Virginia
The stormwater permit for construction in Virginia
Virginia 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 VPDES Permit for Discharges of Stormwater from Construction Activities (General Permit No. VAR10)
- Issued by
- Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (Virginia DEQ)
- Permit number
- VAR10
- 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 siteVirginia gates plan preparation conditionally. The gate is triggered by plan scope rather than acreage: The SWM plan is gated; the erosion and sediment control plan is not. Confirm which case applies to your plan before relying on a generated document.
Qualifying routes
- Licensed professional seal on the stormwater management plan
The Responsible Land Disturber role is on-site execution, not plan preparation.
Does a site in Virginia 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 VPDES Permit for Discharges of Stormwater from Construction Activities (General Permit No. VAR10), 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.
- Could not locate an explicit numeric acreage threshold (e.g. 'one acre') for VAR10 coverage within 9VAC25-880-1, -50, or -70 as fetched; VA's regulated-land-disturbance threshold is presumed consistent with federal's 1-acre standard but this was not directly confirmed with a quote, so no thresholds entry is included. The natural buffer requirement (Part II B 2 c (6)) has no numeric distance-in-feet specified in the permit text — distanceFeet is null. No documentation-only deadline (distinct from implementation deadline) for corrective actions was found, so corrective.documentation.identify is omitted. VA has no arid/semi-arid/drought reduced-inspection provision; it instead has a frozen-ground reduction, captured as state.va.inspection.reduced.frozenGround. The standard NOI/registration-statement deadline is 'prior to commencement of land disturbance' rather than a fixed day count, so deadline.noi.newSite.value.days is null.
- Virginia gates plan preparation conditionally. The gate is triggered by plan scope rather than acreage: The SWM plan is gated; the erosion and sediment control plan is not. 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.
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
Virginia. The state runs its own programme under VAR10.
- 3
Preparer credential
Virginia gates plan preparation conditionally. The gate is triggered by plan scope rather than acreage: The SWM plan is gated; the erosion and sediment control plan is not. Confirm which case applies to your plan before relying on a generated document.
What to do next
- 1. Confirm the governing permit. Read General VPDES Permit for Discharges of Stormwater from Construction Activities (General Permit No. VAR10) directly. It is linked above, and it is the document an inspector will hold you to. Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (Virginia DEQ)
- 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 Virginia
- 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 Virginia
Screen a Virginia site now
Runs in your browser. Nothing about the site is transmitted.
What people ask about the Virginia construction stormwater permit
Do I need a stormwater permit for a construction site in Virginia?
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 Virginia?
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (Virginia DEQ) issues General VPDES Permit for Discharges of Stormwater from Construction Activities (General Permit No. VAR10).
Does Virginia require a qualified preparer for the plan?
Virginia gates plan preparation conditionally. The gate is triggered by plan scope rather than acreage: The SWM plan is gated; the erosion and sediment control plan is not. Confirm which case applies to your plan before relying on a generated document.
Keep the record Virginia will ask you for
The screening is free. Holding the written plan and the retained inspection log is what the permit actually demands.