1. Indiana Department of Environmental Management Office of Water Quality
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit
Carriage Estates Wastewater Treatment Plant
Permit No. IN

2. What is a NPDES Permit? It is sort of a license….
Issued by IDEM, which permits a facility to discharge a safe level of substances from a wastewater treatment plant into Indiana’s waterways and specifies necessary terms and conditions to protect Indiana’s waterways

3. NPDES Permit Elements NPDES Permits contain the following elements:
Effluent Limits protective of the receiving waters
Monitoring and Reporting Requirements
Record Keeping Requirements
Special Conditions
Standard Conditions
Pretreatment Conditions, if applicable
Combined Sewer Conditions, if applicable

4. Carriage Estates WWTP NPDES Permit
Authorizes the discharge of treated effluent into Indian Creek.
Contains effluent limitations applicable to both the 1.5 MGD facility and the proposed upgrade to 4.0 MGD.
Effluent limitations are developed to protect the receiving water during critical low flow conditions.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) recently updated the critical low flow values for Indian Creek in 2014 after IDEM’s original evaluation of the proposed discharge in 2013.
IDEM has reviewed the situation and has determined that the change in the critical low flow values will not significantly impact the effluent limitations that are included in the NPDES permit.
IDEM will update the evaluation to reflect the updated USGS flow data.

5. Carriage Estates WWTP NPDES Permit
Parameters to be monitored and limited in the permit are:
CBOD
TSS
Ammonia-nitrogen pH
Dissolved Oxygen
E. coli
Phosphorus
Interim Total Residual Chlorine

6. Public Process
By rule, NPDES Permits are public noticed for a 30 day period to give potentially affected and interested parties an opportunity to comment on the proposed NPDES Permit.
The Draft NPDES Permit is available for review upon request
During the public notice period requests for a public hearing or meeting on the proposal are taken
All public comments are taken as part of public record and are considered in IDEM’s final decision

7. Public Process Public Hearing:
Public hearings are held when requested and when deemed appropriate by IDEM.
A public hearing is a forum in which interested parties provide comments for the record, but IDEM does not formally respond during the event. A transcript is developed and all comments become part of the public record and are used in the development of a final determination on the permit action.

8. Final Determination
All concerns and comments, within the authority of the NPDES permit program, received during the public notice period will be evaluated and considered in the final permit action.
If no changes are warranted due to the comments received, the NPDES Permit will be issued to the applicant.
If information is received that the proposed discharge is in conflict with applicable statute and/or rules the NPDES Permit Application may be denied.
If major adjustments need to be made to the NPDES Permit, the NPDES Permit will be placed on an additional 30 day public comment period.

9. Appeal Procedures
For 18 days following the decision to issue or deny a NPDES Permit, any aggrieved party may file a petition to the Office of Environmental Adjudication for review of an Administrative Law Judge

10. Carriage Estates WWTP Proposed NPDES permit Timeline
January 21, 2013, Lakeland InnovaTech requested Preliminary Effluent Limitations for a potential upgrade to the facility.
March 8, 2013, IDEM completed a Wasteload Allocation Analysis/Antidegradation Analysis that developed applicable effluent limitations for a facility upgrade up to 6.8 MGD.
March 26, 2013, IDEM sent a Preliminary Effluent Limitations letter to Lakeland InnovaTech.
January 13, 2014, Lakeland InnovaTech/American Suburban Utilities submitted an application for a Construction Approval.
February 21, 2014, IDEM issued Construction Approval No to upgrade the facility from 1.5 MGD to 4.0 MGD.

11. Carriage Estates WWTP Proposed NPDES permit Timeline
March 2014, Construction Approval No was appealed for Administrative Review at the Office of Environmental Adjudication.
August 21, 2015, American Suburban Utilities applied for renewal of the NPDES permit, including the proposed upgrade to the facility to discharge to Indian Creek.
September 4 – October 5, 2015, The draft NPDES permit was placed on public notice. Several comment letters and requests for public hearing were received during this period.
November 13 – December 15, 2015, IDEM noticed the intent to hold a public hearing on the draft NPDES permit.

12. Permit Information Draft Permit is available at:
Tippecanoe County Health Department, 20 N. 3rd St. Lafayette, IN 47901
IDEM’s Central Office
IDEM’s website,
Comments may be submitted until December 29, 2015.
Send comments to:
Mail: IDEM/OWQ/NPDES Permits, Rm 1255, Attention: Jason House, 100 N. Senate Ave. Indianapolis, IN 46204