All municipalities in the District that are required to obtain stormwater discharge permits from the state of Colorado have received them. Now the management activities stipulated in permits must be implemented. To help with these efforts, the District continued to assist local governments with these stormwater permit implementation activities in 2004.
Phase I Municipalities
In 1990, the cities of Denver, Aurora, and Lakewood joined forces with the
District to form the "Joint Task Force" (JTF). This group continues to
work together on permit-related stormwater activities. The three cities are
"Phase I" Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) under
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations because their populations are
greater than 100,000. The three cities submitted their first permit applications
in 1992 and were issued permits by the Colorado Water Quality Control Division (WQCD)
in 1996. The cities fully implemented all of their original permit requirements
by 2001 and were issued permit renewals for a second 5-year term on March 20,
2003.
In addition to other implementation tasks, the JTF developed a brochure on Best Management Practices (BMPs) for industrial sites in 2004. This brochure will be printed and distributed in 2005. In April of 2004, EPA conducted a comprehensive evaluation of Denver's stormwater management program which resulted in some recommendations but no Clean Water Act violations. Stormwater monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of management programs continue to be an on-going activity of the JTF.
Phase II Municipalities
"Phase II" municipalities are defined in EPA regulations as cities,
towns, districts, and unincorporated parts of counties in urban areas with less
than 100,000 population and responsibilities for managing stormwater. Most of
the cities and counties in the District are Phase II entities.
The District hosted a total of five meetings for Phase II municipalities in 2004. In addition to local governments within the District, a number of other MS4s throughout Colorado actively participated in these meetings.
Also, a number of "grassroots" associations have formed among the Phase II municipalities during the past few years. These include separate groups centered around Boulder, Douglas County, Arapahoe County, Jefferson/Adams Counties, Mesa County, and El Paso/Pueblo Counties. During 2004, the District helped with an effort to have public education brochures printed for each of these groups. These were based upon three brochures originally developed by the JTF (see www.udfcd.org/SWQ_brochures.htm), resulting in significant cost savings for all groups from this cooperative approach.
Other topics discussed among the Municipal Workgroup this year included development of a Municipal Operations BMP training video (to be finalized in February 2005); Douglas County's GESC (grading, erosion and sediment control) manual; discharges from mobile pressure washers; Boulder County WASH (Watershed Assessment of Stream Health) project and 3ME (media, message, and mascot) grant; and a special meeting on proposed permit fee increases by WQCD. Initial topics to be addressed in 2005 include BMP Operation & Maintenance needs and inspection procedures.
Phase II MS4s have 5 years to fully implement their programs. The District will continue to assist the local governments within its boundaries upon request from them. The District's Board of Directors supports these efforts and has expressed how significant cost savings can be achieved through these joint activities and how water quality can be better improved when all jurisdictions cooperate. We plan to organize and sponsor four quarterly meetings of the MS4 groups in 2005.
Stormwater Monitoring
A storm-event monitoring program of the South Platte River and tributaries is
managed by the District and is conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Water-quality data collection in 2004 was more active compared to drought
conditions in previous years. Water quality samples were obtained for a total of
seven storms in 2004. This program is a Phase I permit requirement.
Results from the District's program to test structural BMPs were reported at the District's conference in April 2004 (see "Conferences" at www.udfcd.org). The District will put more emphasis on monitoring and testing of porous pavement sites in 2005.