Storm sewer plan aimed at choking off pollutants

COLUMBUS - Columbus residents and developers are being asked to change their habits.

With five years to implement a new stormwater sewer plan to help cut down on the amount of pollutants that end up in the Platte River, city officials will look to the public for assistance.

Gone will be the days of dumping items down the city's storm sewers or letting dirt erode away from small construction sites.

The city also will need help getting the word out, whether it be passing information along to neighbors or helping distribute fliers.

The effort is part of new regulations being implemented by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality as part of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.

Not only will the new regulations require changing habits, an additional staff member may be needed, said City Engineer Merlin Lindahl.

Donna Luckner of the NDEQ presented information on the program to members of the Columbus City Council last week. She said many times pollutants are discharged into waterways through rain.

"Rain is a big deal for the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) this year," Luckner said. "Wet weather events are the highest things on the priority list."

The reason - stormwater can carry sediment and pollution.

Some of that pollution comes from fertilizer and pesticides that have runoff through stormwater and eventually those pollutants can kill fish eggs.

"Forty percent of U.S. waterways are impaired due to stormwater runoff," Luckner said.

Among them is the Platte River and because Columbus' system dumps into the Platte River, the city must meet the new regulations.

As part of the regulations, the City of Columbus must apply for a permit under the Small Municipal Storm Sewer System (MS4) program.

The permit requirements are the third phase of a program developed by the EPA as part of the Clean Water Act. The goal is to cut down on pollution in waterways across the country.

Currently all Nebraska landowners planning construction activity that disturbs one acre or more must seek coverage under the NDEQ's construction stormwater general permit. All Nebraska industrial facilities falling into certain categories must seek coverage as well. The cities of Omaha and Lincoln and urban areas surrounding them have also fallen under the requirements for several years, Luckner said.

The new permit regulations

that Columbus falls under came after a review from the EPA last year. Luckner said in early 2004, Total Maximum Daily Loads were developed and issued by the EPA for the North and Middle Platte Rivers, which triggered a review of cities with populations of 10,000 and more.

Columbus is among the cities that falls into that category, and the city has until Aug. 10 to submit an application for the MS4 permit, Luckner said. Other cities include Norfolk, Fremont, Grand Island, Lexington, Kearney, North Platte, Scottsbluff, Beatrice and Hastings.

Cities were notified of the new regulations in February. Luckner said the applications will need to include a stormwater management plan and measurable goals and implementation schedule. Cities will have five years to implement their plan to meet the new requirements.

The first step in the process is developing the stormwater management plan. Luckner said six items need to be included in the plan - public education, public participation, illicit discharge identification and elimination, construction site runoff controls, post-construction management and pollution prevention/good housekeeping.

The public education, Luckner said, could come through town hall meetings and the mailing of brochures.

"The public needs to be educated on what they are doing right and wrong and what needs to be done to change it," Luckner said.

In the area of public participation, Luckner said the city can seek help from community groups, such as the Boy Scouts, to pass out information or put stickers on storm sewer inlets telling people not to dump items down the storm sewer.

The city also will have to implement and enforce a program to detect and eliminate illicit discharges, Luckner said. She said this could include having a recycling center for residents to drop off items, such as paint and oil.

In the area of construction site runoff controls, Luckner said, the city will need to develop an ordinance to address requirements for site operators to implement erosion and sediment control practices, waste disposal requirements, erosion and sediment control plan review, ways to take public comments and respond to complaints and inspection and enforcement provisions.

Luckner said this could include requiring the use of a silt fence or other barrier to stop runoff from areas being developed. Per state law, developments of five acres and more in Columbus are already following these rules, Lindahl said.

"You saw this on the Wal-Mart and the Sapp Bros. projects," Lindahl said.

The MS4 permit would require this on properties of one acre or more. Housing subdivisions would fall under this, said Dan Curtis, community development director. In those instances, a silt fence would be required around each home being built.

Luckner said the city program must parallel coverage under the NDEQ's general permit for construction site storm water.

"The city's program must be at least as stringent as the state," she said.

She also said the city's ordinance needs to be tied to something they can enforce, such as a permit.

As part of the stormwater permit requirements, the city must also develop a program to address stormwater from new development and redevelopment of sites of one acre or more, such as detention basins and parking-lot cleanup.

The city does require developers of property one acre or more to control the flow of water runoff from properties, using items, such as a detention pond or a parking lot.

Luckner said it is the NDEQ's hope that by requiring the cities to apply for a permit and develop a stormwater management plan, the amount of pollutants being dumped into waterways will drop.

If it doesn't, she said the EPA could set numeric limits on pollutants. The EPA will be doing a review of the program in 2014, Luckner said.

"We don't ever want to get to the point of numeric limits and testing," she said. "If you do the six minimum controls, we will make a big step in meeting the goals of the Clean Water Act."

Lindahl said he's working on the permit application and developing the five-year plan. He said the first year will include the developing of a brochure and informational materials.

Lindahl said he hopes to work with other cities on developing a plan. The city will be required to foot the bill to implement the plan. Lindahl said he's not sure what the cost to the city will be.

Luckner said she knows the new regulations will be a change for everyone, but she said the Clean Water Act is a law that has been in place since 1989 and that Nebraska isn't the only one affected by it.

"It applies to everyone that builds or disturbs land in the country," she said.