Stormwater Management

National Expert: Jonathan Meronek

 

stormwater engineersSustainable stormwater management involves and integrates multiple considerations during the design-build of water resource management solutions. SCS Engineers helps the private and the public sectors determine the quantitative and qualitative factors important to achieve sustainable solutions and to meet future water demand forecasts. Quantitative factors such as return on investment and financing are always important. Qualitative factors impact the longer-term value of a solution, and they do have implications to the bottom-line. These factors include social elements, such as waterway health; political elements; and environmental factors, such as climate change.

Environmental consciousness is growing, and SCS is increasingly hired for our expertise in developing appropriate self-imposed standards for ensuring that the water quality of our clients’ discharges remain beneficial to the downstream natural ecosystem. SCS’s stormwater clients have facilities spanning a large variety of industries, from solid waste to manufacturing to industrial waste, but they all have one thing in common: they all appreciate knowing the degree to which they are serving as protectors of the environment by meeting or exceeding water quality standards.

SCS Engineers helps clients navigate the U.S. EPA’s Clean Water Act regulatory maze.  We serve a broad base of clients with stormwater compliance services, including construction, industrial, municipal, and waste discharge permitting. SCS’s professional staff can help with planning, design, installation, construction management, routine water quality monitoring, discharge waste characterization, treatment system performance evaluation, system audits, annual reporting, collaborative Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) development, and litigation support.

A new Federal Industrial Stormwater Permit (MSGP) goes into effect on March 1, 2021. This new national permit has within it, many of the same policies that California, Washington, and Oregon already mandate. The new MSGP will require all other 47 states to have EPA permits substantially “equal or similar to” this, taking effect within the next five years. For the District of Columbia, Guam, and Tribal Territories the effect will be felt immediately.

storm water engineering
SCS is a member in good standing. We help clients in California, Virginia, New York, Washington, and across the nation with environmental, packaging, recycling, and energy conservation challenges helping wine and beer producers.

SCS professionals are experienced in developing both construction and industrial Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs). We have experts in biogeophysics, biogeochemistry, biological systems, and ecosystem habitats, as well as geologists, soils scientists, planners, environmental scientists, and agricultural, civil, chemical, and mechanical engineers. When addressing pollution from agricultural, urbanized, and otherwise anthropogenically-impacted ambient environments, our staff remains innovative. We know the local, state, and national standards well.

From start to finish, SCS Engineers and our Construction division can design, build, monitor, and evaluate stormwater systems to solve your problems, keep you in compliance, and safeguard the environment.

SCS’s Stormwater Management Services include the following, among others:

Our stormwater clients have included landfills, transfer stations, recycling facilities, vehicle maintenance facilities, fertilizer manufacturers, oil storage and distribution terminals, concrete batch plants, cement manufacturing plants, coating manufacturers, metal products manufacturers, paper plants, steel plants, pipe manufacturers, agricultural facilities, asphalt plants, printing plants, pharmaceuticals production, municipal facilities, municipal separate storm sewer systems, and others.

Design and Permitting of Stormwater and Green Infrastructure Facilities

SCS Engineers can design | build and assist with permitting stormwater and green infrastructure facilities. Our professionals have designed dozens of facilities throughout the United States, and they serve in leadership roles for organizations developing stormwater technologies, such as the 2012 WEF/ASCE Manual of Practice: Design of Urban Stormwater Controls.

Green infrastructure is the newest buzzword for Low Impact Development (LID), and we use a mix of traditional practices implemented in new ways; modern field practices; and new techniques that meet the needs of our clients and provide additional benefits to the watershed as a whole.

SCS’s typical stormwater facility services include:

  • Storm Drain Pipes, Culverts
  • Grassy, Vegetated, or Rock Lined Swales
  • Brow Ditches
  • Slope Drains
  • Box Culverts
  • Trapezoidal and Natural Shaped Channels
  • River and Stream Restoration
  • Channel Grade Control Structures
  • Energy Dissipation Structures
  • Retention and Detention Basin Facilities

LID Green Infrastructure facilities include:

  • Bioretention Basins
  • Bioretention Swales
  • Infiltration Basins, Trenches, Galleries
  • Harvest and Reuse Systems


Construction Stormwater Permitting

Construction activities that disturb more than one acre of soil require a NPDES Construction General Permit (CGP). These permits are provided by the US EPA, or by state environmental agencies. To comply, the permittee must submit fees and permit-required documentation to the jurisdictional authority.  The process includes the development of a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) that must be developed by a Qualified SWPPP Developer (QSD) and must include a project risk determination; development of a stormwater monitoring plan to test at a minimum pH and turbidity; preparation of a Rain Event Action Plan (REAP); and documentation for inspections. Inspections typically are required before and after qualifying storm events and weekly during construction activities, and must be submitted to the permitting authority’s online database.

SCS employs experienced QSDs throughout the country who are available to assist you in meeting your CGP compliance needs. We can provide SWPPP development, including erosion and sediment control plans, monitoring, and assistance with permitting authorities.

