About the Permit
In accordance with Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) regulations, a joint approval or permit is required from DEP and PFBC for the use of algicides, herbicides or fish control chemicals in surface waters (“joint permit”).
Learn more about the Joint Program.
Surface waters are defined at 25 Pa. Code § 92a.2 as “perennial and intermittent streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, wetlands, springs, natural seeps and estuaries, excluding water at facilities approved for wastewater treatment such as wastewater treatment impoundments, cooling water ponds and constructed wetlands used as part of a wastewater treatment process.”
Complete and Submit to DEP
One signed joint permit application form (3800-PM-BCW0094b) for each site. Application materials may be submitted electronically using DEP’s OnBase Electronic Forms Upload. Please see DEP’s Instructions for Public OnBase Upload for NPDES Permit Applications.
For the purposes of this permit, a site is considered all waterbodies on a single tax parcel or contiguous tax parcels. No more than twenty (20) water bodies will be covered under each permit.
If aquatic plant management is proposed for a free-flowing stream or if use of a fish control chemical is proposed in any water body, one signed joint permit application must be submitted to DEP and one signed joint permit application must be submitted to PFBC.
The applications should be submitted at the same time to both agencies. For aquatic plant management in standing water bodies such as ponds, lakes, reservoirs, canals, etc., a joint permit application must be submitted to DEP only.
Requirements
A National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for discharges associated with pesticides may be required under the following circumstances:
- The applicant is a state or federal government agency (“government entity”) with pest management as an integral part of the agency’s mission.
- The applicant is not a government entity and either (1) will be treating for mosquitoes or other flying insects over an area of at least 6,400 acres, or (2) will be treating for weeds, algae or animal pests over at least 80 acres of water.
One application is required for each site (tax parcel or contiguous tax parcels). A single site may contain multiple water bodies receiving treatment, but no more than twenty (20) water bodies may be covered under each permit. The number of treatments and type and amount of pesticide to be used in each treatment for each water body must be clearly stated.
Joint permits do not expire. When any of the following changes are proposed, a new application (3800-PM-BCW0094b) must be submitted to the appropriate agency(ies) to amend the joint permit coverage:
- Changes to the water bodies being treated.
- Increases in the maximum dose or to the number of annual treatments for any water body.
- Changes in the pesticide(s) used for treatment, unless the new pesticide(s) contain the same active ingredient(s) and the same or a lower percent composition in comparison to the pesticide(s) previously approved by DEP/PFBC.