County receives detailed update on stormwater district and MS4 permit requirements

Portage County commissioners heard a multi-agency briefing on the county's stormwater district and compliance with the NPDES Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit, including public education, illicit-discharge detection, construction and post-construction controls, and municipal good-housekeeping measures.

Consultant James Akins (EMH&T) and county and partner staff walked the board through the history of stormwater regulation, the structure of the MS4 permit cycle, and the six minimum control measures (MCMs) the county must implement. Presenters from the soil-and-water and health departments described ongoing work under those MCMs and provided quantitative results from local programs.

Why it matters: the MS4 program is a federal permit requirement that governs stormwater discharges from the county's separate storm sewer system and drives inspection, engineering, education, and—crucially—funding and staffing needs. County staff said the program addresses pollutants that reach waterways through storm drains and that maintaining permit compliance requires ongoing coordination among several county and partner agencies.

Presentations summarized each EPA-required MCM and local implementation: public education and outreach (MCM 1), public involvement (MCM 2), illicit-discharge detection and elimination (MCM 3), construction site runoff control (MCM 4), post-construction stormwater management (MCM 5), and pollution prevention/good housekeeping for municipal operations (MCM 6). The speakers emphasized tools and recent work: a "cheat sheet" of stormwater terms for commissioners, the SWIPTrack digital inspection app, an active program of construction-site and post-construction inspections, and quarterly inspections and training for maintenance facilities.

Speakers also reviewed the county's septic assistance and replacement programs. The health department and regional planning staff said income-based grants and county loan programs have supported homeowners with failing on-site sewage systems; presenters reported that, since the program began, about 1,600 homes have been helped and that eliminated failing systems remove an estimated 630,000 gallons of untreated wastewater annually. The health department further cited pollutant reductions attributed to repairs, listing figures presented to the board: roughly 138,000 pounds of total suspended solids removed, 30,000 pounds of phosphorus, 76,000 pounds of nitrogen, and 58,000 pounds of ammonia (numbers as presented by staff).

Public-education examples included a Climate Smart Landscaping workshop funded in part by a Western Reserve Land Conservancy grant that distributed more than 300 plants, and a large tree-planting event that planted over 700 trees at Dix Park with local partners. Soil-and-water staff said these outreach efforts target motivated audiences such as gardeners, hunters and anglers, and master gardeners to increase adoption of BMPs that slow runoff, increase infiltration and storage, and reduce chemical inputs.

Construction and post-construction compliance activity in 2024 included nearly 160 sediment/erosion control site inspections across 18 construction sites. Staff described adding a SWIPTrack post-construction inspection module in 2025 and maintaining about 25 subdivisions' stormwater facilities the county oversees in unincorporated areas. Presenters noted the county administers a stormwater district (established by resolution in 2009) that covers unincorporated territory and funds program costs; monies are limited to management, operation and maintenance of the district and not for unrelated capital projects.

County staff closed by saying the overall system is "in really good shape" while identifying areas for improvement: proposed bylaw revisions, reorganization of steering/task groups and potential new contracts to handle inspection and implementation workload. Staff said they will return with specific bylaw and contracting proposals over the coming months.