Guidance: National Management Measures to Control Nonpoint Source Pollution from Urban Areas
EPA has released a guidance to help citizens and municipalities in urban areas protect bodies of water from polluted runoff that can result from everyday activities, the agency's Office of Water announced on its Web site Dec. 6.
The guidance -- National Management Measures to Control Nonpoint Source Pollution from Urban Areas also will help states to implement their nonpoint source control programs and municipalities to implement their Phase II Storm Water Permit Programs.
Specific comparisons of the nonpoint source management measures described in this guidance to the six minimum control measures to be addressed for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Phase II Permit Program are described in the introduction.
The guidance document is intended to provide technical assistance to state and local program managers and other practitioners on the best available, most economically achievable means of managing urban runoff and reducing nonpoint source pollution of surface waters and groundwaters from urban sources. It describes how to develop a comprehensive runoff management program that deals with all phases of development -- from predevelopment watershed planning and site design, through the construction phase of development, to the operation and maintenance of structural controls. It also provides information for other situations such as retrofitting existing development, implementing nonstructural controls, and reevaluating the runoff management program.
The document refers to statutory and regulatory provisions that contain legally binding requirements. This document does not substitute for those provisions or regulations, nor is it a regulation itself, agency officials said.
The guidance can be accessed at http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/urbanmm.
This article originally appeared in the 12/01/2005 issue of Environmental Protection.