States, territories, and tribes are primarily responsible for enforcing NPDES permits when given responsibility by EPA. EPA takes enforcement action if these entities fail to do so. EPA must first inform the state, territory, or tribe of its belief that enforcement is necessary and give it time to take action.
The NPDES program promotes compliance assistance, which helps permittees come into, and remain, in compliance with their permit, rather than going immediately to enforcement actions.
Enforcement actions include the following:
With a SEP, instead of simply paying a fine to the federal or state treasury, the violator must spend more money than the amount of the fine on a relevant environmental project, such as wetlands restoration or abandoned mine cleanup.
Citizens can also bring a lawsuit against a violator, but they must provide a 60-day notice to EPA and the state, territory, or tribe to give them time to take action against the violator.