Mississippi State Overview

The state of Mississippi and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality’s (MDEQ) General Permits Branch of the Environmental Permits Division (EPD) and the require that properly designed Best Management Practices (BMPs) and stormwater management to ensure that water quality is not compromised when discharge enters the waters of the State.

Since the birth of the General Permits Branch of the Environmental Permits Division (EPD), the scope of stormwater management regulations has proliferated throughout the state of Mississippi. To date, more municipalities and a wider scale of construction activities have fallen under the regulatory authority of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ).

Because the General Permits Branch of the Environmental Permits Division (EPD) oversees the development, issuance, and maintenance of the general permits.

Project site owners or operators engaging in construction activities are required to seek permit coverage from one of the two CGPs:

1. “Small Construction General Permit,” which is a project site that will have land disturbing activities of at least one (1) acre, but less than five (5) acres, or less than one (1) acre if part of a "larger common plan of development or sale," where the total acreage is based on cumulative planned disturbance.
2. “Large Construction General Permit,” which is a project that will have land disturbing activities of five (5) or more acres.

A project owner or operator can obtain general permit coverage by either submitting a Small Construction Notice of Intent (SCNOI) or a Large Construction Notice of Intent (LCNOI) with an attached Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) for review. Upon receiving notification from the MDEQ, the owner or operator is prohibited from commencing any sort of construction activity.