GP5 - Mining/Processing

General Permit #5 (GP #5) authorizes discharges from facilities primarily engaged in mining or quarrying to waters throughout the State of Iowa. GP #5 was reissued on July 1, 2023. The types of discharges authorized under GP #5 include:

  • wash water,
  • materials transport water,
  • scrubber water used for air pollution control,
  • water used for dust suppression,
  • mine or quarry dewatering, and
  • non-contact cooling water used for cooling of crusher bearings, drills, saws, dryers, pumps and air compressors.

The facilities covered by General Permit #5 may be primarily engaged in mining or quarrying dimension stone (SIC 1411), crushed and broken limestone (SIC 1422), construction sand and gravel (SIC 1442), or clay, ceramic, and refractory minerals not elsewhere classified (SIC 1459) except bentonite and magnesite.

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Current Version of General Permit #5

The reissued version of GP #5 became effective on July 1, 2023.

Any discharge authorizations granted under the previous version of GP #5 issued on July 20, 2021, will remain valid through the renewed permits' expiration date of June 30, 2028.

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Renewal of General Permit #5

The DNR is hosting an informal stakeholder meeting on March 3, 2026, regarding the proposed five-year renewals of NPDES General Permits #5, #6, and #7 (GPs #5-7). The purpose of this meeting is to accept comments and answer questions on possible changes to the GPs. The DNR is specifically seeking comments on the clarity, feasibility, and potential impact of the proposed changes. Formal rulemaking to renew GPs #5-7 is expected to begin in mid 2026.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 3 at 11:00 am.  The meeting is open to the public and will be held virtually via Google Meet.

Questions and comments regarding the draft renewals or the meeting may be directed to Wendy Hieb at wendy.hieb@dnr.iowa.gov. Comments will be accepted until Tuesday, March 10th.

Redline-strikeout version of the draft renewal of GP #5 (2026-1-30)

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Forms for General Permit #5

Notices of Intent (NOIs), Annual Monitoring reports, and Fees for General Permit #5 may all be submitted electronically using the General Permits 5, 8, and 9 Database. For more information on the database, and to access the user manual, please see the NPDES Databases page.

NPDES General Permit #5 - Mining and Processing FacilitiesDNR Form #
General Permit #5  
General Permit #5 - Notice of Intent542-4006
General Permit #5 - Annual Monitoring Report542-8035
General Permit #5 - Notice of Discontinuation542-8038
General Permit #5 - Fee Invoice542-1257
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Fees for General Permit #5

A permitted facility has the option of submitting an annual fee, or a three, four, or five-year fee as follows:

  • Annual Permit Fee: $125 (per year)
  • Three-year Permit Fee: $300
  • Four-year Permit Fee: $400
  • Five-year Permit Fee: $500

Fees are to be submitted by August 30 each year unless a multiple year fee payment was paid in an earlier year. 

New facilities will still have to pay an annual fee by August 30th even though they may have months remaining on their original fee payment. For example, if a new facility paid a one year fee with their NOI on April 1, 2021, the facility would still have a new annual fee due on August 30, 2021.

In the event a facility is no longer eligible to be covered under general permit #5, the remainder of the fees previously paid by the facility would be applied toward its individual permit fee.

Fees for General Permit #5 may all be submitted electronically using the General Permits 5, 8, and 9 Database.

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