Storm Water Quality Rule Turns 5

The fifth anniversary of the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District's (MSD) storm water quality regulation is approaching and, in spite of the hopes of some developers and civil engineers, they are not going away.

"This is a thing we have to do as a community, and state and federal agencies have designated us as the regulator," said Lance LeComb, spokesperson for the waste water agency. The agency operates as regulator under a permit from the state that is reviewed every five year.

"We are in an age of environmental awareness that is only growing," LeComb added. "The rules on the east coast and the west coast are more stringent. To not expect that we will have to head in that direction would not be wise," he said.

The rules that MSD's board of trustees adopted in February 2006 were the agency's first to require developers to address water quality issues in addition to the quantity issues that had previously been addressed with detention basins.

MSD has and still has a robust program to educate people about the regulations. "We've gone to engineering associations and development groups, like the Home Builders Association, and we continue to meet with them to discuss changes coming from the state or the feds. We've tweaked rules in response to their concerns ... and developed guidance manuals based on their input," said Brian Hoelscher, the agency's director of engineering.

Since storm water quality regulations applied only to new construction, however, awareness of them has been slow to percolate through to owners. It does percolate to them, however, because they are required to maintain storm water quality measures.

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