Clean Water Act Pesticide Application Discharge Permit requirements for NJ

Long story short, there has been no legislative fix to a 2006 court ruling that determined that pesticide applications on or near water (including wetlands) require a special permit under the auspices of the Clean Water Act, despite already being fully regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Rodenticide and Fungicide Act. In order to be in compliance with this ruling as it currently stands, the NJDEP has developed a General Pesticide Application Discharge permit that affected applicators will need to file. This new permit will be discussed in detail at the March 21 NJ Ag Water Summit at RCE-Burlington (more info posted below).
-Rick VanVranken

Links to the permit application form and other details about this situation are available here:


Pesticide Application Discharge (PGP)

This general permit authorizes the applications of biological and chemical pesticides in water when such applications are made in, over, or near surface waters of the State.

The direct link to the application, called a "Request for Authorization", is http://www.nj.gov/dep/dwq/pdf/pgp_rfa.pdf.

More details about the General Permit rules, including who is covered by the following thresholds are available at http://www.nj.gov/dep/dwq/pdf/final_pgp.pdf.

Use Pattern	Annual Threshold Value
Mosquitoes and Other Flying Insect Pests	6,400 acres of treatment area
Aquatic Weeds and Algae	20 linear miles or 80 acres of water
Aquatic Nuisance Animals	20 linear miles or 80 acres of water
Forest Canopy	6,400 acres of treatment area
Aquatic Agricultural Activities	1,000 acres of treatment area
Utility Transmission and Distribution Line Vegetation Control	20 miles
FW1 and Pineland waters	5 acres or 100 linear feet of stream, whichever is more stringent

The RFA can be emailed to pesticidegp@dep.state.nj.us; faxed to (609) 984-7938; or submitted in writing to:   Pilar Patterson, Chief
       Bureau of Surface Water Permitting
       P.O. Box 420
       Trenton, NJ 08625.

An e-mail confirmation will be sent when the RFA is received by the Department. Once the application is submitted to the Department, the operator is automatically covered by the NJPDES PGP. Operators below the threshold values do not need to submit an RFA and are automatically covered by the NJPDES PGP as of the effective date of this permit. An individual authorization will not be issued at this time and there is no fee for an authorization under this general permit at this time.