Monroe drafting stormwater rules

Management requirements will preserve

By: Stephanie Brown
   MONROE — The township aims to protect its water resources by moving forward with stormwater management requirements as mandated by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
   The township enacted new rules to make stormwater detention requirements stricter, and plans to designate $40,000 to fund a mapping project.
   These efforts are part of a stormwater management plan required under the DEP’s Municipal Stormwater Regulation Program, which were adopted in 2004.
   The program sets guidelines under which municipalities have to manage their stormwater management infrastructure, which includes pipes and catch basins. Under the requirements, municipalities must pass ordinances on litter and pet waste removal, street sweep in commercial areas at least once a month, and retrofit storm drains to include bicycle-safe grates and covers on the vertical openings of the drains.
   The Township Council passed an ordinance Nov. 8 amending the land development code, specifically stormwater management design standards in new developments. The amendment is intended to minimize water pollution caused by stormwater runoff and the loss of groundwater recharge.
   Township Engineer Ernie Feist said the ordinance amending the township land use code brings design standards required of private and public developers up to date with the DEP regulations concerning groundwater recharge.
   For example, he said, the design of detention basins had to be changed to now have a recharge component. Detention basins function to hold back stormwater and filters the water. The new requirements add a third component, Mr. Feist said, which is recharging stormwater back into the ground. Mr. Feist said the new design would also provide for cleaner stormwater before it is released.
   Mr. Feist said residential developers were required two years ago to use recharge basins as per a DEP mandate.
   The council also introduced an ordinance to use $40,000 from the budget to map half of its outfall structures. Outfall structures are areas where stormwater leaves a stormwater system and goes into a stream, brook or wetlands.
   The DEP requires all outfall structures to be mapped by the end of 2007, Mr. Feist said.
   Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton said whole project, which is being done by Feist Engineering, will cost about $80,000.
   Mr. Feist said includes detecting all stormwater outfall structures through the township, plotting their location on township maps and creating a stormwater management Geographical Information System map.
   "We don’t really have any idea what’s out there because there’s never been a previous attempt to do any kind of mapping like this," Mr. Feist said.
   Having a map of all the places where stormwater drains into the earth, Mr. Feist said, would make it easier to detect contamination.
   He said the maps will be used periodically to check the outfall structures for contamination, such as oils or soapsuds.
   Mr. Feist said contamination of the stormwater systems is a criminal offense.
   "It’s our obligation, the town’s obligation, to backtrack through the system to try find the source of the contamination," Mr. Feist said.