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Champaign County committee approves annual MS4 stormwater inspection report, notes limits of county authority
Summary
The Environment & Land Use Committee approved the county’s annual NPDES MS4 municipal stormwater inspection report, discussed environmental‑justice mapping and noted that most identified stormwater problems are on local streets the county does not maintain.
The Champaign County Board Environment and Land Use Committee on Thursday approved the annual facility inspection report for the county’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
John Hall, staff member, told the committee the department completed the county’s stormwater survey for the past year and submitted results in the packet. Hall said most of the stormwater issues identified are on local streets, not county highways, and therefore fall outside the county’s direct maintenance authority. “We couldn’t do anything about these stormwater issues if we wanted to because they’re not our streets,” Hall said.
Hall said the county’s approach to environmental‑justice mapping for the MS4 was noted favorably during an IEPA audit and that staff will work with the Regional Planning Commission and RPC staffer Gabe Lewis to make next year’s maps easier to read on the street network. Committee members also discussed adding an MS4 overlay to the local GIS consortium so the public can view the county’s MS4 boundary.
Chris (committee member) moved approval of the annual facility inspection report; Storrs seconded. The motion carried without objection.
Why it matters: the MS4 report documents the county’s stormwater activities required under the IEPA NPDES permit. Committee members said improving maps and public GIS layers will help residents and local jurisdictions understand where stormwater problems are located and which entities have responsibility for on‑the‑ground repairs.
Next steps: staff will work with the RPC to improve map readability for next year’s report and will pursue adding the MS4 boundary as a GIS layer for public access.
