06-24-2002 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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COfiMnii MRET'N® JUN 2 4 2002 REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION C»TY OF OflONO DATE: June 10,2002 ITEM NO.: ^ Department Approval: Name Gregory A. Gappa Title Director of Public Services Administrator Reviewed: Agenda Section: Public Services Director’s Report Item Description: Approve Funding for Storm Water Permit Guide Plan Introduction Federal legislation in the Clean Water Act requires that all states implement a program to require a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System. (NPDES) pemiit for storm water discharges. The original NPDES program, which started in the 1960’s in response to water pollution problems, required NPDES permits for all point source discharges such as industrial sites and waste water treatment plants. After the point source water pollution problems were corrected, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began to regulate non-point sources of water pollution caused by storm water runoff as storm water runoff is a significant source of water pollution. The responsibility for administration of this NPDES program was transferred to the states for permitting and administration. Phase I of the storm water program required permits for large cities. In Minnesota, the only two cities with Phase 1 permits are Minneapolis and St. Paul. The Phase 11 regulations expanded the permitting requirements to smaller cities. The medium size cities in greater Minnesota and all of the suburban cities in the metropolitan area are now required to have a NPDES Phase 11 Storm Water Permit application submitted by March 10,2003. This is an extremely tight schedule which is the result of slow progress by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency ( MPCA) on implementing this program. Guide Plan Development The new Phase II regulations are very comprehensive and the permit application requirements are quite extensive. The League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) has been working with a group of affected cities on developing methods on how to best comply with the new storm water regulations. As a result of these meetings, the LMC is proposing to develop a Guide Plan to provide a resource for use in preparing the permit applications. The cost for development of this guide plan is $250,000 and if 50 cities participate the cost for each city would be $5,000. Approximately 200 cities in the state will be required to obtain a storm w^ater permit under the new niles. At this time the LMC is requesting that cities interested in this program respond promptly to allow for a timely completion of this project. The attached letter from the League provides more information on this proposed project. J