Township receives MS4 permit; staff outlines a shift toward volume‑management approach

Ferguson Township officials told the board they received the township’s new MS4 stormwater permit and outlined how compliance will look through the next permit term.

Adam Wallace delivered the annual municipal separate storm sewer (MS4) presentation and walked supervisors through program scope, the six minimum control measures (public outreach; illicit discharge detection; construction stormwater; post‑construction stormwater management; good housekeeping; and public involvement), mapping updates and inventories of structural control measures. Wallace told the board the new five‑year permit was issued and will run to 2031 for this term.

Wallace said the state is moving from earlier concentration‑based targets and a PRP model toward what staff described as a volume‑management plan: longer‑term objectives to treat 80 to 100 percent of untreated impervious area over multiple permit cycles and new record‑keeping requirements for credits. He said municipalities with older development patterns may face different retrofit demands, while towns with significant existing stormwater treatment can earn credits by documenting prior and new projects.

Supervisors asked how the program’s many compliance tasks translate into measurable environmental outcomes. Board members urged staff to emphasize results in future reporting — for example, the environmental benefits realized from a 10 percent sediment reduction — rather than only process metrics. Staff said they plan to use the five‑year term to inventory structural controls, identify candidate retrofit projects (including Beaver Branch stream restoration and other PRP projects) and to track projects that can generate permit credits.

No formal action was required; supervisors reserved additional technical and budget questions for a future agenda item.