SuAsCo Watershed Community Council: Programs: Storm Water Community Assistance Plan

Index

Storm Water Poster Contest

Storm Water Community Assistance Program

Storm Water Community Assistance Program
Phase 2

STORMWATER COMMUNITY
ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SWCAP)

Does your community have to comply with the new Stormwater Phase II Regulations?

Save time and money by using SWCAP to educate and involve your community on stormwater issues!

The Stormwater Community Assistance Program (SWCAP) provides outreach materials to municipalities to address two of the six minimum control measures under the Stormwater Phase II Regulations:

Public Education & Outreach, and

Public Participation & Involvement

SWCAP is produced by the SuAsCo Watershed Community Council, a non-profit watershed alliance (www.suasco.org). The Council has assembled a team of diverse watershed professionals including engineering consultants, municipal and state officials, science teachers, and interested citizens to create the annual SWCAP outreach materials.

Any municipality can use SWCAP.

SWCAP materials are pre-reviewed by the MA Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before being finalized and distributed.

SWCAP products are customized to your community.

Citizens will benefit from the breadth and excellence of the SWCAP outreach materials and the continuity of the stormwater education message. Increased public awareness and involvement in stormwater management can lead to improved water quality.

Advantages of SWCAP include:

Cost effective
Easy to implement
Meets regulatory muster
Professional quality materials
Consistent and engaging message
Education helps improve water quality
Saves your municipality time and money
Effective in any community in any watershed

The “Stormwater Matters” logo visually depicts the message that stormwater affects water quality. Year after year, SWCAP outreach materials instill in the community a momentum of increased understanding and recognition of stormwater issues.
SWCAP materials are significantly less expensive than creating educational tools using your own staff or consultants. By serving the needs of multiple communities, SWCAP experiences economies of scale and passes those savings on to the municipalities.

If your municipality has already contracted out your stormwater work, you could still use SWCAP for the outreach and participation requirements and redirect more of your consultant’s budget to the other four stormwater minimum control measures.

SWCAP is offered as a yearly subscription service with an annual estimated fee of between $2,550 and $3,000, not including implementation costs. Our goal is to provide you with maximum results at a minimal cost.

Available Now: (note that SWCAP products can be used interchangeably in any year)

Year 1 Product includes:

Stormwater Matters flyer for community residents
Traveling tabletop display with carry bag
Public awareness survey postcards and brochure holders
Raffle for Stormwater Matters logo umbrellas

Year 2 Product includes:

Stormwater Matters lesson plan for 5^th/6^th grade
Large laminated aerial photo maps of municipality
Large laminated state watershed maps
Stormwater poster contest rules, award certificates, and flyers

Year 3 Product includes:

Stormwater Matters PowerPoint program
Media toolkit
Large mounted aerial photo map of municipality
Stormwater Matters banner

Year 4 Product includes:

Stormwater Matters flyer for businesses
Stormwater Matters window decals for businesses
Storm drain marking kit using curb markers
Storm drain marking press release and informational handout

Municipalities that have used SWCAP include: Acton, Adams, Bedford, Billerica, Boylston, Chelmsford, Danvers, Dover, Framingham, Franklin, Grafton, Hopkinton, Hudson, Lincoln, Littleton, Lowell, Maynard, Natick, Needham, North Attleboro, Northborough, Southborough, Stow, Sudbury, Tewksbury, Upton, Wareham, Wayland, Wellesley, Westborough, Westford, Weston.

Feedback on the Stormwater Community Assistance Program:
“Its exciting to bring the issue of stormwater pollution to the public with such eye-catching and thought-provoking materials. I’m already looking forward to receiving next year’s products.” - Steve Fogg, Weston Town Engineer

“SWCAP is a win-win for Massachusetts communities. At a time when municipal budgets are so strained, it is wonderful to have this cost-effective service. Municipalities are well served by this excellent program.” – Former Representative Susan Pope

"The SuAsCo Council's mission is outreach and education and they do it well. I'm very comfortable sharing SWCAP with my municipal clients and encouraging them to incorporate it into their stormwater plans." - Betsy Frederick, SEA Consultants, Inc.

“Contracting with SuAsCo has saved us time and money. The SWCAP materials have been very well received by our community. We know we’re meeting the Phase II outreach requirements, and the heightened public awareness of stormwater is helping us to clean up our watersheds a little more each year.” - Roger Hammond, Grafton Public Works Director

"By utilizing SuAsCo's professional outreach materials, our consulting company is able to focus our efforts on the other four minimum control measures, providing additional services within a municipality’s original contract. This combination better serves our clients’ needs." – Mike Vignale, Beta Group, Inc.

“The U.S. EPA and MA DEP encourage partnership approaches and a watershed perspective in fulfilling the Stormwater Phase II regulations; SWCAP does just that. Both the citizenry and the water resources of a municipality will benefit greatly from use of the SWCAP materials.” - Senator Pamela Resor

Stormwater Community Assistance Program Subscription Prices:

$2,950 if purchasing one year of product
$2,750 each if purchasing any two years of products
$2,650 each if purchasing any three years of products
$2,550 each if purchasing all four years of products
Quantity Discounts are available when several communities order together.
An “a la carte” purchase of items from each year’s product is possible through special arrangement, and is priced accordingly.

For more information about SWCAP, please call:
Nancy Bryant, SuAsCo Watershed Community Council
at 978-461-0735
Spread the word in your community: Stormwater Matters!

STORMWATER PHASE II BACKGROUND

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) began regulating stormwater in 1990 under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program. Stormwater Phase I targeted large urban areas with populations of 100,000 or greater, which included Boston and Worcester.

On December 8, 1999, the Phase II Rule of the NPDES stormwater program was published to expand the program to Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) within urban areas of populations less than 100,000 that were not addressed under the Phase I program. Objectives of the Phase II rule are to reduce the discharge of stormwater pollutants to the maximum extent practicable, to protect water quality, and to satisfy the appropriate water quality requirements of the Clean Water Act. In order for an MS4 to meet these objectives, EPA has defined the following six “minimum control measures” that are to be addressed:

Public Education and Outreach
Public Participation and Involvement
Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination
Construction Site Runoff Control
Post-Construction Runoff Control
Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping for Municipal Operations

The intent is for MS4s to address these six minimum control measures by identifying and implementing the appropriate Best Management Practices (BMPs) that apply to their community. EPA has prepared a “menu” of BMPs to assist with this task. MS4s are to propose the selected BMPs as well as the measurable goals, time frame, and parties responsible to implement the control measures.

EPA issued a general permit for the NPDES Phase II rule that covers all MS4s. The MS4s applied for permit coverage by submitting a Notice of Intent (NOI) in 2003. This NOI identifies the applicable requirements of the general permit and lists the BMPs and stormwater programs that the MS4 will use to meet the six minimum control measures. It is required that all the BMPs and stormwater programs proposed in the NOI be developed and implemented by 2008, at which time a new five-year permit will be issued.

242 of the 351 municipalities in Massachusetts, as well as many public agencies, are now covered under Stormwater Phase I or II. For a complete list of the designated Stormwater Phase II communities, visit the following website: http://www.state.ma.us/dep/brp/stormwtr/stormlis.htm