Assessment of Stormwater Management Practices on the Water Quality of Runoff

Project summary:

Many municipalities are in the process of implementing new federal requirements of the Storm Water Pollution Prevention Program (SWPPP), and various levels of government are expected to spend millions of dollars on implementation of storm water treatment practices over the next five years. It was anticipated that the process would require guidance and that a storm water treatment assessment and monitoring protocol should be developed. The objective of this research project was to provide that assistance by assessing water quantity and quality performance of selected storm water management practices. This work was particularly aimed at Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) operated by state, city, town, borough, county, parish, district, association, flood control and drainage district, or similar entities, who were in the process of implementing a six-part SWPPP. The program consisted of: 1) public education and outreach, 2) public participation/involvement, 3) control of illicit discharges, 4) construction site runoff control, 5) post-construction site runoff control, and 6) pollution prevention/good housekeeping. This project aimed to improve the cost-effectiveness of storm water treatment evaluation and implementation and served as the beginning of a comprehensive storm water treatment practice research program to evaluate a suite of storm water treatment practices for Minnesota's cities, counties, and other entities implementing the SWPPP.