Stormwater Pollution Prevention

Posted September 29, 2016

BASIC REQUIREMENTS OF A STORMWATER POLLUTION PREVENTION PLAN

A Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) is basically an erosion, sediment and waste chemical control plan. It is up to the permit holder to decide what types of Best Management Practices (BMPs) to use at a given site, but the company/municipality/contractor must comply with the permit requirement.
SWPPPs will typically include:

Site Description with a map.
A description of the sediment, erosion and polluted water controls used on-site, including stabilization and structural practices (such as seeding, and catch basin inserts like the Ultra-DrainGuard or Ultra-GrateGuard).
Descriptions of the BMPs to control stormwater runoff after completion of a construction activity or as a part of a long term maintenance plan.

What are the Permit Requirements?

Permit holders are required to develop, implement and enforce a stormwater management program to:

Reduce the discharge of pollutants to the maximum extent practicable (MEP).
Protect water quality.
Satisfy the appropriate water quality requirements of the Clean Water Act.
Submit a Notice of Intent (NOI) which includes BMPs to be used, measurable goals, frequency of actions and responsible persons.

What are the Baseline BMP’s

Good Housekeeping: reduce spill potential, routine inspections.

Preventive Maintenance: maintain pipes, pumps, drum/tank storage and stormwater devices.
Visual Inspections: signs of obvious stormwater contamination in outdoor storage and processing areas.
Spill Prevention and Response: spill containment of drums and tanks, spill clean-up procedures, easily accessible spill response products.
Sediment and Erosion Control: control methods for high erosion areas due to topography activities or other factors.
Runoff Management: flow diversion, filtering using catch basin inserts, use of sumps, berms, mitigative techniques such as vacuuming, use of sorbents.