The US EPA mandated Storm Water Management Program traces its roots back to the formation on the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972. The amended, and renamed, Clean Water Act of 1977 gave birth to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). This permit system is used to control water quality, originally through municipal and industrial wastewater discharges and sludge disposal practices.
In 1990, Phase I of the EPA’s storm water program was promulgated. This program relied on NPDES permit coverage to regulate storm water runoff from medium and large municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4), generally any municipality over 100,000 people.
The Storm Water Phase II Final Rule, promulgated in 1999, is the second step at combating municipal storm water discharge. The Phase II program regulates additional MS4 operations that are located within urbanized areas, as defined by the United States Census Bureau.
The NPDES Storm Water Phase II permit program is administered by the Ohio EPA. Designated MS4s within the State of Ohio were required to submit to Ohio EPA for Phase II permit coverage by May 1, 2007. The City of Middletown has developed a Storm Water Management Plan (PDF) which has been approved by the Ohio EPA.
The City of Middletown’s Storm Water Management Program is administered by the Public Works Department, in cooperation with each of the City’s service and safety departments, as well as the parks and recreation, and building departments.