Skip to main content

The MPCA is currently in the process of reissuing the four versions of the Pesticide General Permit.

The MPCA administers four National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)/State Disposal System (SDS) pesticide general permits that regulate the use of pesticides in and around lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands.

Entities that exceed a discharge threshold are required to submit an application for permit coverage — known as a notice of intent (NOI) — and pay an application fee. Those that do not exceed the threshold are not required to submit an NOI or an application fee, but are automatically covered by the permit and must comply with basic permit requirements. Federal regulations allow such a two-track approach for providing discharge authorization under an NPDES general permit (40 C.F.R. section 122.28).

Aquatic Plant Management permit holders

The Aquatic Plant Management (APM) program administered by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is sufficient to control the discharge of pesticides to meet the conditions of the Clean Water Act and the MPCA’s NPDES/SDS Pesticide General Permit. Therefore, Therefore, MPCA has written the two relevant general permits to provide automatic NPDES discharge authorization to state law APM permit holders without a need to submit an NPDES NOI or a permit fee, regardless of size of the activity. The general permits for aquatic nuisance animal pest control (MNG87C000) and vegetative pests and algae control (MNG87D000) are modified to accommodate operators that have this state law APM permit coverage. The MPCA and DNR finalized an interagency agreement so permittee information can be shared between agencies. Please contact the staff listed at the bottom of this page with questions or for more details.

For more information, you can also review the letter below that was sent to potential APM permit holders.

MPCA does not provide NPDES coverage to any pesticide discharge occurring within Indian Country, including those that may have state law APM coverage. The applicator and/or entity must obtain coverage under EPA’s NPDES Pesticide General Permit or an individual permit for application within a reservation. Refer to the online Permitting Decision Tool.

Pesticide NPDES permit steps to compliance

Steps to compliance will help you decide if the permit affects you, learn what your responsibilities are, and show you what records to keep.

  1. Pesticide permit applicability and thresholds
  2. Pesticide permit notice of intent
  3. Requirements for pesticide dischargers
  4. Report adverse pesticide incidents
  5. Terminating a pesticide permit

Resources

Minnesota-based resources