Massachusetts
The stormwater permit for construction in Massachusetts
Massachusetts is not NPDES authorised for construction stormwater, so EPA is the permitting authority and its 2022 Construction General Permit governs directly. That permit is one we have read, so the requirements below are real and cited.
Governing permit
2022 Construction General Permit
- Issued by
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Version determined against
- 2022 CGP (as modified 2025)
- Effective
- 2022-02-17
- Expires
- 2027-02-16
Who may prepare the plan
Conditional, depends on the siteMassachusetts gates plan preparation conditionally. The gate is triggered by plan scope rather than acreage: Attaches when a project is subject to the MassDEP Stormwater Management Standards under the Wetlands Protection Act, 310 CMR 10.05(6)(k)-(q) — stormwater discharge within an Area Subject to Protection or the 100-ft Buffer Zone, filed via Notice of Intent (or 401 Water Quality Certification). Exempt per 310 CMR 10.05(6)(l): single-family homes; 4-lot/4-unit-or-fewer projects with no discharge affecting a critical area; emergency road/drainage repairs.. Confirm which case applies to your plan before relying on a generated document.
Qualifying routes
- Registered Professional Engineer (licensed under M.G.L. c. 112, Section 81R)
The bare CMR text (310 CMR 10.05(6)(k)-(q), the ten Stormwater Management Standards) contains no PE requirement; the only PE language in the regulation itself is the unrelated, explicitly discretionary 310 CMR 10.05(6)(h) ('issuing authority may require... when in its judgment the complexity... warrants'). The real, mandatory RPE requirement lives in the Massachusetts Stormwater Handbook, Vol. 3 Ch. 1, which 310 CMR 10.05(6)(k) expressly incorporates by reference to define compliance with the Standards — a genuine mandate tied to a specific licensing statute (M.G.L. c. 112 Section 81R), not a discretionary or checklist-level convention, though it is Handbook guidance incorporated by reference rather than literal CMR regulatory text. The MassDEP Stormwater Report Checklist (the previously cited source) merely operationalizes this pre-existing Handbook mandate; it did not create it. This is a state-layer requirement, separate from the federal 2022 CGP, which imposes no SWPPP preparer credential.
Does a site in Massachusetts need coverage
Worked for a one acre site as a reference point. Change the acreage in the tool below and the answer, and its reasoning, change with it.
Coverage
Permit coverage required
The project disturbs 1 acres, at or above the 1 acre threshold, so it needs permit coverage.
Determined against dataset version 2026-07-19.
Read these before you act on the answer
- Massachusetts gates plan preparation conditionally. The gate is triggered by plan scope rather than acreage: Attaches when a project is subject to the MassDEP Stormwater Management Standards under the Wetlands Protection Act, 310 CMR 10.05(6)(k)-(q) — stormwater discharge within an Area Subject to Protection or the 100-ft Buffer Zone, filed via Notice of Intent (or 401 Water Quality Certification). Exempt per 310 CMR 10.05(6)(l): single-family homes; 4-lot/4-unit-or-fewer projects with no discharge affecting a critical area; emergency road/drainage repairs.. Confirm which case applies to your plan before relying on a generated document.
- Basinwise does not perform the physical site inspections the permit requires. Those must be carried out on site by a qualified person.
- The source extraction contains the permit body (Parts 1-9) only. Appendices A (Definitions), B (Eligible Permit Areas), C (Small Construction Waivers), D (ESA Eligibility Procedures), E (Historic Property Screening), F (Buffer Requirements), G (Standard Permit Conditions), H (NOI Form), I (NOT Form), J (Chemical Treatment Request) and K (Turbidity Report Form) were NOT present in the extracted text. Every fact whose operative text lives only in an appendix is marked confidence "unverified" with a note naming the appendix to confirm.
How this answer was reached, step by step
- 1
Coverage threshold
The project disturbs 1 acres, at or above the 1 acre threshold, so it needs permit coverage.
- 2
Permitting authority
EPA. MA is not an NPDES authorized state, so EPA's Construction General Permit governs directly.
- 3
Preparer credential
Massachusetts gates plan preparation conditionally. The gate is triggered by plan scope rather than acreage: Attaches when a project is subject to the MassDEP Stormwater Management Standards under the Wetlands Protection Act, 310 CMR 10.05(6)(k)-(q) — stormwater discharge within an Area Subject to Protection or the 100-ft Buffer Zone, filed via Notice of Intent (or 401 Water Quality Certification). Exempt per 310 CMR 10.05(6)(l): single-family homes; 4-lot/4-unit-or-fewer projects with no discharge affecting a critical area; emergency road/drainage repairs.. Confirm which case applies to your plan before relying on a generated document.
Verified310 CMR 10.05(6)(k) (incorporates by reference the Massachusetts Stormwater Handbook to 'further define and specify' the Standards); Massachusetts Stormwater Handbook, Volume 3, Chapter 1 'Documenting Compliance,' p.1, section 'Who Prepares The Stormwater Report'Source
What to do next
- 1. Confirm the governing permit. Read 2022 Construction General Permit directly. It is linked above, and it is the document an inspector will hold you to. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA Region 1)
- 2. Settle the preparer question before you draft. Getting this wrong costs a redraft at best. The detail is on the credential page for this state. Preparer credential in Massachusetts
- 3. Screen the site. Run the real acreage and receiving water facts through the tool below. You get the inspection frequency, the stabilisation deadlines and the filing path with the permit section behind each.
- 4. Read the requirements in full. SWPPP requirements in Massachusetts
Screen a Massachusetts site now
Runs in your browser. Nothing about the site is transmitted.
What people ask about the Massachusetts construction stormwater permit
Do I need a stormwater permit for a construction site in Massachusetts?
Permit coverage is triggered at one acre of land disturbance, and below one acre if the project is part of a larger common plan of development or sale that will ultimately disturb an acre or more. The project disturbs 1 acres, at or above the 1 acre threshold, so it needs permit coverage.
Who issues the construction stormwater permit in Massachusetts?
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issues 2022 Construction General Permit.
Does Massachusetts require a qualified preparer for the plan?
Massachusetts gates plan preparation conditionally. The gate is triggered by plan scope rather than acreage: Attaches when a project is subject to the MassDEP Stormwater Management Standards under the Wetlands Protection Act, 310 CMR 10.05(6)(k)-(q) — stormwater discharge within an Area Subject to Protection or the 100-ft Buffer Zone, filed via Notice of Intent (or 401 Water Quality Certification). Exempt per 310 CMR 10.05(6)(l): single-family homes; 4-lot/4-unit-or-fewer projects with no discharge affecting a critical area; emergency road/drainage repairs.. Confirm which case applies to your plan before relying on a generated document.
Keep the record Massachusetts will ask you for
The screening is free. Holding the written plan and the retained inspection log is what the permit actually demands.