The Revamped MS4 Stormwater Permit
What Does it Mean for your Community
Stormwater management has been a buzz phrase that has brought considerable anxiety to municipalities, regulators, developers, and property owners over the last twenty years. Since the 1970s, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) has been focused on point source discharges, primarily wastewater treatment plants. Ever increasing concern over water quality has brought greater attention to stormwater on the path to clean up the nation’s waters.
The background
There have been a number of significant regulatory changes applicable to municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4) discharges. In 1999, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the "Phase II Final Rule” for the NPDES program. The central component of the rule was the expansion of jurisdiction for filing permits for stormwater discharges in the NPDES "point source” pollution permit program from medium and large MS4s to small MS4s. In short, the rule required a large number of small municipalities to acquire federal permits for the discharge of stormwater from their MS4 to waters throughout the country.
The new draft Massachusetts stormwater permit
Since the initial permitting efforts did not produce the desired water quality objectives, the requirements are becoming more complex and stringent. In 2010, the US EPA published a draft of the Phase II NPDES MS4 general permit for the Massachusetts Northern Coastal Watershed. In the draft permit a connection from the state’s "impaired waters” to the permit requirements was made. Impaired waters are identified based upon analytical and visual evidence of the water bodies. In some areas Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) were developed to provide specific limitations on the discharge of pollutants. For instance, if nutrients are identified as the source of impairment, then the municipality would be required to develop the SWMP around the identification and reduction of nutrients from stormwater discharges it controls. Communities now are being required to become watershed "police” and may need to place controls on private landowners in order to meet the new permit goals.
There are a great number of other requirements as well. Those familiar with the NPDES program for wastewater treatment facilities know that a typical permit is about fifteen pages in length. Those fifteen pages can regulate millions of gallons per day with the removal of in excess of 85% of the pollutants received by the facility. The draft MS4 permits are almost 60 pages in length and substantially more complex, without providing the same level of control. The requirements are complicated and have many communities concerned. This will affect almost two thirds of municipalities in Massachusetts and a significant majority of the population. The EPA has recognized the stormwater systems are an often forgotten but critical part of the nation’s infrastructure. With an asset replacement value in excess of $25B in Massachusetts, there is a need to focus some resources to maximize the effectiveness of the infrastructure and plan for improvements. However, the implementation cost of the newly revamped MS4 permit has many municipalities concerned. Communities reviewing the draft permits predict that program costs could range from one hundred thousand dollars per year to more than a million dollars depending on municipality size and system complexity. There is also concern that the mandated program requirements will not result in quantifiable improvements to surface water quality.
Requirements of the final MS4 permit
In the short-term, there has been a temporary reprieve as the EPA responds to comments on the first set of draft permits. The final MS4 permit for the North Coastal Watershed is not expected to be issued until later this year. Once it issued, some of the immediate actions that communities will need to undertake include the following:
After the first year, additional requirements are scheduled to be phased in, including an Outfall Sampling Program and a detailed Annual Program Evaluation with SWMP revisions customized to achieve verifiable improvements in surface water quality.
All these new efforts place a burden on municipalities as they are asked to do more with even less. The keys to success will be educating the public, recovering program costs, and developing a program that can be implemented at a reasonable cost. The permit allows for the program to be customized to fit what the community knows is achievable and is critical to preventing later compliance issues with the EPA.
Wright-Pierce is experienced in all aspects of stormwater management having worked with numerous communities throughout New England.