Test Page 10

Warning: This page is an edit and testing page use by the wiki authors. It is not a content page for the Manual. Information on this page may not be accurate and should not be used as guidance in managing stormwater.

MS4 Accelerated Implementation

The goal of this project is to provide technical assistance to MS4s to help build sustainable and effective local stormwater management programs.

Meeting the goal of this project means that:

• staff are informed and empowered – people have the knowledge and resources to implement their program
• staff think about accountability of program outcomes – people set goals for their program, review successes and failures, and modify programs as needed
• staff have the ability to leverage partnerships and others’ knowledge – no need to recreate the wheel

Stormwater stakeholder survey

In the fall of 2017, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) solicited input to identify technical assistance and outreach needs of the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) regulated community. The MPCA conducted an electronic survey of representatives from the MS4 regulated community, including municipal program managers, consultants, and staff involved in implementing local stormwater pollution prevention programs (SWPPPs). The full results can be found on the 2017 MS4 Technical Assistance and Outreach Needs Survey Results page.

The following are highlights of the survey results:

• MS4s need help implementing all parts of their stormwater programs
• Most respondents indicated wanting assistance with TMDLs and assistance with MCM 5 or Post-Construction Stormwater Management
• Specific types of guidance wanted includes the following:
  • modules for employee training
  • pond assessment procedures
  • enforcement response procedures and issuing enforcement
• Local MS4 staff would like to receive technical assistance via fact sheets or webinars

Completed accelerated implementation projects

Fact sheets and guidance were created and can be found throughout the Stormwater Manual and the links below.

• MS4 Digital Document Library: Provides guidance to help local MS4 staff meet the requirements of the six Minimum Control Measures (MCMs) in the MS4 General Permit and assist with overall stormwater management. In addition to general guidance documents and photos/graphics, the Digital Document Library has example documents that stormwater staff are using to manage their stormwater pollution prevention programs (SWPPPs). All documents in the Digital Document Library are MPCA reviewed and available for anyone to download and use.
  Examples of materials include:
  • Templates
  • Checklists
  • Examples of procedures
  • Model language

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to evaluate MS4 permittees for compliance with the MS4 General Permit. The MPCA does this through compliance audits. To find out more information about the audit process see the following pages: Audit guidance Phase II MS4 audit process and Self-audit guidance for Phase II MS4s
• Webinars have been recorded and can be found on the following pages: Stormwater Manual webinars and MS4 webinars and videos. The MPCA will be continue to host and record webinars on a variety of stormwater topics.

In progress accelerated implementation projects

• Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) toolkit Update: A collection of resources for use by stormwater program staff. It is intended to help entities regulated under the MS4 program meet the requirements of the general permit. It offers a wide range of downloadable stormwater education information including sample fact sheets, newsletters, videos, and other resources.
  
• Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) are EPA approved amounts of pollutant loading that can occur and have a water body meet water quality standards. Follow this link to learn more about them along with guidance and resources to help the MS4 community evaluate progress towards meeting TMDL goals. Examples of materials include:
  • modeling guidance
  • monitoring strategies
  • updates and enhancements to existing pollutant reduction estimator tools

• developing a model ordinance package
  • For MCM 4 (Construction stormwater runoff control) and MCM 5 (Post-construction stormwater management)
• creating pond assessment guidance
  • provides methodology for determining treatment effectiveness
• developing green infrastructure framework in the Stormwater manual
  • includes strategies for implementing green infrastructure at local level
• developing a model pet waste ordinance
• continuing to develop case studies - There are Case studies that have already been created and the MPCA is working to develop more case studies on a variety of stormwater topics. These allow regulated MS4s to learn about successes and failures experienced by other MS4s in managing stormwater projects.

Future accelerated implementation projects

• continue research
  • establish pollutant load reduction credits for street sweeping
  • explore starting a stormwater protection team
  • explore providing limited funding opportunities
  • creating a recognition program
• sponsor/facilitate MS4 workshops
• continue to:
  • create materials and webinars that are based on the feedback we received in the survey
  • on-going management of Digital Document Library (DDL)
  • engage with stakeholders
  • promote materials that are developed

Other MPCA MS4 technical assistance pages

• MPCA MS4 website
• MPCA MS4 staff contact information