The Foundation

Developing and Implementing Your Storm Water

Management Program

Your SWMP is the foundation of your storm water program

Your SWMP is your vision for protecting water quality over

the next five years and beyond

This important document must be well thought-outthought-out, taking into consideration

aspects of your communityaspects of your community in order to most efficientlyefficiently reduce the discharge of reduce the discharge of

pollutantspollutants in urban runoff

Where to Begin? Where to Begin?

6 program areas to focus on -

Minimum Control Measures

What to do?What to do?

Do thingsthings to stop this pollution. These thingsthings are known as Best Management

Practices (BMPs)

BMPs

Schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and

other management practices to prevent or reduce the pollution of waters of the

United States. BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating

procedures, and practices to control site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material

storage.

BMPs (cont.)

• Its not necessarily what BMPs you choose, but why you chose them.

Resources to Protect

• Local stream• Wetlands• Fishing Spot• Drinking water supply• Groundwater• The community

– health, flooding

Protect it from what?

• 303(d) listed for a specific pollutant• Pollutants of concern• Other known problems

– litter, eutrophication, sediment (erosion)

• “Urban Slobber”– from pet waste to brake lining to

pesticides to everything we spill, spit, and drop on the ground

Existing Issues

• Dumping areas• Localized flooding• Unsafe recreation areas• Unappealing recreation areas• Little open space

Community Characteristics

• Industrial• Suburban• High Growth• Languages• Cultures

What BMPs can you do to target these characteristics?

BMPs Required by the Permit

• Basic elements of a storm water program

BMPs (cont.)

• Suites of BMPs

Many communities are similar, look at what they are

doing

Coordinate

• Departments– Public Works– Water Resources– Planning– Parks– etc.

• Other Entities– City next door– County/City– County Health

Dept.– School

Look at what you are already doing

• Restaurant inspections• Household hazardous waste day• Handling complaints• Pollution Prevention Fair

BMP Resources• EPA’s BMP Toolbox

– http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/menuofbmps/menu.cfm

• CASQA’s BMP Handbooks– www.cabmphandbooks.com/– (click on the pictures)

• ASCE’s BMP Database– http://www.bmpdatabase.org/

• Others– www.swrcb.ca.gov/stormwtr/bmp_database.html

Be Creative

ROAD BLOCKS?ROAD BLOCKS?

Funding

Vectors

Street Widths for emergency vehicles

“That’s n

ot th

e w

ay w

e

do it”

Opposition by the

public to being

regulated

Resourc

es

Safety

Roadblocks

• Try to anticipate them• Address them in your SWMP• Resolving them may be a task to

be completed

Along with BMPs, measurable goals,measurable goals, time time

schedules, schedules, and and responsible responsible personspersons define your program

Evaluate and Assess Your SWMP

Is what you are doing working?

• Evaluation/Assessment Parameters• Use the information that you are

gathering to help tailor your program• Ex. If you continually have to clean

out a particular storm drains because of sediment, you should focus on construction activity in that drainage area

Develop

Implement

Assess

Be open to new information

Remember the Goal:Water Quality