Drainage and Stormwater Management

	Whose job is it to clean the drains today?

An often-repeated adage in the road construction and maintenance business is that "the three most important things to understand in building and maintaining roads are drainage, drainage, drainage!"

This certainly does get an important message across. But, too often, this critical issue is ignored when building and maintaining local roads. When drainage is poor, the best efforts to rehabilitate or maintain roads will bring disappointing results. When water can be drained off of road surfaces and out of roadbed soils, the road will invariably become easier to maintain.¹

This can not be emphasized enough. With this in mind, under Colorado LTAP's new Roads Scholar program, our Drainage course has been redesigned as one of four core curriculum courses. Topics to be covered in the Drainage course offered this September/October 2002, include, but are not limited to: drainage types and maintenance, subgrade and effects of moisture, basics of: cover, runoff, pulling ditches and erosion control, and new stormwater regulations. Please contact the Colorado LTAP office for a fall course schedule or course registration form.

Storm Water Regulations

The State of Colorado is in the process of implementing Phase II Stormwater Regulations under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment held a meeting on Feb. 23, 2002, to discuss Phase II of the regulations for the EPA Stormwater Program. The Stormwater Program is a national and state regulation that requires certain categories of dischargers of stormwater to take steps to ensure that the water is clean. Phase I primarily applies to industries, construction sites, and large municipalities while Phase II broadens the scope of permit coverage to include smaller municipalities. A Task Force was formed and is charged with examining and developing the regulations for Colorado.

As we move forward toward this goal, it is suggested that cities like Loveland, Greeley, Fort Collins and developed areas of Larimer and Weld Counties will be impacted. In addition, it is anticipated that small communities which are experiencing rapid growth and/or seasonally high population densities may also be impacted. Stormwater has one of the largest negative impacts of all discharges on our rivers. As the rules are implemented and monitoring results are analyzed, some difficult and important decisions will have to be made regarding the discharge of stormwater from these communities.²

On March 10, 2003, all of the cities, counties, and special districts in Colorado that operate what are defined by regulation as "small municipal separate storm sewer systems" (Small MS4s) will be required to submit permit applications for coverage under the Colorado Discharge Permit System. There are about 40 cities, towns and counties in the state with less than 100,000 population located within Census-defined "Urbanized areas." Many of these municipalities are located within the UDFCD.

In addition, there are a number of special districts within these jurisdictions that have drainage responsibilities (i.e. metropolitan districts; drainage districts; water and sanitation districts; etc.) also defined as small MS4s. Collectively, these entities are referred to as "Phase II" of EPA's municipal stormwater control program. The District assisted its member governments in 2001 to prepare for Phase II permit applications, and will continue to do so as the March 2003 deadline approaches. For more information, visit Colorado Stormwater Permit Activities by John T. Doerfer, Project Hydrologist, Master Planning Program at http://www.udfcd.org/fhn2001/stormwat.htm.

Regulatory Compliance Alert: New Stormwater and Erosion Control Regulation

According to the Colorado Contractors Association (CCA), some new stormwater and erosion control regulations for construction projects were implemented in Colorado on July 1, 2002. These new regulations are expected to impact well over a 1,000 previously exempt construction sites in Colorado. If you work on any construction projects that are larger than 1 acre or a smaller area that is part of a larger plan of development, these new rules will impact that project. Failure to comply can result in fines or stop work orders issued by the State of Colorado and/or city or county regulators across the state. It is important that for all projects you determine if the site has been permitted. To comply with new rules an application for a permit must be filed with the State of Colorado on any construction sites over 1 acre. (Previous rules applied only to sites over five acres.)

If you are currently working on a site between one and five acres, or you plan to begin work on any site over 5 acres, CCA suggests you get your permit application turned into the state immediately. All construction sites larger than 1 acre in the State of Colorado must be permitted as of July 1, 2002. Other states may not be implementing these rules until March 2003, but Colorado is on July 1, 2002. Check out CCA's Regulatory Compliance Alert for more details.

Erosion, sedimentation and water pollution caused by highway construction activities and highway stormwater runoff are of concern to the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). Compliance with recent state and federal laws requires improved erosion control and stormwater quality management during the planning, design, and construction phases of CDOT projects. CDOT has developed an Erosion Control and Stormwater Quality Guide intended to aid designers, field and maintenance personnel, consultants, and contractors in designing and implementing measures that will protect water-quality. The guide has been prepared to effectively address erosion and sediment control, and stormwater quality management.

A description on how to prepare and implement a sound "Stormwater Management Plan" (SWMP) is also included in this guide. Guidelines are given for the application, use limitations, design, construction and maintenance of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for erosion and sediment control and stormwater quality management. Measures for maintenance practices are also described to assist maintenance crews when planning and executing their work. This guide is expected to be revised and expanded periodically to reflect additional erosion and sediment control, or stormwater quality information. A copy of this guide is available from CDOT for $15. They also have a Drainage Design Manual available for $30.

For more, visit http://www.dot.state.co.us/Publications/publications.htm. Comments from users of the erosion guide are welcome and can be sent to the following address: Colorado Department of Transportation 4201 East Arkansas Ave., Staff Design Denver, Colorado 80222.

1. An excerpt from Gravel Roads: Maintenance and Design Manual, South Dakota LTAP, November, 2000.

2. From The Watershed Forum by Ed Schemm, http://www.btwatershed.org/Newsletter/November%2000/newsnov1.htm#BTWF%20Water%20Quality%20Monitoring