This legislation requires county emergency management agencies and health departments (once they are notified by the Environmental Proteciton Division) to place a public notice when there is a spill of pollutants that is reasonably expected to be a hazard to the public health and safety, to private and public drinking water supplies, or to animals, birds or aquatic life.

This legislation requires those applying for septage land application permits to provide the EPD with a letter verifying that the proposed site complies with a jurisdiction's local zoning and land use ordinances. If a public hearing is held in the application process, it must occur in the same jurisdiction where the proposed site is to be located.

This legislation extends the sunset for the scrap tire fee from June 30, 2014, until June 30, 2019. This fee generates about $6 million annually and is supposed to fund the Solid Waste Trust Fund (for scrap tire clean up, landfill clean ups, litter reduction and recycling efforts at the local level). Over 60 percent of all funds have been redirected to balance the state's general fund since 2004 instead of being used for their statutorily-designated purpose.

This legislation changes the Georgia Hazardous Site Reuse and Redevelopment Act to the Georgia Brownfield Act, as well as changes the liability of certain purchasers of brownfield property.

This legislation makes several revisions to the Flint River Drought Protection Act. Among those, it calls for the Department of Agriculture and the State Soil and Water Conservation Commission to work with EPD to look at enhancing programs and incentives to support agricultural water efficiency measures, support pilot projects on innovative irrigation technologies, identify ways for measuring agricultural uses of water, and encourage the retirement of unused surface and ground water farm permits. The EPD Director may modify all farm water permits to reach scheduled efficiencies by 2020 in "affected areas" (all areas in which groundwater flow affects the Flint, or where drainage into Spring Creek, Ichawaynochaway Creek, Kinchafoonee Creek and Muckalee Creek occurs).  If the state is augmenting stream flows to help protect aquatic life habitat, the EPD Director can notify downstream surface water permit holders not to use the increased flows in said affected areas.  Several other provisions are included.           

Current Department of Natural Resources rules require 150-foot stream buffers on waters seven miles upstream of drinking water reservoirs and intakes, allowing some variances if other water protection measures are taken. This bill allows these buffers to be decreased so long as the local government submits a watershed protection plan to EPD (and it is approved) that still maintains water quality. The state's 25-foot (all streams) and 50-foot buffers (trout streams) are not impacted by this legislation.

In 2013, the Department of Natural Resources ended the practice of allowing inert landfills to be "permit-by-rule" facilities, instead requiring them to obtain full solid waste handling permits to operate.  This legislation effectively overrides the new DNR rule and allows inert landfills to operate if they simply notify the EPD Director within 30 days of commencing operations - thus going back to permit-by-rule facilities.  While various inert landfill rules remain in place, this bill ends DNR's requirements that inert landfills be designed by a professional engineer; have routine methane monitoring programs; have 30-year post closure care plans; provide surety responsibilities; and measure and report the waste received to EPD.