- water
- stormwater
- permitting
A construction general permit is the NPDES mechanism for stormwater running off a construction site. Rather than issue an individual permit to every project, the regulator writes one general permit and a site enrolls under it by filing a notice of intent and a stormwater pollution prevention plan. It applies to construction disturbing an acre or more — the threshold most large campus builds clear easily.
The CGP is the earliest water-side paper trail of a project's construction phase, distinct from the operating NPDES permit that governs the finished facility. Its enrollment names the operator, the acreage disturbed, and the receiving water, and it obligates the erosion and sediment control practices that keep bare-soil runoff — amplified by the site's soils and curve number — out of the stream during the build. For the platform, a CGP filing is often the first hard confirmation that a proposed data-center site is actually moving dirt.