Hillsboro, OR — February 23, 2006 —
Clean Water Services is updating its Stormwater Management Plan as required by its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. To protect water quality, the nation’s Clean Water Act regulates what can be discharged to waterways through permits. Large municipalities have NPDES permits for their wastewater treatment facilities and also have an NPDES permit for stormwater runoff, called a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit.
In urban Washington County, Clean Water Services holds these permits. In fact, it has been entrusted with the nation’s first watershed-based NPDES permit which combines wastewater and stormwater requirements. To comply with the permit, Clean Water Services must submit an updated Stormwater Management Plan to Oregon Department of Environmental Quality by May 1, 2006.
The Plan describes the best management practices (BMPs) that Clean Water Services, its member Cities and Washington County employ to reduce pollutants in the municipal storm sewer system. BMPs are the “action items” in the Plan. For the update Clean Water Services and the co-implementers have refined the BMPs, with input from key stakeholder groups, and arrived at these proposed categories: erosion control; illicit discharges; industrial and commercial facilities; operations and maintenance; public involvement, education and outreach; structural and source controls, and low impact development.
The draft Plan update is available for comment on February 22 at
www.CleanWaterServices.org. Another way to comment is by attending the Clean Water Advisory Commission meeting on March 22. To comment, request a group presentation or for more information please contact Sheri Wantland at (503) 681-5111 or
wantlands@cleanwaterservices.org.
Clean Water Services is the public wastewater and surface water management utility for urban areas of the Tualatin River Watershed. Its Surface Water Management Program encompasses much more than the MS4 permit and Stormwater Management Plan. The MS4 permit only applies to the publicly-owned system constructed to convey stormwater runoff (ie. catch basins, storm sewers, drainage ditches, curbs and gutters, etc.) and only targets pollutants for which a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) has been established. To protect and enhance water quality, Clean Water Services’ Surface Water Management Program provides a broader range of services than strictly required by the MS4 permit. The Healthy Streams Plan, award-winning public education programs, flow management, water supply and drainage improvements are among the many activities that have made the Tualatin River and its tributaries healthier than they have been in decades.
Clean Water Services is a water resource management utility for more than 480,000 people in urban Washington County and small portions of Multnomah County, Clackamas County, Lake Oswego, and Portland. Clean Water Services operates four wastewater treatment facilities, constructs and maintains flood management and water quality projects, and manages flow in the Tualatin River to improve water quality and protect fish habitat. Although Clean Water Services maintains a close working relationship with Washington County government, it is a separately managed and financed public utility.