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CWA Section 401 – Turbidity – Wetland
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- CWA Section 401 – Turbidity – Wetland
Enforcement Actions
The DEQ undertakes enforcement actions to preserve safe environmental conditions throughout Wyoming.
This page contains information on the enforcement actions that the Water Quality Division may undertake, as well as a record of enforcement actions that have been undertaken by WQD.
If the download box is not working below, please click here.
Electronic Documents Submittal
Electronic document submittal is available for WQD permit applications, reports, and other communications.
Visit: WDEQ Water Quality Division Downloads
You do NOT need to follow up the electronic submission with a hard copy submission unless you are specifically contacted by a WQD staff person with a request to do so.
Need to report a spill or complaint? Please visit https://deqspills.wyo.gov/home
Submitting a public comment? WQD is unable to accept public notice comments through this system. Refer to the public notice document for instructions on how to submit comments or visit https://wq.wyomingdeq.commentinput.com/comment/search.
NOTICE: All applications for water distribution systems and/or sewage collection systems that are within the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities (BOPU) district shall be submitted to the BOPU for approval. Contact Frank Strong or Bryce Dorr at (307) 637-6460, ENGreview@cheyennebopu.org, or http://cheyennebopu.org for additional information.
Recent General Permit Authorizations
The DEQ Water Quality Division accepts comments on all permits authorized under a general permit for a period of 30 days, as provided for in W.S. 35-11-801(d).
Interested persons may mail or fax comments to the main Cheyenne office. The ‘Date’ column in the table below indicates the date the authorization was posted to the website. Comments must be received before 5:00 pm on the 30th day after the authorization was posted to the website. For example, comments for an authorization posted on 10/1/18 must be received by 5:00 p.m. on 10/31/18. DEQ does not accept emailed comments.
You may sort the table by posting date or search for the type of general permit, the county where the permit was issued, the permit number, or the name of the person or company to whom the permit was issued.
If you wish to review the general permit documents, please go to the web page for each permitting program:
- Storm Water Construction, Mineral Mining, and Industrial General Permits.
- Underground Injection Control (UIC) General Permits
- Water and Wastewater Construction General Permits.
- WYPDES General Permits
If the download box is not working below, please click here.
Proposed Rules and Regulations
The Water Quality Division will present proposed revisions to Water Quality Rules Chapter 1, Wyoming Surface Water Quality Standards; and Chapter 2, Permit Regulations for Discharges to Wyoming Surface Waters to the Water and Waste Advisory Board at their June 13, 2024 meeting, starting at 9:00 a.m. The proposed revisions to Chapter 1 (1) fulfill the federal requirements at 40 CFR § 131.20, (2) restructure and align requirements with state law and federal law, regulations, and guidance; (3) revise designated uses and remove the designated use classification system; and (4) provide minor updates to specific water quality criteria. The proposed revisions to Chapter 2 (1) update references to the designated use classification system to reflect proposed revisions to Chapter 1; and (2) incorporate provisions related to fish toxicants, aquatic pesticides, and short-term sediment disturbance that Water Quality Division proposes to move from Chapter 1 to Chapter 2. More information is available at: http://deq.wyoming.gov/shwd/wwab/ under the “Upcoming Meeting” tab
Rules and Regulations
All official Wyoming State Rules and Regulations are kept at the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office. Click here to view all current Rules and Regulations.
CWA Section 401-Turbidity-Wetland
Our team works to ensure the accuracy and quality of water data used by the agency, the federal government and by industry, businesses and individuals in Wyoming.
Above, you will find a variety of applications, Guidance procedures, Turbidity waiver, and documents containing Wetland Banking guidelines.
