Utah
The stormwater permit for construction in Utah
Utah runs its own NPDES programme, so a state issued construction general permit governs. Below is what our engine can say about it, and where we have not read that permit, what it will not say.
Governing permit
General Permit for Storm Water Discharges from Construction Activities (Construction General Permit), UPDES Permit No. UTRC00000
- Issued by
- Utah Department of Environmental Quality (Utah DEQ), Division of Water Quality
- Permit number
- UTRC00000
- Version determined against
- as published by the state agency
- Effective
- 2024-07-01
- Expires
- 2029-06-30
Who may prepare the plan
Conditional, depends on the siteUtah gates plan preparation only above a threshold this site does not meet. The gate applies above 5 acres. This site is 1 acres. On what we have verified, a generated plan can be adopted without a credentialed signature.
Qualifying routes
- Utah Registered SWPPP Writer (RSW)
- Licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in a related field
- Professional Geologist (PG)
- Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control (CPESC)
- Certified Professional in Storm Water Quality (CPSWQ)
- National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET), Erosion and Sediment Control, Level 3
The gate is not a flat 5-acre cutoff: Part 7.2 requires a qualified SWPPP writer for any project disturbing more than 5 acres, AND for small (1-5 acre) projects that have a perennial surface water within 50 feet or a steep slope (70% or 35 degrees or more, with 10+ feet of elevation change). Below that threshold, no certified preparer is required at all. A PE stamp is explicitly not required by itself — a licensed PE (or PG) is one of five interchangeable acceptable qualifications alongside RSW, CPESC, CPSWQ and NICET Level 3, commonly overstated as mandatory. Verified against the permit's Part 7.2 text and independently cross-checked against a March 2026 official SWPPP compliance-evaluation checklist for the current permit, which cites identical section numbers and triggers.
Does a site in Utah 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
- Requirements below are what we have read and cited directly from General Permit for Storm Water Discharges from Construction Activities (Construction General Permit), UPDES Permit No. UTRC00000, not the federal CGP. A category we have not yet transcribed from this permit is omitted here rather than assumed to match EPA's rule.
- No numeric effluent limits/benchmarks were found in the permit body for standard sites -- like the federal 2022 CGP, this UT permit relies on narrative technology-based requirements. No explicit fixed-day NOI-before-commencement deadline was found in Part 1.4, so deadline.noi.newSite is omitted rather than guessed. Utah's stabilization deadlines are day-count based (not acreage-tiered like federal Table 2), so a state.ut id was created instead.
- Utah gates plan preparation only above a threshold this site does not meet. The gate applies above 5 acres. This site is 1 acres. On what we have verified, a generated plan can be adopted without a credentialed signature.
- Basinwise does not perform the physical site inspections the permit requires. Those must be carried out on site by a qualified person.
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
Utah. The state runs its own programme under UTRC00000.
- 3
Preparer credential
Utah gates plan preparation only above a threshold this site does not meet. The gate applies above 5 acres. This site is 1 acres. On what we have verified, a generated plan can be adopted without a credentialed signature.
VerifiedUtah Construction General Permit (UTRC00000), Part 7.2 "SWPPP Writer/Reviewer Certification Requirement" and Part 7.2.1.a-eSource
What to do next
- 1. Confirm the governing permit. Read General Permit for Storm Water Discharges from Construction Activities (Construction General Permit), UPDES Permit No. UTRC00000 directly. It is linked above, and it is the document an inspector will hold you to. Utah Department of Environmental Quality (Utah DEQ), Division of Water Quality
- 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 Utah
- 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 Utah
Screen a Utah site now
Runs in your browser. Nothing about the site is transmitted.
What people ask about the Utah construction stormwater permit
Do I need a stormwater permit for a construction site in Utah?
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 Utah?
Utah Department of Environmental Quality (Utah DEQ), Division of Water Quality issues General Permit for Storm Water Discharges from Construction Activities (Construction General Permit), UPDES Permit No. UTRC00000.
Does Utah require a qualified preparer for the plan?
Utah gates plan preparation only above a threshold this site does not meet. The gate applies above 5 acres. This site is 1 acres. On what we have verified, a generated plan can be adopted without a credentialed signature.
Keep the record Utah will ask you for
The screening is free. Holding the written plan and the retained inspection log is what the permit actually demands.