Legislative Changes Affecting
Water Quality at a Local Level
Robert Kollinger, P.E.
Water Resources Manager
Polk County Parks and
Natural Resources Division
October 2011
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT
REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
FEDERAL (CLEAN WATER ACT)
•
Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948
•
Amended in 1977, the law became commonly known as the
Clean Water Act (CWA) Gave EPA the authority to implement
pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for
industry and made it unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant
from a point source into navigable waters, without a NPDES permit
National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES)
• Federal permitting program to reduce point source pollutant
discharges to surface waters
• Developed to address Industrial Point sources in 1970’s
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT
REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
FEDERAL (CLEAN WATER ACT)
•
Reauthorized as the Water Quality Act of
1987 extended NPDES permitting to include
stormwater
NPDES Program Changes
• Modified in 1990 to address stormwater runoff from
both Industrial and Municipal point sources
• MS4 = Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (ie.
City and County stormwater collection, conveyance,
and outfalls)
STORMWATER
Stormwater Regulation?
1. Why regulate stormwater?
STORMWATER POLLUTION
COMMON POLLUTANTS
•
•
•
•
•
Sediments (construction sites)
Nutrients (fertilizers)
Bacteria (sewage overflows, animal wastes)
Heavy metals (lead, copper, zinc)
Oil & grease (roadways)
Stormwater Regulation
1. Why is it regulated?
2. How is it regulated at the State level?
FLORIDA’S STORMWATER RULES
• 1979
• 1982
• 1994
Chapter 17- 4.248, F.A.C.
Chapter 17- 25, F.A.C.
Chapter 62- 25, F.A.C.
“To Prevent Pollution of State Waters
by Stormwater Discharges”
Water Management District MSSW/SW rules
Environmental Resource Permits (ERP)
NPDES Stormwater Regulation
• 1995 EPA delegated the NPDES stormwater
permitting to Florida through the Department
of Environmental Protection (FDEP)
• Regulates the quality of discharges from MS4
outfalls (ie. point sources)
MS4 Major Outfall
Polk County’s NPDES Permit
Polk County is responsible for the quality of discharges from our MS4 which
includes roadway drainage. Article VI of the Code of Ordinances of Polk County
regulates the quality of discharges to the MS4 by stipulating:
“Any discharge, other than stormwater, to an MS4 or to waters of the United
States which is not exempt under section 12-160 of this article is considered an
illicit discharge as defined in this article and is prohibited.”
Stormwater Regulation
1. Why is it regulated?
2. How is it regulated at the State level?
3. How is it regulated locally?
Municipal Requirements
• Inspection of the MS4.
• Monitoring of the outfall discharges.
• Provide Source Controls to reduce pollutants
to the MS4.
• Structural Controls to treat stormwater runoff
before discharging to surface waters.
Polk County’s MS4
• MS4 Outfalls – 95 major outfalls inspected annually by Water Resources.
A total of 340 minor outfalls are inspected every five years.
• Stormwater Collection System – 9,086 inlets, 650 catch basins, 32,963 culverts
and over 1,301,286 feet of pipe require inspection by Transportation
Engineering every 10 years. Mowing of roadside ditches is performed quarterly by
Roadway Maintenance.
• Stormwater treatment ponds – Staff inspects 135 facilities annually. Minor
maintenance performed by Water Resources during inspections with routine mowing of all
grassed embankments monthly or as needed under contract.
I.
Source Controls (Hard to quantify)
a) Public Education on what is discharged
to our MS4.
b) Regulated by ordinance enforcement
(ie. litter controls, illicit discharges).
II. Structural Controls (Expensive)
 Stormwater Pond Retrofit – average
cost $1,565,000 (current 5 projects)
 Baffle Boxes - $50,000 - $150,000
each outfall
Stormwater Structural Controls
Pollution
Control
Devices
Treatment
Ponds
Baffle
Boxes
Current Compliance Costs
Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL’s)
• Defined as the maximum amount of a
pollutant that a water body can assimilate.
• Adopted by EPA and FDEP for waters that
are identified as being impaired for specific
pollutants.
• Requires reductions in pollutant loads from
the MS4 to meet water quality goals.
TMDL’s and Impaired Water Bodies
Stream nutrient impairments
22 adopted TMDL’s
Lake nutrient impairments
16 adopted TMDL’s
24
TMDL’s and the MS4 Permit
• The permit requires municipalities to
prioritize waters with established TMDL’s
and initiate storm event monitoring.
• The next phase is to rank MS4 outfalls for
achieving pollutant load reductions.
TMDL Implementation Cost
of Structural Controls
Outfall Type
Number
Average Treatment Cost *
Total Cost
Major Outfall Pipes
46
$124,250 (baffle boxes)
$5.7 Million
Major Ditches
50
$1,800,000 (regional pond)
$90 Million
$95.7 Million
26
Numeric Nutrient Criteria
• FDEP goals for improving water quality are
based on narrative criteria of “Swimmable
and Fishable Waters”.
• November 2010 EPA adopted Numeric
Standards for Florida’s lakes and streams.
• The standards for nutrients and chlorophyll
will result in further impairment of waters.
Numeric Nutrient Standards
28
Implications
Stream nutrient
impairments
today
Stream nutrient
impairments
with EPA rule
6% OK
37% OK
63% Impaired
94% Impaired
Numeric Nutrient Structural Controls
Costs for Implementation
Annual Cost
$11.5 Million
Timeframe
20 years
Summary
• Stormwater regulations have been in effect in
Florida since the 1970’s.
• Federal permitting of municipal and industrial
stormwater runoff began in 1990 under the
NPDES program and have recently accelerated.
• Improving water quality through conventional
stormwater treatment is very expensive.