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An expert from the Center for Watershed Protection recently explained to the Intergovernmental Stormwater Committee board what obligations will be imposed by an upcoming five-year permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Instead of the requirement in the expiring permit to reduce the amount of sediment carried annually into area streams in the urbanized areas of the nine municipalities by a targeted number of pounds, the requirement in the new permit will be to reduce the amount of stormwater that flows into those streams by a targeted number of cubic feet, according to watershed planner Julie Schneider.
Beyond the expected five-year duration of the proposed new permit, the 50-year goal of the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) project is to eliminate the equivalent of all uncontrolled runoff currently going into area streams from 88 percent of the impervious acreage in those urbanized areas, via year-by-year improvements.
Municipalities can achieve those incremental improvements with stormwater control measures (SCMs) like floodplain restorations, storm restorations, flood control retrofits and capture of water so that it infiltrates the soil, evaporates or is released slowly to streams, according to a printed packet provided by Schneider.
The proposed new permit calls for permittees to create volume management plans (VMPs) that when implemented, reduce volumes by the maximum extent practicable (MEP) to reach volume management objectives (VMOs) in the urbanized areas (UAs).
The state has provided model tables that list target annual reductions based on a municipality's total impervious area, its impervious area that has already been treated; along with the values of credits that reduce the municipality's obligation.
Credits are given for financial and socioeconomic hardships, difficulties in finding opportunities for stormwater control measures; cooperation between municipalities in developing plans and for joining together on a single permit.
The maximum reduction that can be required for a municipality for a single year is 50,000 cubic feet.
The expectation is for the ISC's municipalities to create a detailed plan for the first two years of the permit, and then to execute the plan in the remaining years of the permit.
Without credits, the tentative annual requirement for the entire urbanized area in the ISC territory would be a reduction of 268,000 cubic feet.
With credits, that annual reduction requirement would be trimmed 161,400 cubic feet.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.