In recognition that urban stormwater discharges are a significant cause of water quality impairment in the mid-Atlantic region and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed–and one of the only sources of pollutants with increasing loads to the Bay and its tributaries–the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recently issued new guidance on improving the effectiveness of NPDES permits in an attempt “to consolidate and optimize all of the authorities and tools available to permitting authorities.”

The primary purpose of the Urban Stormwater Approach for the Mid-Atlantic region and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed is to clarify for NPDES Program Managers the expectations for the issuance of MS4 Permits that are clear, enforceable, and consistent with applicable regulations and will contribute to meeting the water quality objectives of the Clean Water Act (CWA), including relevant wasteload allocations.

This “Approach” offers guidance to States in order to support state actions to improve municipal stormwater permit programs, as noted in Executive Order 13508, Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay.

Download the guidance document here >>

admin Chesapeake Bay, NPDES / MS4 BMPs, Chesapeake Bay, clean water, Clean Water Act, CWA, erosion and sediment control, MS4, Nonpoint source pollution, NPDES, stormwater, stormwater legislation, TMDL, US EPA, wasteload allocations, water quality, watershed protection

(PHILADELPHIA - August 6, 2010)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced it has sent orders to four south central Pennsylvania municipalities requiring improvements to their respective Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) programs. Orders went to Silver Spring Township and Lower Allen Township in Cumberland County, and Wyomissing Borough and West Reading Borough in Berks County. EPA issued similar orders last April to 79 other municipalities in this south central part of the state, an area that drains to the Chesapeake Bay.

These orders are needed because improperly managed stormwater can wash harmful pollutants into local streams and rivers. EPA is committed to bringing these municipalities into compliance for the health of local waterways in Pennsylvania and the Chesapeake Bay.

–Shawn M. Garvin, Regional Administrator for EPA’s mid-Atlantic region

Complete details can be found here>>

admin Chesapeake Bay, NPDES / MS4 Chesapeake Bay, erosion and sediment control, MS4, Nonpoint source pollution, NPDES, stormwater legislation, stormwater runoff, US EPA

Congress for the New Urbanism and Partners Submit Stormwater Regulation Reform Letter to EPA

StormwaterPA’s Editors have commented often on EPA’s NPDES Phase II MS4 program, as administered by PADEP here in Pennsylvania.  After much agonizing with much public input, major changes in MS4 have been adopted by PADEP - some of them controversial.  We have argued that the need for an MS4 program here and in other states is real, although the reality of these MS4 programs with their various requirements, including these new changes, is open to question.  It’s not at all clear that, as an unfunded mandate, this is all making the sense that it should be making - and resulting in the water resource benefits intended by the Clean Water Act.

In June, a group of Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) members helped form a Rainwater Initiative aimed at reforming regulations that encourage sprawl.  One goal of this group is to intervene in the ongoing reform of the EPA’s stormwater regulations National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) process.

The group — whose leaders include national stormwater leaders Paul Crabtree, Lisa Nisenson, Tom Low, and John Jacob — is concerned that the EPA “has been issuing and promoting new source- and volume-control regulations that are site-based, not watershed-based, and thus have the unintended consequence of promoting sprawl rather than fixing it.”

On July 15, in an effort initiated by this group, CNU and a set of partners (the Local Government Commission, Center for Neighborhood Technology, Coastal Conservation League, City of Madison, Wisconsin, and the National Town Builders Association) submitted a letter to the EPA. Referencing EPA’s participation in the historic Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities with HUD and US DOT, the signers address some of these MS4 problems and suggest ways to make the program better. They wrote:

As the federal agencies take a holistic look at how they work together to support sustainable development, we would like to discuss a similarly holistic approach for the EPA Office of Water’s efforts as it revises the current National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). As US DOT, HUD and EPA strive to break down silos, we urge you to continue this effort with stormwater regulations and make them complement broader environmental objectives.

The letter addresses the shortcomings with the current and proposed rainwater/stormwater management approach:

• Current regulations focus on individual site mitigation not larger-scale prevention.
• Current regulations hinder shared practices.
• Current regulations are silent on a site’s context and location within the watershed and weak on larger watershed scale.
• Current regulations assume costs are equal for different development environments.
• Current regulations depend on development to cure waterways.

The letter also offers suggestions for advancing an effort that makes regulatory reform more meaningful through making redevelopment a priority, establishing separate regulatory tracks for new development and redevelopment within NPDES, placing watershed and sub-watershed analysis at the forefront, and updating best management practices with solutions appropriate to their urban context.

We agree.

On a related note, PA DEP recently announced delays in the implementing the MS4 program changes discussed above.  It needs to be understood that delays in implementation are just that - delays.  Program requirements will still need to be addressed by affected municipalities (more than 900 of Pennsylvania’s 2500+ municipalities, certainly comprising the bulk of state population and economic development activity). Get more details here>>

admin NPDES / MS4, National Add new tag, BMPs, clean water, Clean Water Act, development, holistic, MS4, NPDES, PA DEP, redevelopment, runoff prevention, source control, sprawl, sustainable development, volume control, watershed protection, watershed scale

In case you missed it, the Philadelphia Inquirer recently ran on article on PA DEPs decision to delay the implementation date for the new MS4 Phase II Permit.

Pennsylvania towns get more time to develop storm-water plans
By Sandy Bauers
Inquirer Staff Writer

After months of trying to impose tough new rules for how towns should manage their storm water, Pennsylvania regulators on Tuesday backed off and granted municipalities a nine-month extension for measures some had termed “draconian.”

Towns were to have submitted plans by Sept. 10 detailing how they would comply with new rules to handle the gushers of rain that often flow through culverts directly into streams, carrying with them road oil, fertilizer, trash, and other pollutants.

But anxious local officials pushed back, calling it an unfunded mandate and worse.

The way they read an initial ordinance floated earlier this year, they would be forced to spend millions of dollars sweeping salt off roads after storms, installing storm-sewer retrofits, and even requiring residents to submit storm-water plans for patios.

The state Department of Environmental Protection originally resisted an extension. But in an interview Tuesday (July 27), John Hines, the department’s deputy secretary for water management, said that one would be granted after all. He said he expected a formal announcement by mid-August.

“We have heard their concerns,” Hines said. “But in this extension period, we all have a lot of work to do, and we need to do it together.”

Read the complete article here>>

admin NPDES / MS4, Stormwater Regulations clean water, Clean Water Act, MS4, Nonpoint source pollution, NPDES, PA DEP, stormwater, stormwater best management practices, stormwater legislation, stormwater runoff, US EPA, water quality

From National Association of Clean Water Agencies…

A “zero-discharge” standard for sanitary sewer overflows is impossible to achieve, and any Environmental Protection Agency rule addressing such overflows should shield utilities from enforcement or lawsuits for overflows that are beyond their reasonable control, a municipal wastewater treatment official said July 13.

Chris Hornbeck, senior director of regulatory affairs for the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, was one of several municipal, industry, and environmental group representatives speaking at an EPA “listening session” on National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit requirements for sanitary sewer systems. Sanitary sewer systems are designed to carry sewage only, while combined sewer systems carry both sewage and stormwater.  EPA issued a combined sewer overflow policy in 1994, but has not issued a final policy on sanitary sewer overflows.

For the entire article, go here>>

admin NPDES / MS4 clean water, NPDES, sanitary sewer systems, US EPA, wastewater treatment, water quality, zero discharge