1-page summary of October 2010 recommendations

In October 2010, the Stormwater Work Group (SWG) delivered Recommendations for Municipal Stormwater Permit Monitoring to the Department of Ecology (Ecology). Ecology should consider these recommendations and replace the current monitoring requirements when writing the next National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) municipal stormwater permits. This is a summary of the recommendations.

Pool Resources for Monitoring and Assessment

Pooling resources is essential to minimize the cost and maximize the benefits of monitoring. This is especially true for smaller permitted jurisdictions with limited resources and monitoring experience. A “pooled funding approach” will combine and consolidate resources and efficiently conduct regional monitoring.

1. Ecology will administer the pooled funding approach for the next permit.[1]

   • Each permittee will have a contractual arrangement with Ecology that satisfies permit monitoring requirements.[2]

   • Ecology will have contracts with other entities –including interested permittees– to conduct monitoring activities. 

   • An independent review will evaluate Ecology’s performance as the administrative entity in advance of the subsequent permit term.

2. All NPDES municipal stormwater permittees will be required to pay-in equitably for collective data management, collection, and analysis, and literature reviews.

3. Permittees will collectively fund regional monitoring regardless of where sites are located.

4. Pooled resources during the second and third years of the next permit will fund preparation for full implementation of the program in the fourth and fifth years.

5. Permittees will continue to pool resources to fund the program in subsequent permits.

Pooled Funds Will Pay to Monitor, Share Information, and Study Program Effectiveness

1. Conduct status and trends monitoring at 100 sites in wadeable Puget Sound lowland streams and at up to 50 sites in marine nearshore areas. Half of the stream sites and all of the nearshore sites will be inside Urban Growth Areas (UGAs).

2. Build a repository for source identification and diagnostic monitoring information to help permittees learn from each other and identify problems that should be addressed by regional initiatives.

3. The SWG will propose criteria and oversee a process to select which regional programmatic effectiveness studies the permittees will fund.  

[1] The SWG considered many options for establishing the entity and agreed that at this time Ecology is the only viable option to serve as the administrative entity. The SWG should oversee the pooled funding approach.

[2] The contract will ensure that pay-in funds are dedicated to monitoring and that the State cannot redirect the funds to other activities.