NPDES – National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permitting and Active Facility Management

Owners and operators of industrial and commercial facilities are required to comply with Federal and state programs that regulate “stormwater associated with industrial activities.”  SCS Engineers routinely assist our clients with many aspects of stormwater management and compliance at active facilities. We help operations assess compliance with their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Stormwater Permit, and we recommend actions that must be taken to comply.  Our services include:

  • Preparation and renewal of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater discharge permit applications, including individual permits and general permits.
  • Preparation of “No Exposure” certifications, and assistance identifying and implementing facility modifications to achieve No Exposure status
  • Stormwater sampling, analysis, and reporting via the Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) program
  • Preparation and implementation of Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plans (SWP3 and SWPPP)
  • Design and implementation of Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs)
  • Stormwater training
  • Comprehensive annual stormwater evaluations and quarterly inspections
  • Assistance responding to effluent limitation and benchmark monitoring exceedances
  • Stormwater compliance assessments
  • Evaluation, selection, design, and implementation of retrofits to maximize stormwater infiltration and minimize runoff; e.g., as required by Maryland state stormwater management and Chesapeake Bay Restoration programs.

 

A must watch video for QISPs! Jonathan Meronek of SCS Engineers gives a presentation on considerations, strategies, and lessons learned for NPDES regulated industrial dischargers with the exceedance Response Action models of California, Washington, and Oregon.

 

Alert: Changes for Industrial Businesses in California

Click to read the SCS newsletter Rainy Days for Industrial General Permit instructions and resources.
Click to read the SCS newsletter Rainy Days for Industrial General Permit instructions and resources.

In 2014, the California State Water Resources Control Board (Board) adopted the Final Draft of the new Industrial Storm Water General Permit (IGP). The IGP is a statewide general National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit that regulates stormwater discharges from industrial activity.

SCS Engineers provides assistance in preparing and filing paperwork with the State Board. We can help you sort through the requirements and file in time to eliminate your risk of delinquency fines for non-filing and can total up to $37,500 per calendar day of non-compliance (Permit Section XXI.Q.2). Click here for SCS’s comprehensive list of industries that are affected by this permit and who must comply. 


MS4 – Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Permit

SCS has experience providing assistance to public agencies for MS4 permitting. While permitting requirements may change, we always include these six elements:

  • Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination
    • SCS has a team of experts ready to assist with providing ICID reconnaissance following nationally-recognized guidance from the Urban Subwatershed Restoration Manual Series: Manual 11 prepared by the Center for Watershed Protection.
    • Development of Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plans (SPCCPs)
    • Development of Sewer System Management Plans (SSMPs)
    • Emergency Overflow Response Plans (EORPs)
  • Development Planning
  • Construction Management
    • Construction Site Runoff Control Program
    • Construction Site Inspection Prioritization Planning
    • Regular Construction Site Inspections
    • Construction Site Monitoring
  • Existing Development Management
    • Development of Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plans
    • Post Construction Storm Water Management Program
      • Site Design Measures
      • Low Impact Development (LID) Design Standards
      • Source Control Measures
      • Development of Numeric Sizing Criteria for Storm Water Retention, Infiltration, and Treatment Facilities
      • Hydromodification Management Planning
      • Alternative Post-Construction Storm Water Management Program Planning
      • Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Planning, Enforcement, and Linking to Storm Drain System Asset Management Plans
    • Inventory of Permittee-Owned and Operated Facilities
    • Development of GIS Asset Management Systems
    • Inspections, Monitoring, and Remedial Action Planning
    • Storm Drain System Assessment and Prioritization /
    • Storm Drain Master Planning
    • Operations and Maintenance Planning for Storm Drain System
    • Pesticide, Herbicide, and Fertilizer Application and New Landscape Design and Maintenance Management
  • Enforcement Response Planning
  • Public Education and Participation

In addition to these services, SCS can assist with other program elements, including:

  • Program Management
  • In-house Staff Training
  • Program Effectiveness Assessment and Improvement
  • Total Maximum Daily Loads – Research, Development, Compliance
  • Annual Reporting

 

Litigation Support

SCS provides litigation support consultation for our clients, including expert witness testimony, discovery (monitoring, investigation, and data collection), review of third party designs, and historical environmental phenomena. SCS’s team of hydrogeologists, ecologists, geomorphologists, water quality scientists, and engineers are experienced in designing and building environmental solutions. Our team of experts can negotiate with environmental regulatory agencies and provide services to law firm clients. SCS has a reputation for clear communications backed by detailed data analysis to provide indisputable technical illustrations.

Stream, Estuary, and Wetland Restoration

SCS Engineers provides engineering analysis and design to support watershed restoration and aquatic species management. We have a multidisciplinary staff with backgrounds in civil and environmental engineering, hydrology, river hydraulics, fluvial geomorphology, sediment transport, and fisheries ecology. Our services include topographic and geomorphic mapping, developing engineering design plans and specifications, and providing construction management and inspection.

SCS works with for-profit and non-profit organizations, and with numerous Federal, state, and local agencies. Our staff are highly experienced, working with project proponents to secure grant funding for fish passage and aquatic habitat restoration, and enhancement efforts.

Flood Control

SCS provides a full array of flood control consulting experience, including:

  • Hydraulics and Hydrology Reports
  • Storm Drain Master Plans
  • Hydromodification Management Reports
  • Fluvial Geomorphological Investigations
  • Design of:
    • Culverts
    • Ecological Based Flood Control Channels
    • Controlled Drop Structures
    • Energy Dissipation Structures
    • Detention/Retention Basins
    • Infiltration Trenches, Basins, and Wells
    • Levees and Flood Walls
    • Small Dams
  • FEMA Floodplain Mapping, Letters of Map Revision