Storm Water Best Management Practices Inspections and Maintenance

Make sure you are up to speed on the regulatory requirements of your storm water maintenance program.

Thousands of storm water BMPs have been built and most NPDES MS4 permits require that they be maintained. In addition, storm water BMPs protect lives and our water resources by controlling runoff, reducing flood risk and pollution, and protecting streams from pollution. Therefore, these valuable facilities need to be maintained so that they continue to perform as designed. A well-structured inspection and maintenance program will reduce life-cycle costs and will provide valuable information to comply with MS4 permit requirements as well as improve future design standards.

This topic helps the personnel responsible for designing, permitting, and maintaining storm water BMPs to learn how BMPs work so inspections and maintenance programs can be tailored to the specific community needs. Lessons learned on why BMPs need to be maintained will be used to illustrate best practices. Elements of maintenance program, including routine and non-routine elements will be discussed using case studies from throughout the nation.

Learning Objectives

- You will be able to define different types of storm water BMP.

- You will be able to describe how BMP works to control runoff and remove pollutants.

- You will be able to explain the importance of conducting routine inspections.

- You will be able to identify the reasons why BMPs need to be maintained.