Stormwater runoff management: Part 1

The basic question is related to practicality and cost-effectiveness--that is, are the structural stormwater control devices being installed in many areas of the country actually doing the job for which they are designed? Public works directors for many cites and counties, and stormwater management agencies are involved in developing programs designed to implement best management practices (BMPs). These structures supposedly control chemical contaminants in stormwater runoff from urban areas. Current activities in stormwater quality management have evolved from the EPA`s National Urban Runoff Program (NURP) begun in the 1970s. An extension of that program was established in 1990 to implement the stormwater-related provisions of the 1987 amendments to the Clean Water Act. This article discusses issues of assessing real pollution, i.e., designated beneficial use impairment in receiving waters, that stormwater run-off causes. Without a clear understanding of the pollution caused (or not caused) by runoff, it is obviously not possible to develop technically valid, cost-effective control programs that control pollution to the maximum extent practicable.