The Storm Water Management Program (SWMP) submitted by the City of Oberlin to the Ohio EPA in 2003 is available elsewhere on the web-site.  This is a summary of the recent history of storm water management regulation and a synopsis of compliance requirements.

Historical Overview

As part of the original 1970’s era Clean Water Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) developed the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program to regulate point source discharges into the surface waters of the United States.  The NPDES program, as initially implemented, was concerned with improvement of water quality by controlling discharges of industrial wastewater and municipal sewage.  The NPDES Program has reduced harmful industrial and municipal discharges with resultant improvements in surface water quality throughout the nation.

However, additional point sources of pollution have been identified and, in 1990, USEPA added storm water runoff from major industrial facilities, large and medium municipal separate storm sewer systems (populations over 100,000) and construction sites over 5 acres to the NPDES program.  These additions to the NPDES program became known as “Phase 1”.  Although the Phase 1 program has been effective, it does not address the broad range of storm water pollution sources.  Consequently, USEPA has established an expanded NPDES storm water program (Phase II) which includes regulation of small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) with populations under 100,000. 

The City of Oberlin has been designated a small MS4 operator and, accordingly, has filed for and received NPDES permit coverage of its storm sewer system.  A requirement of the NPDES permit is the development and implementation of a storm water management program (SWMP).

City of Oberlin SWMP
Public Works staff has attended numerous meetings sponsored by NOACA and by the Lorain County Community Development Department.  These forums have been designed to provide assistance to communities in understanding the regulatory climate in Ohio and in developing a suitable Storm Water Management Program.

OEPA requires that each program must contain the following six minimum control measures:

1. Public Education and Outreach programs on storm water impacts on surface water and possible steps to reduce storm water pollution.  These programs must be targeted both at the general community and at the commercial, industrial and institutional sectors.

2. Public Involvement and Participation in developing and implementing the storm water management program.

3. Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination.  Location and elimination of non-storm water discharges.

4. Construction Site Storm water Runoff Controls.  This control measure requires the use of appropriate Best Management Practices (BMPs), pre-construction review of site management plans, inspections during construction, and penalties for noncompliance.

5. Post-Construction Storm Water Management in new development and redevelopment.  Satisfying this control measure requires the adoption of regulations that implement structural and nonstructural BMPs, ensure the long term operation of such BMPs, minimize water quality impacts and maintain predevelopment runoff conditions.

6. Pollution Prevention and Good Housekeeping for Municipal Operations that reduces pollutant runoff.  This would include efforts to reduce storm water pollution from the maintenance of streets, parks, vehicles, etc.

For each of these six compliance areas, Public Works staff has prepared an assessment of current conditions/practices, a strategy to improve water quality including the most appropriate Best Management Practices and the measurable goals and the anticipated schedule with which we will track our progress.  This forms the basis of the Storm Water Management Program (SWMP).  Although the SWMP has been submitted to OEPA, the OEPA expects the SWMP to be a working document with compliance to be phased over an initial five-year period.

Supporting documents - SWMP project