• Filling, excavating, land clearing, ditching, or otherwise damaging wetlands, streams, or other state waters without a required permit
• Exceeding the amount of wetland, stream, or other state waters impacts that are authorized in a permit
• Failing to provide VWP with required monitoring reports
• Failing to provide required compensatory mitigation 
• Failing to meet the requirements of project specific permit conditions

Compliance

Adjacent wetland areas protected from inadvertent impact


Noncompliance

Construction activities have encroached into
adjacent wetland areas without authorization

During construction, permittees may be out of compliance with one or more permit conditions or VWP regulations. Regional VWP staff work with permittees to bring these projects back into compliance and to minimize environmental harm resulting from the activity. The compliance process uses different levels of response based on the degree of noncompliance. VWP staff can use the following approaches:

1. Take no action if the investigation concludes that the permittee is in compliance with a permit
2. Make informal requests to resolve the least serious problems
3. Send a formal Warning Letter
4. Refer cases to DEQ’s Enforcement Division with a Notice of Violation (NOV)

If you wish to report a pollution incident or activity occurring in wetlands, streams, lakes, or ponds in your community, contact Pollution Response Coordinator in the region where you live or use the PREP form. DEQ’s Pollution Response Program (PREP) will investigate the complaint.

Other local, state, and federal agencies have regulatory jurisdiction over wetlands and other waters.  See the Links page for a partial list of other agency contacts.

Permittees or the public can contact VWP staff to request compliance assistance. If you have questions about an activity affecting wetlands, streams, or other state waters, contact VWP staff assigned to your county. If you currently have a permit contact the DEQ project manager who issued your permit. The best way to avoid legal problems as well as substantial expenditure of time and cost, is to inquire about an activity before you proceed or as soon as an incident occurs.