Presenter: Holly Galavotti, U.S. EPA Office of Water
Session 11: MS4 Permitting and Codes

In 2008, the U.S. National Research Council found that current regulations were not fully addressing nonpoint source pollution. As part of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stormwater rulemaking efforts, the agency collected data from nearly 850 municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s), including regulated, nonregulated, and transportation MS4s.

Results showed that 61% of the 222 regulated Phase II MS4s surveyed have stormwater programs that cover their entire jurisdiction. They also found that 14 states require jurisdiction wide stormwater programs, even if only a portion of the jurisdiction is in an urbanized area. Furthermore, 64% of Phase II MS4s and 80% of the 249 surveyed Phase I MS4s have either numeric or specific post-construction standards or design criteria for stormwater controls. Finally, 41% of Phase I MS4s and 18% of Phase II MS4s are implementing stormwater retrofit programs.

EPA is still reviewing financial and cost data from the survey.