When a Pad Needs a SWPPP
EPA's Construction General Permit covers stormwater discharges from construction activity disturbing one acre or more, including oil and gas sites where earth disturbance crosses that line. Smaller sites that are part of a larger common plan count too. The operator files a Notice of Intent and prepares a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan before starting.
What the SWPPP Contains
The plan maps drainage, identifies controls, and assigns people. Controls are the practical part: silt fences, sediment basins, inlet protection, stabilized entrances, and seeding or mulching on bare slopes. The permit requires inspections, typically every 7 days and within 24 hours of a storm event, with a written log of conditions and corrections.
Where the Log Saves the Job
The inspection log is the proof the controls worked or the proof they were ignored. A pad with no log fails the same way a pad with no silt fence does. Sediment reaching a waterway is a discharge violation; the log showing a torn fence was found and fixed is the difference between a correction and a citation.
The record that closes the loop
Stormwater on the Pad rests on the same field data as the rest of the operation: tickets, timesheets, approvals, and inspections. The same discipline shows up in SPCC plans and secondary containment and Ground disturbance and utility strikes and Drill cuttings waste management. If those records live in notebooks, email, and memory, start with an operations audit.