Over the past 30 years, Rhode Islanders have invested millions of dollars to upgrade municipal wastewater treatment facilities, pre-treat industrial wastes, and eliminate sewage discharges from boats. We’ve made great progress in dealing with these obvious pollution sources. As a result, many of our rivers and coastal waters are now healthier than ever. But continued monitoring is showing that stormwater pollution is a more serious problem than we once thought.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, stormwater pollution is now the major water quality problem in the United States. In Rhode Island, it is a major source of contamination to the waters we drink, fish and swim. When rain falls onto pavement and other impermeable surfaces, it picks up pollutants, such as oil and other spills, road sand and sediment from construction sites, fertilizers and yard waste, animal waste, and trash. Improper connections between storm drains and sanitary sewers can also add raw sewage high in disease-causing bacteria. Storm drains rush all this polluted water directly to the nearest stream, pond, or bay without treatment.

A recent URI Cooperative Extension survey shows that most Rhode Islanders associate wet weather pollution with Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). This is a problem only in older cities such as Providence and Newport where wastewater sewers and storm drains were connected when first built. These sewers overflow with heavy rain, releasing a mix of stormwater and raw sewage that shuts down shellfishing beds. Massive retrofits of combined sewers, now underway deep beneath the streets of Providence, will eliminate 40 percent of overflows with completion of the first phase. The main benefits are expected in the upper Bay, where shellfish closures will be reduced by 50 percent. Meanwhile, stormwater pollution is a statewide problem, affecting every Rhode Island community.

The RI Department of Environmental Management’s Storm Water program has been working to gradually phase in better stormwater management through the RI Pollution Discharge Elimination System (RIPDES) permit program. Beginning in 1990, the EPA Phase I storm water program regulated stormwater discharges from large cities serving populations over 100,000 with storm water drainage systems, known as Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems or MS4s. Owners of these MS4s, certain industries, and construction sites over 5 acres had to develop and implement stormwater plans.

In 1999, Phase II applied the same laws to smaller jurisdictions and to construction sites disturbing one or more acres. In 2003 all municipalities with Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) were required to submit an RIPDES Storm Water Phase II permit application and prepare a Storm Water Management Program Plan (SWMPP) describing how they will manage stormwater to reduce the discharge of stormwater pollutants to the maximum extent practicable. The plan describes how the town will implement a storm water management program that incorporates six elements, or “minimum measures” that are expected to significantly reduce stormwater pollution when applied together.

The purpose of the RI Stormwater Solutions Project is to develop educational materials that Rhode Island municipalities and other MS4s can use as they work to meet their Phase II requirements. That includes:

• All 39 Rhode Island municipalities. Thirty-four MS4s are located either partly or completely within an urbanized or densely populated area and were required to submit a permit application in 2003. The remaining five - Foster, Hopkinton, Little Compton, New Shoreham and Richmond - are lightly developed and subject to permit requirements in 2008 unless demonstrating effective protection of Special Resource Protection Waters (SRPWs) and Impaired Waters.
• Six institutions and other “non-traditional” MS4s serving an average daily population of equal to or greater than 1,000 persons such as the University of Rhode Island, the Community Colleges of RI, the Quonset Development Corporation, and the Newport Naval Base.
• Federal, State and municipally-owned public works facilities and highway garages. These are regulated as industrial facilities.
• Small construction sites that disturb one acre of land or more up to five acres. Sites disturbing 5 acres or more were previously regulated under Phase I.
• Department of Transportation (DOT) separate storm sewer systems in urban areas, densely populated areas, and divided highways.

Phase II communities must take action on six required minimum measures to reduce stormwater pollution. The RI Stormwater Solutions Project is responsible for helping those communities, specifically with minimum measures 1 and 2: public education and outreach as well as public participation and involvement.

The major elements of the RI Stormwater Solutions Project include:

• Raise public awareness of the stormwater problem actions individuals can take to prevent stormwater pollution through a statewide campaign;
• Develop consistent educational materials and outreach methods that municipalities, state agencies, and community organizations can use to empower citizens, businesses, and builders to solve local stormwater problems.
• Provide model ordinances for local storm water management with related training; and
• Train government staff, local officials, and others in updated storm water management practices.

RI Stormwater Solutions is funded by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation with a grant from the U.S. Federal Highway Administration to support compliance with the “Phase II” storm water requirements. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) provides oversight to ensure compliance with the RIDEM storm water permit program. The University of Rhode Island (URI) Cooperative Extension manages and staffs the project through the RI Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) program and the CELS Outreach Center. URI has partnered with the Southern Rhode Island Conservation District (SRICD) and other groups to conduct training. The project is also known as the “Storm Water Phase II Public Outreach and Education Project”.

RIDEM Office of Water Resources, Rhode Island Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (RIPDES) Storm Water Program
http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/benviron/water/permits/ripdes/stwater/index.htm

EPA Stormwater Program
http://www.epa.gov/ne/topics/water/stormwater.html