Small POTWs: What to Expect and How to Prepare for your NPDES Permit
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Training Video
This webinar discusses what a Small POTW should expect as they undertake the NPDES Permit process and includes a brief overview of the NPDES permit program and its goals and implementation under the Clean Water Act. The webinar also discusses steps to obtain a permit from application to public notice and comment to improve the operator’s understanding of required components of a permit and give insight on how to improve collaboration with the permitting authority.
Date of Recording: June 16, 2022 (1-2:30 pm Eastern)
Presenters
- Sean Ramach serves as the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Training Coordinator for the U.S. EPA’s Office of Wastewater Management-Water Permits Division. He teaches the NPDES Basic Permit Writers Course. In 2021, this course went virtual for the first time and had 10 sessions offered. The team trained over 500 participants from the States, EPA, and the public/industry. Sean also leads efforts to develop and offer advanced NPDES trainings in conjunction with EPA Regional and Headquarters staff and developed trainings on Advanced Reasonable Potential and Limit Development, Effluent Limitation Guidelines, Endangered Species Act implementation, Combined Sewer Overflows, and Stormwater in the past year.
Sean assists states and EPA Regions with interpreting the federal regulations as they apply to unique or challenging permitting issues, drawing upon his experience working for EPA over the past 18 years. For the beginning of his career, Sean worked in the Region 5 office based out of Chicago for the Superfund Division doing site sampling and GPS support and then working for the Water Division implementing the NPDES program for 11 years. He was one of the lead industrial permitting specialists focusing on cooling water and the power and steel industries. Sean then transferred to EPA Headquarters to lead implementation of the Steam Electric Power ELG and 316(b) Cooling Water Intake Rules. He spent 4 years in that position supporting industrial permitting efforts and then was hired to replace the longtime instructor of the NPDES Permit Writers Course upon his retirement.
Sean received a B.S. in Biology from Duke University and a Masters of Environmental Management from the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment.