Construction projects that cause land disturbance can sometimes result in unintended storm water discharges. To safeguard Waters of the State, including groundwater, the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) issues construction storm water (CSW) general permits that regulate storm water discharges under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).

The permit seeks to prevent discharges from storm water, snow melt runoff, and drainage that could potentially transport pollutants or sediment to Nebraska waters. As part of the permit process, applicants are required to develop and submit a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP), which is a comprehensive document that outlines site evaluation and planning, documentation of compliance with federal requirements, erosion and sediment control methods, pollution prevention protocols, and inspection and corrective action procedures.

NDEE requires any project that may disturb one or more acre of land to obtain a CSW permit. The permit is also applicable for projects that may be less than one acre if the construction activity is part of a common plan of development or sale. A new housing subdivision, for example, is representative of a common plan of development.

To ensure compliance with the permit, the NDEE performs regular inspections at project sites throughout the duration of the construction phase.

As part of a continual process improvement commitment, NDEE updated the permit in 2022 to require a more thorough application process in order to establish further safeguards against potential construction storm water discharges.

The CSW general permitting process also underwent a comprehensive transition from paper processing to online processing in 2017, a move that significantly bolstered efficiency and greatly reduced department costs. Prior to the transition, processing times for CSW general permits could take as long as 30 days. Today, it takes NDEE an average of two to four days to process a CSW general permit. NDEE also estimates that the online transition has yielded an annual savings of more than $80,000 for the department.