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Colorado

The stormwater permit for construction in Colorado

Colorado runs its own NPDES programme, so a state issued construction general permit governs. Below is what our engine can say about it, and where we have not read that permit, what it will not say.

Governing permit

COR400000 Construction Stormwater Discharge General Permit

Issued by
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Water Quality Control Division
Permit number
COR400000
Version determined against
as published by the state agency

Who may prepare the plan

No preparer credential found

No preparer credential was found for Colorado. On what we have verified, a generated plan can be adopted by the operator without a credentialed signature. Local ordinances can still be stricter than state law.

The named Qualified Stormwater Manager role is a self-attested competency description, not a credential with an exam or registry.

No permit section cited. Confirm this with your permitting authority.

Does a site in Colorado need coverage

Worked for a one acre site as a reference point. Change the acreage in the tool below and the answer, and its reasoning, change with it.

Coverage

Permit coverage required

Verified

The project disturbs 1 acres, at or above the 1 acre threshold, so it needs permit coverage.

Determined against dataset version 2026-07-19.

Read these before you act on the answer

  • We have identified COR400000 Construction Stormwater Discharge General Permit as the governing permit but have not loaded its requirements. The requirements below are not shown because we will not substitute the federal permit's rules for a state's. Confirm with Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Water Quality Control Division.
  • No preparer credential was found for Colorado. On what we have verified, a generated plan can be adopted by the operator without a credentialed signature. Local ordinances can still be stricter than state law.
  • Basinwise does not perform the physical site inspections the permit requires. Those must be carried out on site by a qualified person.
How this answer was reached, step by step
  1. 1

    Coverage threshold

    The project disturbs 1 acres, at or above the 1 acre threshold, so it needs permit coverage.

    VerifiedPart 1.1.2Source
  2. 2

    Permitting authority

    Colorado. The state runs its own programme under COR400000.

  3. 3

    Preparer credential

    No preparer credential was found for Colorado. On what we have verified, a generated plan can be adopted by the operator without a credentialed signature. Local ordinances can still be stricter than state law.

What to do next

  1. 1. Confirm the governing permit. Read COR400000 Construction Stormwater Discharge General Permit directly. It is linked above, and it is the document an inspector will hold you to. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Water Quality Control Division
  2. 2. Settle the preparer question before you draft. Getting this wrong costs a redraft at best. The detail is on the credential page for this state. Preparer credential in Colorado
  3. 3. Screen the site. Run the real acreage and receiving water facts through the tool below. You get the inspection frequency, the stabilisation deadlines and the filing path with the permit section behind each.
  4. 4. Read the requirements in full. SWPPP requirements in Colorado

Screen a Colorado site now

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Screen your site

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Total land disturbance over the whole project, including staging and access. This decides whether you need a permit at all.

Optional. If you phase the work, the most that will be disturbed at once. Leave blank if the whole site is open together. The stabilisation deadline turns on this figure, not the total.

A half acre lot inside a 40 acre subdivision is covered even though the lot alone is under the threshold. This is the most commonly missed trigger in the permit.

Receiving water and site conditions(optional, but they change the inspection frequency)

May allow a reduced inspection frequency during the seasonally dry period.

EPA keeps permitting authority in Indian country even inside a state that runs its own programme.

No account, no card, nothing transmitted.

What people ask about the Colorado construction stormwater permit

Do I need a stormwater permit for a construction site in Colorado?

Permit coverage is triggered at one acre of land disturbance, and below one acre if the project is part of a larger common plan of development or sale that will ultimately disturb an acre or more. The project disturbs 1 acres, at or above the 1 acre threshold, so it needs permit coverage.

Who issues the construction stormwater permit in Colorado?

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Water Quality Control Division issues COR400000 Construction Stormwater Discharge General Permit.

Does Colorado require a qualified preparer for the plan?

No preparer credential was found for Colorado. On what we have verified, a generated plan can be adopted by the operator without a credentialed signature. Local ordinances can still be stricter than state law.

Keep the record Colorado will ask you for

The screening is free. Holding the written plan and the retained inspection log is what the permit actually demands.