AST: Aboveground Storage Tank
Best management practices (BMPs): Structural devices or nonstructural practices that are designed to prevent pollutants from entering into stormwater, to direct the flow of stormwater, or to treat polluted stormwater.
Certificate of coverage (COC): A document, issued by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, which authorizes a discharge under a general permit.
City stormwater drainage system (CSDS): Includes all wetlands, surface water bodies, and all public storm drainage structures used in connection with the collection, control, transportation, treatment, or discharge of stormwater runoff and exempted discharges within the City of Grand Rapids.
Discharge: The addition of any waste, waste effluent, wastewater, pollutant, or any combination thereof to any surface water of the state or to the CSDS.
EGLE: Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy
Exposure: The term exposure is used in the stormwater program to describe the potential for precipitation to come in contact with industrial materials and/or industrial activities. Generally, if a facility stores or handles anything related to industrial activity outside without a storm-resistant shelter the facility is considered to have exposure.
Industrial activities: Industrial activities include but are not limited to storage, loading and unloading, transportation or conveyance of raw, intermediate, final, or waste products.
Industrial materials: Industrial materials include but are not limited to material handling equipment (bins, boxes, pallets, racking, etc.), industrial machinery, raw materials, intermediate products, byproducts, final products, and waste products.
Inlet: A catch basin, roof drain, conduit, drain tile, retention pond riser pipe, sump pump, or other point where stormwater or wastewater enters into a closed conveyance system prior to discharge off site or into waters of the state.
ISW: City of Grand Rapids Industrial Stormwater Program
NAICS code: A NAICS (pronounced NAKES) code is a classification within the North American Industry Classification System. The NAICS is the standard used by federal statistical agencies for classifying businesses for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing data related to the U.S. economy.
NEC: Michigan’s No Exposure Certification which allows regulated facilities to forgo the need to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) industrial stormwater permit if specific conditions can be met. The No Exposure Certification is applicable to all facilities regulated by industrial stormwater regulations and is the ultimate goal of the storm water program. Facilities that obtain a No Exposure Certification must maintain their condition of no exposure and are required to renew the certification every 5 years.
NOI: Notice of Intent. An NOI is a stormwater permit application.
Non-Structural control: Non-Structural Controls are Best Management Practices (BMPs) that do not involve a structured or engineered solution. They include such measures as education, site planning, and stormwater management regulations. Because it is usually easier and more effective to prevent pollution before it occurs, non-structural BMPs are very cost-effective. These measures limit or eliminate pollutants before they end up in the stormwater.
NPDES: National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. Permit program to address water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants to waters of the United States.
Outfall: The location at which a point source discharge first enters a surface water of the state.
Point of discharge: The location of a point source discharge where stormwater is discharged directly into a separate storm sewer system.
Point source discharge: A discharge from any discernible, confined, discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, or rolling stock. Changing the surface of land or establishing grading patterns on land will result in a point source discharge where the runoff from the site is ultimately discharged to waters of the state.
Polluting material: Any material, in solid or liquid form, identified as a polluting material under the Part 5 Rules, Spillage of Oil and Polluting Materials, promulgated under Part 31 of the NREPA (R 324.2001 through R 324.2009 of the Michigan Administrative Code).
GRISW Priority Levels:
Low priority: Facilities that don’t currently have outdoor activities/material storage that is impacting stormwater but they could have as part of their operations. These facilities will generally hold a NEC with the State. These facilities will be inspected every 5 years.
Medium priority: Facilities with outdoor activities/material storage that rely on structural controls to manage stormwater pollution. These facilities will be inspected biennially (every two years).
High priority: Facilities with outdoor activities/material storage that rely on nonstructural controls to manage stormwater pollution. These facilities will be inspected annually.
Secondary containment structure: A unit, other than the primary container, in which significant materials are packaged or held, which is required by state or federal law to prevent the escape of significant materials by gravity into sewers, drains, or otherwise directly or indirectly into any sewer system or to the surface waters or groundwaters of the state.
Standard industrial classification (SIC) code: Four-digit numerical codes that categorize the industries that companies belong to based on their business activities. Standard Industrial Classification codes were mostly replaced by the six-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
SIC code: Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes are four-digit numerical codes that categorize the industries that companies belong to based on their business activities.
Significant materials: Any material which could degrade or impair water quality, including but not limited to: raw materials; fuels; solvents, detergents, and plastic pellets; finished materials such as metallic products; hazardous substances designated under Section 101(14) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) (see 40 CFR 372.65); any chemical the facility is required to report pursuant to Section 313 of Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA); polluting materials as identified under the Part 5 Rules (R 324.2001 through R 324.2009 of the Michigan Administrative Code); Hazardous Wastes as defined in Part 111, Hazardous Waste Management, of the NREPA; fertilizers; pesticides; and waste products such as ashes, slag, and sludge that have the potential to be released with stormwater discharges.
Stormwater: Stormwater runoff, snow melt runoff, surface runoff and drainage, and non-stormwater included under the conditions of this permit.
Structural control: These types of controls are physical features that control and prevent stormwater pollution. They can range from preventive measures to collection structures to treatment systems. Structural controls will typically require construction of a physical feature or barrier. Structural controls include but are not limited to temporary and permanent coverings, stormwater conveyances, diversion dikes, grading, paving, curbing, drip pans, secondary containment, catch basin inserts, detention and retention ponds, vegetative filters, and oil/water separators.
Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP): A plan required to be developed for facilities that are subject to the NPDES Industrial Stormwater Permit. The SWPPP is a written plan that describes the control measures an industrial facility will take to reduce or eliminate pollutants in stormwater. In general, these measures include preventative maintenance, good housekeeping and material handling practices, as well as proper spill response procedures.
UST: Underground Storage Tank