PADEPs Draft General Permit for MS4 Municipalities has received much press, here and elsewhere.  The Pennsylvania Campaign for Clean Water, comprised of over 100 state and national environmental organizations, has spent considerable time evaluating the Draft Permit and has formulated detailed comments to help PADEP make the General Permit even better.

We highly recommend that you look it over, and, if you agree, let Clean Water Action know that you’d like to sign on (contact Clean Water Action’s Bob Wendelgass, Campaign Chair, or Anne Misak at 215-545-5250.)

ACT NOW: Final comments are due by July 6, 2009.

admin From the Editors, NPDES / MS4 clean water, MS4

Attention Conservation Districts: Self Evaluation and Tally sheets now available on the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts’ website.   This Self-Assessment Tool is designed to help the District take an internal look at four essential aspects of a conservation district team that must be created and maintained in order for a district to excel.  They are:

1) effective board functioning;

2) effective interpersonal functioning;

3) effective political relationships; and

4) effective client/community/partner relationships.

How Green is your golf course? The Pennsylvania Environmental Council released a new handbook to help golf courses throughout the state restore wetlands, manage stormwater, and make courses more enjoyable.  Read the full article here and download your free copy at www.pecpa.org/gchandbook

Keeping a LID on Runoff: Low-impact development mimics nature’s handling of water. Janis Keating’s article in The Journal for Surface Water Quality Professionals explains how site design and BMP’s can improve the quality of your development.

Recent heavy rains and flooding washed out many gravel driveways and private roads. Click here for tips about repairing and preventing damage, from the Westmoreland Conservation District.

Upcoming Events

Throughout July, the EPA’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System is hosting training courses on Managing Wet Weather with Green Infrastructure.  Visit their website for details about dates and locations.  Click here for other workshops and meetings held by the NPDES.

REMINDER: The NACD’s 2009 summer legislative conference will take place July 19-21, 2009 in Washington D.C. Click here for more details including registration, hotel information, a draft agenda, and more. Register today!

admin Weekly News conservation district, green infrastructure, LID, NPDES, stormwater runoff, wet weather

PADEP has concluded 2 of its 3 public information meetings and hearings on the proposed Draft MS4 General Permit with final session to be held on June 23 at the Southcentral Regional Office in Harrisburg.  The June 18 session in Norristown was well attended, though only a handful of folks offered testimony at the hearing portion of the session (which we attended).   A hearing record will be made available; PADEP staff are posting the powerpoint presentations on the PADEP website.

Major points included:

• Most of the municipalities present were worried that they were going to be forced into applying for Individual Permits, rather than their current General Permits.
• PADEP is hard-pressed to outline how much more onerous the Individual Permit process is going to be (time requirements, etc.), not knowing how many municipalities will opt for Individual Permits.
• Municipalities that have proactively adopted expanded comprehensive stormwater ordinances are being forced to adopt the new PADEP Model Ordinance, which in some cases is different from/less rigorous than their ordinances.  Their only alternative seems to be to opt for an Individual Permit, which seems somewhat punitive.
• TMDL requirements seem to lack needed technical linkage to water quality problems and objectives (it gets lot more complicated than that)
• The entire schedule set out for the Draft General Permit for this Fall and next spring seems very likely to get delayed!

The majority of the questions and comments at the Norristown session seemed to be administrative and procedural in nature, rather than technical and substantive.  We made the point that the new Model Ordinance requires volume control for up to the 2-year storm (consistent with the BMP Manual and a major advancement), yet still requires that any Act 167 Plan (if existing) with release rate requirements for peak rates be enforced - such release rate requirements, especially for smaller storms, simply make no sense when volume control is being required as well.

Final written comments on the Draft General Permit are to PADEP due by July 6, 2009.  Pay attention - this is critical if you are an MS4 municipality.

admin From the Editors, NPDES / MS4 Act 167, MS4, ordinances, PA BMP Manual, stormwater, TMDL