The City of Springfield is seeking input on its updated stormwater management plan.
The play lays out how the city will implement the requirements of its federally mandated municipal separate storm sewer system or MS4 permit that addresses water quality related to stormwater, according to Carrie Lamb, water quality director for the city’s Department of Environmental Services.
According to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, a municipal separate storm sewer system "is a conveyance or system of conveyances (roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made channels, storm drains, etc.) that is also:
- Owned or operated by a public entity (which can include cities, townships, counties, military bases, hospitals, prison complexes, highway departments, universities, etc.) having jurisdiction over disposal of sewage, industrial wastes, stormwater or other wastes. This includes special districts under state law, such as a sewer district; flood control district, drainage districts or similar entity; an Indian tribe or an authorized Indian tribal organization; or a designated and approved management agency under section 208 of the Clean Water Act that discharges to waters of the United States.
- Designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater
- Not a combined sewer
- Not part of a publicly-owned treatment works"
Springfield as well as cities across the country have federally mandated MS4 permits, which are issued in Missouri by the Department of Natural Resources.
"It (the permit) requires the city to have a program that addresses the water quality impacts of stormwater runoff," said Lamb.
The plan is updated every five years, and the city is required to seek public review and comment.
Lamb hopes people will take the time to look over the plan and provide feedback.
"The public may have ideas, you know, for some of the components in the plan like...public education or they may, you know, see different types of water pollution concerns, maybe in their neighborhood or something like that," she said. "Just things that we want to hear from the public about."
You can view the plan and provide feedback through October 13 at springfieldmo.gov/MS4.
