Stormwater Permit Monitoring Inspections:
Do you have a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System 1200Z or 1200C? Our Erosion & Sediment Control inspectors can provide the ongoing inspections required by these permits.
Stormwater Management
Stormwater Management
Stormwater is water that originates from precipitation events, such as rain or snow, and flows over the ground. It includes water from rainfall, melting snow, and ice. As it travels, stormwater can pick up a variety of pollutants and debris from streets, lawns, and industrial areas before eventually being channeled into storm drains, rivers, lakes, or other bodies of water.
Stormwater management is crucial because of multiple reasons including:
- Pollution control: Stormwater can carry pollutants including but not limited to oil, heavy metals, sediments, and chemicals.
- Flood Prevention: Proper Stormwater Management helps to control runoff and reduce the risk of flooding by slowing down or re-directing water flow.
- Erosion Control: Managing storm water helps to minimize soil erosion, which can degrade land and water quality.
Common Stormwater management practices include:
- Green Infrastructure: Techniques like rain gardens, permeable pavements, and green roofs that allow water to be absorbed into the ground rather than flowing off.
- Detention Basins: Structures designed to temporarily hold stormwater and release it slowly to prevent flooding and erosion.
- Retention Ponds: Similar to detention basins, but designed to retain water permanently, helping to improve water quality by allowing pollutants to settle.
- Stormwater Filtering Systems: Devices that remove pollutants from stormwater before it is discharged into natural water bodies.
Stormwater is rain or snow melt that runs off the land and into streams, rivers, and lakes. Stormwater that runs through sites of industrial activity may pick up pollutants and transport them into waterways.
As part of the Clean Water Act, the USEPA has directed state and local jurisdictions to require operators of industrial sites to file Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPP).
As a homeowner or builder, you’re required to use vegetated surface facilities to treat and infiltrate stormwater on the property where the stormwater runoff is created.
Environmental Management Systems’ staff of professionals can help you navigate the complex world of stormwater management, drafting plans that make it workable for you.
