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| Signs can help remind employees where certain practices, like washing vehicles and equipment, should occur.
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Municipalities conduct numerous activities that can pose a threat to water quality if practices and procedures are not in place to prevent pollutants from entering the MS4. These activities include winter road maintenance, minor road repairs and other infrastructure work, automobile fleet maintenance, landscaping and park maintenance, and building maintenance. Municipalities also conduct activities that remove pollutants from the MS4 when performed properly, such as parking lot and street sweeping and storm drain system cleaning. Finally, municipal facilities can be sources of stormwater pollutants if BMPs are not in place to contain spills, manage trash, and handle nonstormwater discharges. This table lists the pollutants that are typically associated with municipal facilities and municipal activities [PDF - 55 KB - 1 pp].
Phase II MS4s are required to train staff on ways to protect stormwater, particularly when maintaining MS4 infrastructure and performing daily municipal activities, such as park and open space maintenance, fleet and building maintenance, new construction and land disturbances, and stormwater system maintenance. This primarily includes:
- Developing inspection and maintenance procedures and schedules for stormwater BMPs,
- Implementing BMPs to treat pollutants from transportation infrastructure, maintenance areas, storage yards, sand and salt storage areas, and waste transfer stations,
- Establishing procedures for properly disposing of pollutants removed from the MS4, and
- Identifying ways to incorporate water quality controls into new and existing flood management projects.
Additional information on this minimum measure, including the stormwater Phase II regulatory requirements for pollution prevention/good housekeeping for municipal operations and a fact sheet on the pollution prevention/good housekeeping for municipal operations minimum measure [PDF - 209 KB - 4 pp], is also available.
Phase II MS4s should develop a training program for all municipal staff involved in activities that could discharge pollutants to the MS4 (see the Municipal Employee Training and Education BMP fact sheet). Phase II MS4s should also develop standard operating procedures that incorporate stormwater BMPs for common municipal activities, garnering input from both managers and field crews to determine the most appropriate and effective BMPs for each situation. More information about pollution prevention procedures can be found in the “Municipal Activities” category below. Phase II MS4s should also develop standard operating procedures and spill prevention and control plans for all municipal buildings where activities occur that can generate stormwater pollutants. More information about managing pollutants at municipal facilities can be found below in the “Municipal Facilities” category.
Key BMPs and Resources:
The key BMP to addressing the good housekeeping minimum measure is the development of an employee training and education program. Common municipal activities and facilities which should be addressed in the training program are described in individual fact sheets in the next section below.
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