stakeholder outreach:
Building upon EPA's RDA-related stakeholder outreach (pdf) , we will be conducting outreach and informational sessions with interested parties as EPA develops the draft RDA general permit(s). Such outreach and engagement are particularly important in communities with environmental justice concerns and it is critically important that adequate time is given for meaningful and effective engagement.
Other Permitting Actions:
Finally, EPA Region 1 must balance the urgency of issuing draft RDA documents for public review and comment with our obligations to address numerous additional water quality priorities and permitting work, some of which have implications for the same watersheds encompassed by the RDA determination. For example, the 2016 Massachusetts Small MS4 General permit expired in 2022 and EPA is working to develop and issue a draft permit renewal for public comment.