CONTECH Written

Written

Course Information
Civil engineers working on land-development projects typically are hired to develop site plans and gain regulatory approval for those plans. In most urban areas, a stormwater management plan must be approved prior to construction. The purpose of each plan is to ensure the project is designed to minimize the amount of pollutants that are washed from a site during storm events and transported into downstream water bodies through storm drains as well as to reduce the peak flows and excess runoff volume that result from the creation of impervious surfaces. Therefore, engineers must understand the fundamentals of stormwater quality regulations, including why they were developed, how to find and interpret local stormwater quality regulations and design criteria, and how to find and use independently verified performance data to evaluate innovative stormwater control measures (SCMs) to meet regulatory goals.

Author
Derek Berg and Vaikko Allen

Learning Objectives
By the conclusion of this article, the reader should be able to:

• Describe the role of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Phase I and Phase II stormwater rules in protecting U.S. waterways

• Understand how state and local stormwater rules and policies are commonly structured and how they impact site-specific stormwater requirements

• Have a basic understanding of stormwater design manuals

• Find and use independently verified performance data for Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs)