South Carolina's NPDES Stormwater Program requires that anyone engaged in clearing, grading, and/or excavating activities totaling 2 acres or less in size, and located within ½ mile of a coastal receiving water to obtain coverage under the State's Construction General Permit (CGP) prior to beginning any land disturbing activities. These requirements only apply to projects located within the eight coastal counties (Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Georgetown, Horry, Jasper, Beaufort, and Colleton) and are part of South Carolina Coastal Program's heightened stormwater management requirements.

Construction sites subject to this requirement drain directly to receiving waters as defined in South Carolina's Coastal Zone Management Program Refinements.

These receiving waters, also termed coastal receiving waters, are defined as all regularly tidally influenced salt and fresh water marsh areas, all lakes or ponds which are used primarily for public recreation or a public drinking water supply, and other water bodies within the coastal zone, excluding wetlands, swamps, ditches and stormwater management ponds which are not contiguous via an outfall or similar structure with a tidal water body.

Below are links to PDFs outlining requirements for the two circumstances of project submittal requirements for projects located within one of the eight coastal counties and located within 0.5 miles of coastal receiving waters. Projects under 0.1 acres are not required to be submitted.

Less than 2-Acre Application Requirements -
Between 0.6 and 2.0 Acres within 1/2 mile of Coastal Receiving Waters

Notification Requirements for Automatic Permit Coverage -
0.1 to 0.5 Acres within 1/2 mile of Coastal Receiving Waters

Note: Sites less than 0.5 acres in size within this category, not part of Larger Common Plan are automatically covered under the CGP. Contact DHEC-OCRM for any further Coastal Zone Consistency submittal requirements.