The renewal of the NPDES Phase II Municipal Storm Water Permit is available. The Ohio EPA issued the general permit authorization for small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4) to discharge storm water under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. This permit requires local governments to manage stormwater discharges from urban storm water systems. This permit was issued with an effective date of January 30, 2009. For more information visit http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/storm
Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District is available to help your community comply with this permit. We are a political subdivision of the State of Ohio that provides natural resource conservation services with support from county, municipal, and township government, and state matching funds.
Based on our experience working with Franklin County, 17 townships and 12 municipalities on NPDES Phase II compliance, we have found the following to be important in implementing a successful storm water program.
Establish an active storm water committee with representatives from all affected municipal departments, community representatives from watershed and other community organizations, and representatives from those providing support such as board of health, soil and water district or consulting firm. The storm water committee should start with quarterly meetings to enable good lines of communication and set objectives for deadlines.
· Take ownership in your program and understand your permit. You will get the greatest value for the dollar if you are actively involved in developing your storm water management plan.
· Commit to establish a storm water program that utilizes internal and community resources and systems. Set up a program that makes the best use of available resources. Place your focus on water quality improvements in the community first. Use your local and state resources to navigate the regulations.
Look at what others are doing. The 2009 Central Ohio Stormwater and Erosion Control Expo on March 19, 2009 is a great place to network on this topic. For more information visit www.franklinswcd.org.
Take charge of your annual reporting. Keep a folder of reportable items and update it throughout the year. Put news articles, press releases, events, memos related to action items, meeting agendas, minutes etc. into the folder. This will make year-end reporting easier.
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