Agenda - Council - 02/10/2009 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CASE # j OVERVIEW OF MS4 PROGRAM By: Leonard Linton, Civil Engineer II History: The MS4 program stands for Municipal Separate Small Storm Sewer Systems. It has its origins in the national Clean Water Act was established with a goal of reducing the pollutiOll in our lakes, rivers and streams. The Clean Water Act has been reauthorized and expanded several times since it was first introduced. The portion of the law pertaining to cities was written to be applied in phases, the first phase was targeted at cities over 50,000 population, the second phase was targeted at cities over 10,000 population. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency MPCA was assigned the responsibility for the program in Minnesota. The cities of Minneapolis, St Paul, Rochester and Duluth were included in the first phase which occurred in the 1990's. The MPCA introduced the phase 2 program in early 2002 with a requirement that all affected cities submit an application for coverage under the permit by Match 31,2003. Ramsey joined a coalition of cities which hired a consultant to prepare documents to assist in applying for the permit and meeting the requirements of the permit. The coalition provided volumes of information to its members that simplified preparation of the application. The State program was overturned in court after all of the applications were submitted. The MPCA revised the permit based on the court decision and required re-submittal of the applications by June 1,2006. The City of Ramsey application was turned in on May 31, 2006. Program Requirements: The MS4 program has six major components: Public Education and Outreach, Public Participation! Involvement, Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination, Construction Site Stormwater Runoff Control, Post-Construction Stormwater Management in New Development and Redevelopment and Pollution Prevention! Good Housekeeping. The desired outcome of all of these componepts is reducing or eliminating the pollutants leaving the city through the storm sewer system. The permit application contains a series of summary sheets listing Best Management Practices BMP's that outline specific steps the city will take to meet these goals. Some of the steps for each component are listed below: Category Public Education and Outreach Public Participation! Involvement Work Items Newsletters, Website, Billing Inserts Annual Meeting, Receive and incorporate comments on plan . Storm Sewer System Map, Track and eliminate dry weather flows, Education program for public and City employees Site plan review, enforce construction site control measures Create ordinance for stormwater management, Long:"'-term operation and maintenance ofBMP's Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination Construction Site Stormwater Runoff Control Post-Construction Stormwater Management in New Development and Redevelopment -185-