Contact
| NAME/EMAIL ADDRESS | PROGRAM | PHONE |
|---|---|---|
| David Waterstreet, Program Manager | Watershed Program | 307-777-6709 |
| Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 Certification and Turbidity Waivers | ||
| Eric Hargett (Cheyenne) | CWA Section 401 Certification, Turbidity Waivers | 307-777-6701 |
| Data Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) | ||
| Jillian Scott (Cheyenne) | Data QA/QC | 307-777-6372 |
| Nonpoint Source Pollution Program | ||
| Alexandria Jeffers (Cheyenne) | Nonpoint Source Program | 307-777-6733 |
| Surface Water Monitoring Program | ||
| Jeremy Zumberge, Program Supervisor (Sheridan) | Surface Water Monitoring Program | 307-675-5638 |
| Tavis Eddy (Lander) | Surface Water Monitoring Program | 307-335-6957 |
| Eric Hargett (Cheyenne) | Surface Water Monitoring Program | 307-777-6701 |
| Jason Martineau (Sheridan) | Surface Water Monitoring Program | 307-675-5632 |
| Triston Rice (Cheyenne) | Surface Water Monitoring Program | 307-777-6353 |
| Chad Rieger (Sheridan) | Surface Water Monitoring Program | 307-675-5637 |
| Michael Wachtendonk (Lander) | Surface Water Monitoring Program | 307-335-6751 |
| Surface Water Quality Standards | ||
| Lindsay Patterson, Program Supervisor (Cheyenne) | Surface Water Quality Standards | 307-777-7079 |
| Kelsee Hurschman (Cheyenne) | Surface Water Quality Standards, Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms | 307-777-2073 |
| Madeleine Hamel (Cheyenne) | Surface Water Quality Standards, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) | 307-777-7050 |
| Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program | ||
| Ron Steg, Program Lead (Lander) | Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) | 307-335-6980 |
| Bret Callaway (Cheyenne) | Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) | 307-777-5802 |
| Water Quality Lab | ||
| Steve Vien, Lab Supervisor (Cheyenne) | Water Quality Lab | 307-777-7654 |
| Alexandra Cook (Cheyenne) | Water Quality Lab | 307-777-7151 |
| Marisa Latady (Cheyenne) | Water Quality Lab | 307-777-6783 |
| Vacant (Cheyenne) | Water Quality Lab | 307-777-3770 |
Applications
This page contains downloadable application forms pertaining to Turbidity – Wetland.
Guidance
This page contains a variety of Guidance documents that explain procedures for Turbidity and Wetland Banking.
Turbidity
Temporary Turbidity Waiver. Wyoming’s Water Quality Rules and Regulations, Chapter 1, Wyoming Surface Water Quality Standards, include turbidity criteria for waters designated as fisheries and/or drinking water supplies. Any type of construction activity within these streams is likely to result in exceedances of these criteria. In accordance with Section 23(c)(ii) of Chapter 1, the administrator of the WQD may authorize temporary increases in turbidity above the numeric criteria in Section 23(a) in response to an individual application for a specific activity. In circumstances where a project has the potential to exceed the turbidity criteria, a waiver is recommended. An application must be submitted and a waiver approved by the administrator before work begins. This process generally takes about 30 days. Please contact Eric Hargett (307-777-6701) for more information.
Turbidity is an important test for water quality that falls under the Watershed Protection Program’s jurisdiction. See above for Applications for the Turbidity Waiver Application; and Guidance for instructions on how to fill out the application.
Wetland Banking
In 1991, the Wyoming Legislature passed the Wyoming Wetlands Act. The Act was further amended and refined in 1994. The purpose of the statute is to establish a statewide wetland mitigation bank to improve the administration of wetland protection, permitting and restoration programs in the state.
This includes the operation of the statewide wetland bank and the procedures for establishing accounts and depositing and withdrawing wetland credits.
State Wetland Bank
The state wetland bank provides essentially the same services as any other bank. The currency of the bank, however, is "wetland credits" rather than money. Any person who has earned a credit can deposit it in the bank until it is needed to pay off a wetland debt (mitigation).
One notable exception is that loans from the bank are not possible. Withdrawals are available only to credit holders and are limited to the actual amount and type of credit recorded.
Criteria
The options made possible by the wetland bank are available to both public and private entities. Any individual landowner, organization or public agency can earn credits for wetland creation, restoration or enhancement.
Once the credits are recorded in the bank, they can be withdrawn by the owner or transferred to another party to meet mitigation requirements. The State of Wyoming, through DEQ, will maintain all bank records and produce periodic reports concerning wetland gains and losses and credit and debit transactions for each account.
Additional Resources
Please review our guidelines describing the operation of the statewide bank, the procedures for establishing accounts and depositing and withdrawing wetland credits. If you would like to submit an application, please follow the instructions attached with the form.