The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources is launching a new process for certain construction projects and other activities with impacts to waters or wetlands as part of updates to the state's Clean Water Act 401 general certifications that take effect on Sunday, March 15.
For applications received on or after March 15, DWR will implement a new certificate of coverage process that will apply to certain projects, depending on their threshold of impacts to streams and wetlands.
The new process is expected to apply to many projects that currently require individual Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certifications. Projects with a significant quantity of impacts to waters or wetlands, projects located in sensitive areas, or projects that cannot meet the conditions of the general certification will continue to require an individual 401 water quality certification from DWR, which includes a 30-day public notice and project-specific decision letter.
In the new certificate of coverage process, applicants will still apply to DWR. Following a review by DWR, projects that meet the thresholds and conditions outlined in the general certification would receive a letter of concurrence to allow the project to move forward without a 30-day notice.
Projects that fall below the certificate of coverage thresholds, such as those with minimal impacts, must comply with the conditions in the general certification.
The update to North Carolina’s general certifications is in response to changes made to the corresponding federal U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) 404 Nationwide Permits. For ongoing projects that received federal permitting approval before Sunday, the USACE has indicated that applicants will have a one-year grace period to complete the impacts to waters outlined under their existing federal permit. For these projects, no new certification is required. Please check with your USACE representative to confirm the grace-period applies to your project.
The new general certifications are listed on DWR’s website. Applicants and consultants are encouraged to review the general certificates to determine if a project will need a certificate of coverage, or an individual water quality certification.
For general information, DWR has frequently asked questions information online.