County View: Boone County establishing stormwater regulations, flexibility

by Karen Miller

October 3,2008

Managing stormwater can be overwhelming– whether you are the developer trying to meet the regulations or the homeowner being flooded when upstream development doesn’t take into consideration the downstream effect.

Boone County is working to comply with the EPA Clean Water Act’s Stormwater Phase II regulations, which took affect in 2003. The state regulations require the County to have a stormwater program that includes all of unincorporated Boone County. Our intent is to provide enough flexibility so that our regulations and standards are appropriate to both urban and rural development.

Effective stormwater management must be done at a watershed level. Nearly all of the major watersheds in our area cross municipal boundaries; which includes land in both Columbia and unincorporated areas of the county. Good stormwater control requires close coordination between the City of Columbia, University of Missouri and Boone County. A joint stormwater task force facilitated this coordination and increased our chances of having compatible stormwater control permits/ordinances.

EPA established the following six categories or control measures to meet the requirements of the stormwater program:

1. Public Education and Outreach: The county is required to develop a program to educate the public about stormwater management issues. We have been conducting public education and outreach since 2001. Initially, the county and the City of Columbia contracted with the University of Missouri to provide these services.  Since 2005 the county has employed a .75 FTE position (by contract with Columbia Public Works) devoted to public education and outreach.  Activities include attendance at public events such as Earth Day and Twilight Festival, public speaking engagements to schools and civic groups, developing educational materials for targeted industries such as restaurants, lawn care companies and car repair shops and implementing programs such as Show Me Yards.

2. Public Participation and Involvement: The county is required to develop a program to involve the public in stormwater management and the decision making process. In 2002, the County Commission and the Columbia City Council created the Stormwater Task Force. The Task Force was created to provide citizen input into the development of the county and city stormwater programs. Other citizen involvement activities include organizing volunteers to place “No Dumping” decals on storm drains and helping to organize stream cleanup activities such as the Hinkson Clean Sweep.

3. Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination: The county is required to develop a program to detect illegal dumping to storm drains and eliminate illicit connections that are contributing pollutants to streams and storm drain systems. Development of regulations prohibiting non-stormwater discharges to the storm drainage system will be part of our stormwater ordinance.

4. Construction Site Runoff Control: The county is required to develop ordinances to regulate erosion and sedimentation during construction activities that disturb areas greater than one acre. The county has hired Shafer, Kline and Warren to develop regulations and standards, which will be presented to the County Commission late in 2008.

5. Post Construction Runoff Control: The county is also required to develop regulations to address the quantity and quality of water that is discharged from developed or redeveloped properties. Some examples include low impact or green infrastructure to reduce the amount of runoff leaving a developed property. This is included in the Shafer, Kline and Warren contract and will be integrated in the ordinance and Guidance Manual available for public comment by the middle of October 2008.

6. Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping: All governmental entities under the Clean Water Act are required to ensure that their operations minimize the contribution of pollutants to the stormwater system. The county has been conducting good housekeeping since 2003. Activities include street sweeping, road salt storage that prevents runoff, application of road salt and herbicides in a manner that minimizes environmental impact, proper vehicle maintenance.

The commission, consultant and staff have been working with the engineering community to develop the ordinance and guidance manual. The commission always strives to standardize our ordinances with the City of Columbia where we can to enhance compliance. The consultant and county staff have been meeting with the city staff to work through the issues. However, there is a significant difference between the City of Columbia and Boone County on this issue. Since we do not have a stormwater utility, we must develop an ordinance we can afford to implement and enforce. Consequently, that means we are taking a more minimalist approach to meeting the intent of the Clean Water Act.

The draft versions of the Stormwater Guidance Manual and the ordinance will be on the county Public Works Web site, www.showmeboone.com/PW/Default.htm next month. The public is invited to comment, all comments and revisions will be available for review on the Web site.

Karen Miller is the Boone County Commission's District I (Southern) Commissioner. Her e-mail is KMiller@boonecountymo.org

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