Permit updates focus on cleaner stormwater for growing communities
Stormwater runoff is a leading pollution threat to rivers, streams, lakes, and Puget Sound in urban areas of Washington. As rain and snowmelt runs off buildings, paved roads, and parking lots, it increases in speed and volume, and can pick up pollution such as oil, fertilizers, pesticides, tire wear, trash, and pet waste. These pollutants and higher flows are carried into local water bodies, where they can harm water quality and habitat.
To manage this stormwater, Ecology has municipal stormwater permits for the state’s most populated cities and counties. The permits are aimed at reducing stormwater pollution at its source, treating it, and controlling volume and flow, so cleaner water goes into creeks, rivers, lakes, groundwater, and Puget Sound.
The regulatory approach in these permits is programmatic and a holistic approach to stormwater management, which is different from the typical water quality permit. Municipal stormwater permittees are required to develop and implement Stormwater Management programs, rather than meet a specific limit for each pollutant at the end of a pipe.
Municipal stormwater permits are divided into three categories, based on population and geography:
Phase I permits include incorporated cities with a population over 100,000 people and unincorporated counties with populations over 250,000 people.
Western Washington Phase II and Eastern Washington Phase II permits are for smaller urban areas.
We separate the Phase II permits into East and West because of the differences in climate and rainfall patterns.
We update the permits every five years. We also have the Eastern and Western Stormwater Management Manuals available for comment – these critical documents provide the guidance necessary for local stormwater managers to implement the many parts of the permit.
For this permit cycle, we are proposing a number of important updates to address specific pollutants and ensure that as communities develop, change, and grow, work is being done to invest in proper stormwater management and protect water quality.
To learn more about the proposed updates, provide comment or attend a public meeting, read the full blog post online.