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City reports progress on MS4 stormwater permit; DNR scales enforcement to one-year compliance monitoring
Summary
City staff told the council the city has implemented stormwater code changes, expanded tracking and outreach, and addressed DNR audit findings; the Missouri DNR reduced a potential abatement to one year of compliance monitoring with quarterly reports.
City staff provided the Washington City Council an annual update on the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permit on March 3, reporting revisions to local stormwater codes, new public information and tracking tools, and follow-up after a Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) audit.
Charles (city staff) said the city has been in an enforcement case with DNR since 2022 and has taken multiple steps to improve compliance, including revising stormwater codes (adopted May 2024), creating a stormwater webpage, and implementing a permit portal that lets contractors upload grading and inspection documentation.
Charles said DNR visited in November for a daylong audit of paperwork and field work and issued a list of unsatisfactory findings, many related to record-keeping and tracking of public education and construction inspections. City staff responded and corrected procedural gaps. As a result, DNR has "scaled back" enforcement and will require one year of quarterly compliance monitoring rather than moving forward with a formal abatement that could have included monetary penalties, Charles said.
City staff described other program improvements: more city inspections of land-disturbing activity, an expanded Earth Day/Arbor Day outreach effort that included Washington High School students, and a social-media outreach program ("Stormwater Wise Wednesday") that will decrease from weekly to twice monthly. The city has also identified priority areas for illicit-discharge mapping and is creating records and maintenance procedures for post-construction water-quality facilities.
Planned work this year includes a bioretention retrofit project, new signage and education materials, infiltration trenches at the riverfront parking lot, and a March 14 training session for developers on the new post-construction water-quality requirements. The Earth Day event will take place at the riverfront in April, staff said.
Councilmember Coulter asked who polices mud on East Fifth Street from new subdivision construction; Charles said the city is policing those sites daily and that the contractor (ELS) has been responsive when notified. Charles said staff will continue to follow up on high-profile sites and call-driven reports.
Charles said one finding at the public works shed involved an open container with a potential to leak; staff cleaned and changed procedures to prevent recurrence. DNR noted the city has made significant improvements overall, Charles said, and the one-year monitoring period will end the enforcement case if quarterly reports show continued progress.
