Region 1 Final Aquaculture General Permit
Final NPDES Aquaculture General Permit (AQUAGP) for Concentrated Aquatic Animal Production (CAAP) Facilities and Other Related Facilities in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont
EPA Region 1 is issuing the Final National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Aquaculture General Permit (AQUAGP) for discharges from Concentrated Aquatic Animal Production (CAAP) facilities and other related facilities to certain waters of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, State of New Hampshire, and State of Vermont (federal facilities only). This Final NPDES AQUAGP establishes effluent limitations and requirements, effluent and ambient monitoring requirements, reporting requirements, and standard conditions for 12 eligible hatcheries currently covered by individual NPDES permits, five in Massachusetts, five in New Hampshire, and two in Vermont. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and State of New Hampshire have provided Clean Water Act Section 401 certification for this permit and the State of Vermont has waived the 401 certification requirement.
The Notice of Availability for the Final AQUAGP is available at the following web address: https://www.regulations.gov/document/EPA_FRDOC_0001-26803.
Dates
Permit Issuance Date: May 6, 2021
Permit Effective Date: July 5, 2021
Deadline to apply for current dischargers: September 3, 2021
Final Permit Documents
- NPDES General Permits for Aquaculture Facilities, MAG130000, NHG130000, VTG130000 (pdf)
- Response to Comments on Draft General Permits for Aquaculture Facilities (pdf)
- Draft General Permit documents, including the Fact Sheet
2022 Modification to the Vermont General Permit
EPA received a request from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to modify the Aquaculture General Permit on March 23, 2022. EPA is moving forward with the modification request and has published a Notice of Availability of the Draft Modification in the Federal Register on July 27, 2022. The Draft Modification, Statement of Basis, and Modification Request are provided in the links below.
EPA held a public comment period from July 27 to August 26, 2022. No comments were received on the Draft Modification. As a result, the Draft Modification was finalized and signed without any changes. The Final Modification was issued on September 6, 2022 and became effective on the same day. A copy of the Final Modification is provided below.
Notices
Notices of Intent (NOI) to discharge must be submitted through EPA’s NPDES eReporting Tool (NeT). All NOIs received by EPA that EPA proposes to authorize will be posted on EPA’s website, https://permitsearch.epa.gov/epermit-search/ui/search. For more information on obtaining authorization to discharge, see Part 6 of the General Permit document.
Additional training information, including recordings of past training can be found at the following webpages:
- Region 1 NeT Recorded Training (6/22) posted in 2 parts
- Training (6/22) PowerPoint Posted
- NPDES eReporting Support Page for NeT Aqua
- CDX Guide for NeT Aquaculture
EPA Contacts
Janet Deshais (Deshais.Janet@epa.gov), 617-918-1667
State Contacts
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
Cathy Vakalopoulos (Catherine.Vakalopoulos@state.ma.us), 617-348-4026
New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services
Hayley Franz (Hayley.Franz@des.nh.gov), 603-271-0671
Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation
Amy Polaczyk (amy.polaczyk@vermont.gov), 802-490-6185