Dive Brief:

• The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) revised rules for stormwater runoff from construction sites gives up efforts to set numerical limits on turbidity in favor of more local flexibility.
• The new rules, published earlier this month and effective May 5, clarify the application of best management practices for topsoil preservation and stabilizing soil on sites big enough to come under the federal rules.
• The changes grow out of a lawsuit in which the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said there was not really any good data for setting the turbidity limit, which has been 280 nephelometric turbidity units (NTUs).

Dive Insight:

EPA has conceded that data for setting turbidity limits on construction runoff are insufficient to make any rules, and it appears there will be no effort to impose new limits. The changes also provide for contractors to argue practices are infeasible in specific situations. NAHB has argued that meeting the turbidity limits could add as much as $6,000 to the price of a house because of the techniques it would take.