Protecting Water Quality Through Stormwater Management

摘要

The discharge of water runoff, more commonly known as stormwater, from virtually every city, county and town in the urbanized areas of California is now covered by a stormwater permit issued by the state under authority of the state's water quality law (the Porter-Cologne Act) and the federal Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act requires medium-sized and large municipalities to seek permit coverage under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) 1990 Phase I regulations; smaller municipalities were brought under permit through the 1999 Phase Ⅱ stormwater regulations. These regulations require municipalities to develop, implement and enforce a stormwater quality management program to reduce the discharge of pollutants to the "maximum extent practicable" (MEP) to protect water quality.