Arizona replaced AZG2020-001 with AZG2025-001 on August 29, 2025. The new Construction General Permit runs through August 28, 2030, moves obtaining, managing and terminating coverage into the myDEQ portal, and adds an annual fee invoiced every year coverage stays active. Operators covered under the 2020 permit had to file a new electronic NOI by October 28, 2025.
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What changed in Arizona’s 2025 construction general permit?
Four things that affect how you file and what it costs to stay covered.
New permit, new term. AZG2025-001 took effect August 29, 2025 and expires August 28, 2030. ADEQ states plainly that the 2020 CGP is expired and that no further actions are available or required under it.
Everything runs through myDEQ. Coverage is obtained, managed and terminated in ADEQ’s online portal, available around the clock. Paper is not the path.
Annual fees. This is the change with the longest tail. Fees are invoiced each year the permit is active, in the anniversary month the NOI was issued, and each NOI is billed and paid separately. A contractor holding six active NOIs gets six invoices on six different anniversary dates.
A transition window that has closed. Operators who held 2020 coverage had from August 29 to October 28, 2025 to file a new NOI through myDEQ.
Are you still covered if you never re-filed?
If land disturbance is ongoing and no new NOI was filed under AZG2025-001, there is no active coverage for that site. The old permit expired; it did not roll over.
This is worth ten minutes today rather than a conversation with an inspector later. Log into myDEQ and confirm that every active project has a current NOI under the 2025 permit, and that the annual invoice on each one has been paid. Long-running projects that started in 2024 or early 2025 are the ones most likely to have fallen through, because nobody on site had a reason to think about the permit that year.
Discharging without coverage is the violation that is hardest to argue with, because the start date and the filing date are both in the record.
How do you get coverage under AZG2025-001?
- Confirm the project needs coverage: one acre or more of disturbance, or less than an acre where the work is part of a common plan of development or sale that will ultimately disturb one acre or more. See when a SWPPP is required.
- Have the SWPPP prepared by a qualified person. The permit requires this before the NOI is submitted, not after.
- File the electronic NOI in myDEQ and pay the fee.
- Implement the SWPPP before construction starts.
- File a Notice of Termination in myDEQ when the site reaches final stabilization, so the annual fee stops.
That last step is the one that costs money quietly. An NOI left open on a finished site keeps generating an annual invoice. Get your Arizona SWPPP prepared by a CPESC and the filing sequence is handled in order.
What are the inspection rules under the 2025 permit?
Arizona gives you two routine schedules, a storm trigger that attaches to only one of them, and one case that overrides both.
- A minimum of once within seven calendar days, but not within five calendar days of the previous inspection; or
- A minimum of once within 14 calendar days, but not within 10 calendar days of the previous inspection, plus an inspection within 24 hours of each storm event producing 0.5 inches or more of rain in 24 hours.
The rainfall trigger belongs to the 14-day option only. If you run the seven-day schedule, Part 4.2.1 attaches no storm inspection to it — a point worth settling in the SWPPP before an inspector asks which schedule you chose.
One case overrides both options. If the site has an outfall within a quarter mile upstream of an impaired or not-attaining water of the United States, or of an Outstanding Arizona Water, Part 4.2.3 requires inspections at least once every seven calendar days. The 14-day option is not available on those sites, and those are also the sites where ADEQ reviews the SWPPP before authorizing the discharge, with a 30-day wait before coverage begins.
Two details catch people. The first is the minimum spacing — Arizona does not just set a maximum interval, it sets a floor, so inspections crowded together to catch up do not count. The second is the 0.5-inch trigger. The federal Construction General Permit uses 0.25 inches, and contractors who work across state lines routinely apply the wrong number. In Arizona, 0.5 is the routine trigger, and only on the 14-day schedule — though 0.25 inch still has to be logged in the SWPPP whenever it falls during business hours, and 0.25 inch is the trigger on the reduced, inactive and arid-area schedules. See how inspection frequency works for the comparison, and get an estimate if you want the inspection schedule priced for your site.
What does the permit require of your SWPPP?
It has to be written by a qualified person, complete before the NOI goes in, and implemented before construction starts. Inspections are performed by qualified personnel as the permit defines them.
In practice, the dry-climate assumption is where Arizona plans fail. A site that sees no rain for months still needs functioning controls when a monsoon cell drops half an inch in twenty minutes, and stabilization on desert soils is slower and less forgiving than a seeding note on a plan suggests. A plan that was copied from a wetter state does not survive that.
Pro SWPPP writes the plan, files the permit, performs the inspections and keeps the records. Your crews install and maintain the controls; we document that they were there and that they worked. For the wider state picture, see Arizona SWPPP requirements.
Frequently asked questions about AZG2025-001
When did Arizona’s 2025 Construction General Permit take effect?
AZG2025-001 became effective August 29, 2025 and expires August 28, 2030. It replaced AZG2020-001, which ADEQ states is expired with no further actions available or required under it.
Did I have to re-file my NOI under the new Arizona permit?
Yes, if you held coverage under the 2020 permit and work was continuing. Operators had from August 29 to October 28, 2025 to file a new electronic NOI through myDEQ. Sites that never re-filed do not have active coverage.
Is there an annual fee under AZG2025-001?
Yes. Fees are invoiced each year the permit is active, in the anniversary month the NOI was issued, and each NOI is billed and paid separately.
How often are inspections required in Arizona?
Either once within seven calendar days but not within five days of the previous inspection, or once within 14 calendar days but not within 10 days of the previous one. The 14-day option adds an inspection within 24 hours of each storm producing 0.5 inches or more of rain in 24 hours; the seven-day option carries no rainfall trigger. Sites with an outfall within a quarter mile upstream of an impaired water or an Outstanding Arizona Water must inspect every seven calendar days and cannot use the 14-day option.
Does Arizona use the 0.25-inch federal rainfall trigger?
Not for the routine storm inspection on an active site, which triggers at 0.5 inches of rain in 24 hours. But 0.25 inches does appear in Arizona’s permit, and that catches people out: any day of rainfall measuring 0.25 inch or more during normal business hours has to be documented in the SWPPP, and 0.25 inch is the storm trigger on the reduced, inactive and arid-area inspection schedules. The 0.5-inch figure is the one that governs a standard active site on the 14-day schedule.
How do I file for coverage in Arizona?
Through myDEQ, ADEQ’s online portal. The SWPPP must be prepared by a qualified person before the NOI is submitted, and implemented before construction begins.
Ready to get started? Order your SWPPP now or schedule a free consultation.
By Derek E. Chinners, CPESC — Founder & Stormwater Consultant, Pro SWPPP, LLC