Pretreatment and MS4 reports say violations were few and outreach increased; permit fees expected to rise

The City of Bloomington Utilities subcommittee reported on two environmental programs during the March 9 meeting: the pretreatment program annual review and the 'State of the Storm 2026' stormwater update.

The pretreatment program presentation, summarized by a subcommittee member, noted CBU is one of 47 municipalities in the state designated as a control agent under the Clean Water Act framework and therefore has authority over pretreatment enforcement, local limits and oversight of significant industrial users. The report said there were few violations in the past year and that recorded violations were promptly corrected.

The State of the Storm 2026 report, presented by Liz Carter (as summarized in the subcommittee report), highlighted 21 outreach events in 2025 involving community education with IU and schools, enforcement activity related to construction-site discharges (pre- and post-construction) and goals for improving post-construction enforcement in 2026. The subcommittee report said CBU collected about $10,000 in permit fees in 2025 from nine permits and that in the first two months of 2026 staff have processed roughly 25–30 permits, indicating permit-fee revenue should increase this year.

Why it matters: Pretreatment and MS4 programs are part of CBU's compliance and pollution-prevention efforts; increased permit activity can signal more development activity and higher revenue for program administration.

Next steps: Staff will continue enforcement, outreach and program improvements as described in the reports.