(3)__A municipal conveyance system unless the storm water pollution originates with the conveyance system.

Sec. 8. Transition. Prior approval is required pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 38, section 420-D if a person constructs, or causes to be constructed, a project that includes one acre or more of disturbed area on or after the effective date of this Act.

1. If a person has a project that required approval prior to the effective date of this Act, the project continues to require approval on and after the effective date of this Act.

2. If a person has a project that did not require approval prior to the effective date of this Act, and the person proposes to construct or cause to be constructed a project that includes one or more acres of disturbed area on or after the effective date of this Act, then approval is required. Only the construction on or after the effective date of this Act requires prior approval.

3. A disturbed area of less than one acre continues to be counted toward the one-acre permit threshold under this section following permanent stabilization to the extent it is considered developed area as defined in rules adopted by the Department of Environmental Protection.

SUMMARY

1. This bill amends the laws governing waste discharge in the following ways.

A. It provides that the Department of Environmental Protection may exempt or license by rule discharges of storm water to groundwater from surface wastewater disposal systems if such discharges will not have a significant adverse effect on the quality or classification of waters of the State. Rules adopted to implement these provisions are routine technical rules.

B. It provides that the department may exempt, in addition to license by rule, subsurface discharges to groundwater from subsurface wastewater disposal systems if such discharges will not have a significant adverse effect on the quality or classification of waters of the State. Rules