Stormwater NPDES permits require post-construction runoff controls for new developments. Getting those Best Management Practices (BMPs) in place can be a challenge, but it can be even more difficult to meet another permit requirement: inspecting and maintaining those BMPs to make sure they keep doing the job.
Forward-thinking municipalities have developed programs to keep BMPs clean and functional on public as well as private properties. For example, Montgomery County, Md., hires contractors to maintain BMPs on public land and follows up to make sure private landowners take proper care of their runoff-control facilities.
Meanwhile, the City of Red-mond, Wash., inspects BMPs on private lands to ensure compliance, and uses the city’s own maintenance crew to maintain publicly-owned BMPs. Both approaches have proven effective in extending the life of BMPs and helping to reduce runoff pollution.
Importance of care
NPDES permit requirements state that each permitted municipality must develop, implement, and enforce a Stormwater Manage-ment Program to reduce pollutants entering receiving waters. The program must include six minimum control measures:
• Public education and outreach
• Public participation/ involvement
• Illicit discharge detection and elimination
• Construction site runoff control
• Post-construction runoff control
• Pollution prevention/good housekeeping
Post-construction runoff control includes the installation of structural BMPs, such as wet ponds, constructed wetlands, underground detention and manufactured practices. Pollution prevention/good housekeeping included the inspection and maintenance of the structural BMPs.
In July 2008, the Center for Watershed Protection released Managing Stormwater in Your Community – A Guide for Building an Effective Post-Construction Program (EPA Publication No. 833-R-08-001), written by David J. Hirschman and John Kosco, P.E. This guide helps municipalities develop their storm-water management program.
“A great deal of effort is involved at the front end of developing a stormwater program,” the authors state. “Getting stormwater BMPs included on design plans and constructed properly in the field is a major accomplishment, but it is only the beginning of the actual life of the BMPs.
“Ongoing maintenance is needed to ensure that the BMPs will continue to perform as designed. In fact, lack of adequate maintenance is the primary shortcoming for most local stormwater programs across the country ... (A)s with any infrastructure, deferred maintenance can increase costs and negatively affect receiving waters; unmaintained BMPs will ultimately fail to perform their design functions and might become a nuisance or pose safety problems ... Therefore, developing and implementing an effective maintenance program is essential.”
The center has also identified several challenges that limited municipalities’ ability to establish effective inspection and maintenance programs. The challenges include:
• Lack of funding
• Uncertainty about the physical locations of BMPs
• Inability to track responsible parties
• Lack of dedicated inspection staff
• Designs that are not conducive to easy maintenance
• Lack of compliance and enforcement authority
• Owners unaware of their maintenance responsibilities
Despite these challenges, muni-cipalities across the country are establishing effective inspection and maintenance programs.
