Most municipalities must obtain a permit every five years from DCR (delegated by EPA) to operate their Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4). For various reasons, every large MS4 Permit expired several years ago and have been administratively continued while a new permit is negotiated.
For the building industry, there appears to be no direct unanticipated changes - this MS4 primarily requires the county to implement the new stormwater regulations by 7/1/2014, as we have expected (see Field Notes Vol. 20, No. 5)
With regards to the Chesapeake Bay TMDL – it requires Arlington to develop a plan to achieve the Phase II WIP pollutant reductions within 24 months of issuance that achieves the goal within the next 15 years, but only requires a 5% reduction within the five-year life of this permit. Thus, the delay in issuing the MS4 permit will extend Arlington's requirement to meet the 2025 Bay Cleanup until mid-2028 or later.
Since the WIP required a 5% reduction in Years 1-5, 35% in 6-10, and 60% in years 11-15, the bulk of this permit's costs will not hit until 2020 and later.
Please note: There is a lot more to this permit. It is 42 pages long - and no way to summarize it. A few highlights:
1. Complete 7 stormwater retrofit projects
2. Plant 2,000 trees on County land (no size specified)
3. Distribute 2,000 trees to private owners (no size specified)
4. Sweep 25,000 lone miles of roadways
5. Use turf and landscape nutrient management plans
6. Determine how to fix stormwater outfalls
7. Practice good housekeeping on county facilities
8. Implement stormwater public education
9. Conduct stormwater training
10. Inspect/monitor stormwater discharges
11. Conduct bacteriological monitoring in Four Mile Run
12. Continue biological stream monitoring
13. Continue floatables stream monitoring
14. Update database of all SWM facilities
15. Develop Chesapeake Bay TMDL implementation plans
16. Develop other TMDL implementation plans |
