(1) Public notice of every draft permit determination regarding an individual permit shall be circulated in a manner designed to inform interested and potentially affected persons of the proposed discharge and of the proposed determination to issue or deny a permit for the proposed discharge, as follows:

(a) Notice shall be circulated within the geographical area of the proposed discharge; such circulation may include any or all of the following, as directed by the department:

(i) Posting by the applicant for a period of thirty days in the post office, public library, and public places of the municipality nearest the premises of the applicant in which the effluent source is located;

(ii) Posting by the applicant for a period of thirty days near the entrance of the applicant's premises and nearby places;

(iii) Publishing by the applicant, at his own cost within such time as the director shall prescribe, through a notice form provided by the department, in major local newspapers of general circulation serving the area in which the discharge occurs: Provided, That if an applicant fails to publish notice within thirty days of the time prescribed by the director, the department may publish the notice and bill the applicant for the cost of publication;

(iv) Publishing by the applicant of paid advertisements;

(v) Publishing by the department of news releases or newsletter articles.

(b) Notice shall be mailed to any person upon request; and

(c) The department shall add the name of any person upon request to a mailing list to receive copies of notices within the state or within a certain geographical area.

(2) The department shall provide a period of not less than thirty days following the date of the public notice during which time interested persons may submit their written views on a draft permit determination. All written comments submitted during the thirty-day comment period shall be retained by the department and considered in the formulation of its final determination with respect to the application. The period for comment may be extended at the discretion of the department.

(3) The department shall prepare the contents of the public notice, which shall, at a minimum, summarize the following:

(a) Name, address, phone number of agency issuing the public notice;

(b) Name and address of each applicant, and if different, of the facility or activity to be regulated;

(c) Each applicant's activities or operations which result in a discharge (e.g., municipal waste treatment, steel manufacturing, drainage from mining activities);

(d) Name of waterway to which each discharge is made and the location of each discharge on the waterway, indicating whether such discharge is a new or an existing discharge;

(e) The tentative determination to issue or deny a permit for the discharge;

(f) The procedures for the formulation of final determinations, including the thirty-day comment period required by subsection (2) of this section and any other means by which interested persons may comment upon those determinations; and

(g) Address and phone number of state premises at which interested persons may obtain further information.

(4) The department shall provide copies of permit applications, draft permit determinations, and final permits.

(5) The department shall notify the applicant and persons who have submitted written comments or requested notice of the final permit decision. This notification shall include response to comments received and reference to the procedures for contesting the decision.