The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced Tuesday that it is considering modifications to key provisions of proposed new permit requirements for the management and oversight of municipal stormwater systems.

The modifications are being made to address concerns expressed by cities and towns at a public hearing last week, DEEP said, while still allowing the agency to achieve important environmental objectives.

DEEP officials said they are discussing with local leaders changes to language now in the draft permit and will circulate a revised version by Jan. 26.

The revisions are expected to include changes in various requirements for street sweeping, cleaning of catch basins, management of fallen leaves and water quality monitoring of stormwater discharges, DEEP said. The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and the Connecticut Conference of Small Towns said these and other proposed changes would be overly burdensome in financial and manpower resources.

The formal parties to this matter - DEEP staff, CCM, the Council of Small Towns and the Connecticut Fund for the Environment - are scheduled to meet with the hearing officer Feb. 5. The session will be a "status conference" to report on the progress of their discussions and determine next steps toward finalizing new permit requirements, DEEP said. While the two municipal groups say the proposed changes are overly strict, the Connecticut Fund for the Environment is arguing for even stronger regulations.

Oswald Inglese, director of water permitting and enforcement at DEEP, said the agency understands that municipal leaders are concerned about the potential budget impacts of the new stormwater requirements.

"That is why we will continue a dialogue with our municipal partners in an effort to reach agreement on final language for this permit that strengthens environmental protection in a common sense and fiscally prudent manner," he said.

Inglese added that DEEP also has an obligation to move forward with improvements to stormwater management because it is a major source of pollution to the state's waterways. DEEP proposed the changes to comply with requirements of the federal Clean Water Act.

"Stormwater carries contaminants into our lakes, rivers, streams and Long Island Sound - the water bodies that make Connecticut a special place to live and the places where we all want to enjoy swimming, fishing and boating," Inglese said. "We must take steps to reduce the level of contamination discharged into our water from stormwater systems."

Stormwater pollution has increased with the amount of paved surfaces in the state, he added.

"As Connecticut has grown, our landscape has more hard and impervious surfaces where stormwater systems have replaced the natural infiltration processes that allowed stormwater to be absorbed back into the ground," he said. "This means increasing amounts of polluted stormwater runoff is being carried into our waterways, degrading water quality, threatening recreational opportunities, and putting habitats and aquatic species at risk."