Applying for a Certification/ Permit: Fees & Procedures

Fee Schedule

Applications received as of July 1, 2025 are subject to the following fee schedule:

N.C. Division of Water Resources accepts online payments at

 Wetlands ePayments-Online Payments

Checks should be made payable to "N.C. Division of Water Resources"

¹ Includes all 404 Wetlands and Isolated Wetlands, subject to a permitting program administered by the State of North Carolina

² Includes all streams claimed by the State of North Carolina, including Isolated or Non-Jurisdictional Streams. US Army Corps of Engineers stream categories such as important/unimportant, or Relatively Permanent Waters are not relevant to this issue

³ The legislation refers to "major" and "minor" applications. These artificial categories refer to combined total impacts for a project, and have no relationship whatsoever to the actual types of 401 Certifications (Individual and General). Fees are based strictly on the scope of impact, not on the type of authorization requested. If you apply for multiple Nationwide Permits and 401 Certifications on a single project, the impacts are added to determine the total application fee

Procedures

• Upon submission of the online form for an Individual Certification, an invoice with be sent via email with instructions as to how to make the payment. A check should be submitted with any paper application that is mailed to us.
• Changes to an existing 401 Water Quality Certification require a  fee is required with each issuance of a modification.
• If a project requires a CAMA permit, a separate payment for the 401 Certification is not required.  The Division of Coastal Management administers the fee for both the CAMA Permit and 401 Certification/Isolated Wetlands Permit.
• No refunds will be issued for denied, modified or withdrawn certification requests. If DWR or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers retires/returns/denies a project due to insufficient or inaccurate information, no refunds will be issued.
• If a project is determined to be covered by a 401 General Certification and no application is required then there is no fee. If an applicant still chooses to submit an application in order to have written approval to file with their project records, then the fee payment is required.
• Receipts for fees will only be sent upon written request.
• Electronic applications should be submitted electronically via the DEMLR and DWR-Online Submissions Forms.
• If unable to submit through an online submission form, please mail to the appropriate physical address in the table below:

Express Review

The Express Permitting Program offers a more timely review of certain environmental permits than the traditional permit review process within the NC Department of Environmental Quality. This program offers quicker permit decisions and certification as well as consultation to identify necessary environmental requirements. Higher fees are charged to support additional staff for the express review. This program also encourages greater involvement of property owners, developers and engineers to ensure good communication and high quality applications. Participation in the program is voluntary.

Express permitting began as a pilot program in January 2004 (Session Law 2003-284, Section 11.4A) and expanded by July 2004 (Session Law 2004-124, Section l2.9).

Within the 401 Wetlands Program, Express Review offers expedited stream determinations, Riparian Buffer Authorization, 401 Water Quality Certifications, Isolated and Other Non-404 Jurisdictional Wetlands and Waters Permit, and Stormwater Management Plan approvals.

The Central Office is no longer accepting Express Permitting applications, however the Washington and Wilmington Regional Offices are still accepting Express Permitting applications.

• For forms or questions about Express Permitting in the Washington Regional Office area, please call 252-946-6481.
• For forms or questions about Express Permitting in the Wilmington Regional Office area, please call 910-796-7215. 

BMP Manual, Supplements and Forms

DEMLR’s Sedimentation and Erosion Control Guidelines

Project Certification Forms (Post Construction)

Stormwater Program Map