MCM 6 Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping

Person documenting findings while inspecting an outfall

Introduction

It is generally easier and less expensive to prevent pollution at the source than restore surface waters once they're polluted. Permitted municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) communities are the first line of defense for many pollutants entering storm sewer systems within their jurisdiction, such as

• sand and salt for de-icing
• fertilizers and pesticides on municipal properties
• vehicle fueling and maintenance chemicals

MS4 General Permit requirements for MCM 6

Minimum Control Measure (MCM) 6 in the MS4 General Permit requires permittees to maintain a operations and maintenance program to prevent or reduce pollutant discharges from municipally owned or operated properties. The program must include:

1. A Facility Inventory that documents municipally owned/operated facilities that may pollute stormwater.
2. Best management practices (BMPs) to prevent or reduce the stormwater impacts from the facilities documented on the Facility Inventory.
3. BMPs to protect Source Water Protection Areas, such as Drinking Water Supply Management Areas and source water protection areas for surface intakes.
4. Stormwater pond assessment procedures and schedule to evaluate the effectiveness of total suspended solids (TSS) and total phosphorus (TP) removal of municipally owned/operated ponds.
5. Municipal operation inspections which is inspections of structural stormwater BMPs annually, at least one inspection of ponds and outfalls during the permit term, and quarterly inspections of stockpiles and storage and material handling areas documented in the Facility Inventory.
6. Maintenance of structural BMPs, outfalls, and ponds based on the results of the Municipal operation inspections.
7. Employee training as appropriate for the employee's position. Training should address the importance of protecting water quality and describe relevant MS4 General Permit requirements. The training should have a schedule that establishes initial training for new and seasonal employees and recurring training for existing employees.
8. Documentation detailed here.

Resources

Click on the blue links above in the "MS4 General Permit requirements" section to get more information and resources specific to those permit requirements. In addition, all resources related to MCM 6 are below.

Fact sheets and guidance

Fact sheets and guidance documents should provide background information and tips to inform your approach to implementing MCM 6 - Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping.

• EPA MCM 6 guidance - EPA's guidance and suggested BMPs for effective pollution prevention and good housekeeping for municipal operations
• MPCA Pollution Prevention guidance - A guide to utilizing various pollution prevention methods to meet the requirements of the MS4 General Permit
• MPCA Managing Stormwater Sediment BMPs guidance - Guide for properly managing sediment from stormwater systems, such as ponds
• Coal Tar-based Sealcoat guidance - Guide to the use and concerns with coal tar-based sealcoats
• Swimming Pool and Hot Tub Water Discharge guidance - Guide for best managing pool and hot tub discharge
• Pollution prevention fact sheets - Fact sheets for properly managing pollution throughout the construction and post-construction process
• Assessing the performance of stormwater ponds - MPCA overview of stormwater pond performance assessment
• U of M Online Manual for assessing the performance of, and schedule maintenance for, stormwater treatment practices - the University of Minnesota's Online Manual for assessing and maintaining stormwater treatment practices
• U of M Online Manual for Developing an Assessment Program - Section of the University of Minnesota's Online Manual specifically related to the types of stormwater pond assessment programs and how to develop an assessment program for each

Webinars/videos

Webinars that will help enhance your pollution prevention operations.

• Webcast - Good Housekeeping and Municipal Pollution Prevention - Chesapeake Stormwater Network's archived webcast on best practices for field operations, staff training on stormwater, and prioritizing work
• Eden Prairie's Vacuum Dredge Box - Eden Prairie's less invasive and resource intensive method for dredging stormwater pond sediments

Training tools

Below are examples, tools, or other resources to jump-start your employee training program.

• Parks Maintenance and Stormwater Protection employee training video - Training video on how to perform park maintenance activities, such as lawn mowing, and leaf management, fertilizer use, erosion control, and watering practices, to minimize impacts to stormwater
• Rain Garden Care employee training video- Training video on how to properly care for rain gardens or bioinfiltration systems to maximize their effectiveness and minimize impacts to stormwater
• Good Housekeeping employee training example - The City of Columbia Heights' employee training presentation
• Annual MS4 employee training example - City of Owatonna's employee training presentation
• Contractor training - City of Big Lake's training for construction project contractors

Documentation and tracking templates

Documentation and tracking templates are examples that local stormwater staff are currently using to meet the MS4 General Permit requirements for MCM 6 - Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping.

• Facility inventory template - The MPCA's template for the Facility Inventory, which includes examples of types of facilities, facilities operations, pollutants associated with the operations, and BMPs
• Facility inventory template - City of Rochester's Facility Inventory template
• Employee training tracking template - MPCA template to document all required information related to employee training events
• Employee training schedule example - City of Columbia Heights' employee training tracking system
• Pond sediment excavation activity tracking template - MPCA template to document all required information related to pond sediment excavation activities at municipally owned or operated stormwater ponds
• Documentation that MS4 staff should retain - List of all the documentation requirements (what information to keep, how long to keep it, level of detail to keep, etc.) for compliance with the MS4 General Permit
• Enforcement action documentation template - MPCA's template for documenting all enforcement actions used to compel compliance with your regulatory mechanisms

Checklists

Below are methods that local stormwater staff are currently using to meet the municipal operation inspection documentation requirements in the MS4 General Permit for MCM 6 - Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping.

• Rain garden/bioretention basin inspection checklist - University of Minnesota's (U of M) checklist for inspecting bioretention systems, such as rain gardens
• Constructed wetland inspection checklist - U of M's checklist for inspecting constructed wetlands
• Dry pond inspection checklist - U of M's checklist for inspecting dry ponds
• Filter strips and swales inspection checklist - U of M's checklist for inspecting filter strips and swales
• Filtration system inspection checklist - U of M's checklist for inspecting filtration systems
• Infiltration system inspection checklist - U of M's checklist for inspecting infiltration systems
• Underground sedimentation inspection checklist - U of M's checklist for inspecting underground sedimentation devices
• Wet pond inspection checklist - U of M's checklist for inspecting wet ponds
• Wet pond inspection checklist - City of Hutchinson's checklist for inspecting ponds
• Permeable pavements inspection checklist - U of M's checklist for inspecting permeable pavers
• Outfall inspection checklist - City of Rochester's checklist for inspecting outfalls
• Outfall inspection checklist - City of Arden Hills' checklist for inspecting outfalls
• Outfall inspection checklist - City of Hutchinson's checklist for inspecting outfalls
• Stockpile and storage/material handling area inspection checklist - Minnesota State's (MnSCU) checklist for inspecting stockpiles and storage/material handling areas

Example procedures

Example procedures are those that local stormwater staff are currently using to meet the MS4 General Permit requirements for MCM 6 - Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping.

• Pond TSS and TP removal effectiveness procedure - City of West St. Paul's procedures for determining the effectiveness of TSS and TP removal
• Pond TSS and TP removal effectiveness procedure - City of Oakdale's procedures for determining the effectiveness of TSS and TP removal