Stormwater Regulations
New federal requlations issued in 1999 established a permit requirement for small municipal separate storm sewer systems (“MS4s”). The Township of O’Hara, along with an estimated 940 other municipalities in Pennsylvania, must meet these new permit requirements.
The regulations required states, including Pennsylvania, to set up a permit program for the permitting requirements by December 2002. It also required MS4s to obtain permit coverage by March 2003. The Township has complied with the requirement to obtain permit coverage.
The federal requlations establish six categories of Best Management Practices (“BMPs”) that must be met by permittees. The BMPs must be designed to reduce the discharge of pollutants from MS4s to the maximum extent practicable to protect water quality and to satisfy the appropriate requirements for the Federal Clean Water Act.
The six BMP categories are as follows
- Public education—this includes the distribution of educational materials and performing outreach to inform citizens of reasons to control stormwater runoff
- Public participation and involvement—this includes providing opportunities for citizens to participate in stormwater program development and implementation
- Illicit discharge detection and elimination—this element includes developing and implementing a plan to detect and eliminate illicit discharges to the stormwater system
- Construction site runoff control—this includes developing, implementing and enforcing a sediment and erosion control program for construction activities
- Post-construction runoff control—this element includes developing, implementing and enforcing a program to address discharges of post-construction runoff and specifies appropriate stormwater treatment practices (STPs)
- Pollution prevention and good housekeeping—this includes developing and implementing a program with the goal of preventing or reducing pollutant runoff from municipal operations
To get a better understanding of stormwater, Best Management Practices and what you can do to help protect and improve water quality, it is suggested that you navigate through the following web sites: