Long Term Control Plans (LTCPs) are required under the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) CSO Control Policy and part of the New York State Department of Conservation’s (DEC) CSO control strategy to reduce the frequency, duration, and intensity of CSO events. Municipalities with CSOs are required to have a State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit.
If the best management practices are not enough to reduce CSO impacts to water quality, DEC requires CSO communities to develop and submit a Long Term Control Plan (LTCP). An LTCP is a phased approach to control combined sewer overflows that will ultimately result in compliance with the NYS water quality standards and Clean Water Act requirements.
If it is determined that water quality standards in the receiving water are impacted by CSO discharges, the Combined Sewer Systems (CSS) community will:
- Research alternatives for mitigation of the impact of CSO discharges and choose one or more of those alternatives for implementation and submit documentation to DEC for approval
- Suggest a schedule of construction or implementation of those alternatives, i.e., Phase II of the Long Term control plan, to DEC.
- Implement the approved alternatives.
- Perform post-construction monitoring, once the control measures are in place, to ensure that the goals of the Long Term control plan and the appropriate water quality standards are met.
The documents below form the underpinning of the CSO Long Term Control Plan implementation. This library contains the water quality sampling results, modeling, control evaluation and data that shaped the program and defined the projects being implemented by the communities.