NPDES Overview Course Now Available Online
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers segments of its popular "NPDES Permit Writers' Course" online.
In response to diminishing travel budgets and to reach a broader audience, the agency’s Office of Wastewater Management is developing Web-based presentations that cover some of the material presented in the live course.
The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program is authorized under the Clean Water Act to control the discharge of pollutants from industrial and municipal point sources to waters of the United States. The "NPDES Permit Writers' Course" is a five-day training course covering the key elements of NPDES permit development. The course is taught by experienced EPA staff and contractors and has been successful in training new EPA and state NPDES permit writers. These recorded presentations are not intended to replace the "live course" but should enable permit writers who attended the NPDES Permit Writers’ Course to review the material on demand in a self-paced environment. The Web-based presentations should also be useful for those who have not attended a live course but wish to become familiar with important concepts of the NPDES permit program.
The first installment in this Web-based training, “Establishing Water Quality-based Effluent Limitations in NPDES Permits" is now available at http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/outreach/training/pwtraining.cfm
This Web site provides links to the presentations, as well as introductory text describing the training materials and explanations of how to navigate through the presentations.
Additional training materials will be posted to the site in the coming months.
Questions or comments should be directed to David Hair in EPA's Water Permits Division at 202.564.2287 or hair.david@epa.gov.