Under the Massachusetts Clean Waters Act, no one may discharge pollutants, including construction stormwater, into waters of the commonwealth without a valid permit from MassDEP. Coastal Plymouth County towns enforce local stormwater bylaws under the federal MS4 permit.
The Clean Waters Act, MGL c.21 §43, bars discharging pollutants into any waters of the commonwealth without a currently valid permit. Across Plymouth County, from the Jones River in Kingston to Buzzards Bay at Wareham and Mattapoisett, MassDEP and EPA administer these permits. Construction sites disturbing one acre or more need coverage under the EPA Construction General Permit and must keep a stormwater pollution prevention plan on site. Towns like Plymouth, Duxbury, and Marshfield run regulated MS4 stormwater programs, requiring erosion controls, illicit-discharge rules, and post-construction treatment of runoff before it reaches wetlands or the bay.
Discharging construction or polluted stormwater without a valid permit violates the Clean Waters Act and draws MassDEP enforcement, daily penalties, and orders to cease work. Local MS4 bylaws add their own fines.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Plymouth County, MA
No Plymouth County or state law limits holiday lights, inflatables, or yard displays. Towns rarely regulate seasonal decorations at all, and where a bylaw to...
Plymouth County, MA
No Plymouth County rule governs garage-sale signs; towns handle them through local sign bylaws. On your own lawn a yard-sale sign is generally fine, but a si...
Plymouth County, MA
Towns, not Plymouth County, regulate signs, through zoning bylaws authorized by MGL c.40A. Those bylaws must stay content-neutral: after Reed v. Town of Gilb...
Plymouth County, MA
Rental registration and inspection are local powers, not county ones. The State Sanitary Code under MGL c.111 §127A lets each town's board of health enforce ...
Plymouth County, MA
Massachusetts has no statewide just-cause eviction law, and no Plymouth County town can add one. A landlord ends a tenancy at will with 30 days' written noti...
Plymouth County, MA
Rent control is illegal across every Plymouth County community. Massachusetts voters banned it in 1994 through Question 9, now codified as MGL c.40P §4: no c...
See how Plymouth County's stormwater management rules stack up against other locations.
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