West Valley also utilizes an oil-absorbent, hydrophobic boom on the structure. “The Snout stops oil, and it stops all floating debris from going down, but if we get too big of a storm or get water churning, it could actually wash some of that oil back out,” Robinson says. “We use these booms that absorb the oil, so there’s nothing to carry on through. It’s been very successful for us.”According to Robinson, a lot of businesses do not maintain their systems the way they should. The city’s stormwater utility inspects the systems twice a year and cites businesses that are not properly maintaining them.“To get their stormwater permit, they have to send in a postconstruction management plan that tells us how they are going to keep their parking lot swept, plus other details,” Robinson explains. “To get a reduction in any of their fees for the stormwater utility, they have to submit that. We do a routine inspection to make sure they are doing the things they say they are going to do.”The city has an extensive street-sweeping program, whereby all of the major city streets are swept at least two times a month and all of the subdivision streets are swept once a month. “During snow season, when we are putting a lot of salt down, we step that up a bit,” Robinson notes. The city is in the process of updating its system to include global positioning systems and inventory systems to keep track of the frequency of its maintenance. The city also has several sedimentation basins that stormwater workers drive into to clean.Rounding out the stormwater program is a created wetlands, for which plant life will be used to rid the water of bacteria. Buildings will be erected to enable schoolchildren and other residents to visit and study wildlife. In juggling all of the different types of systems and the services they require, the city has a scheduled maintenance program. Robinson says there are two inspectors dedicated to operating underground closed-circuit television cameras to determine that stormwater structures are clean and there are no illicit discharges.Three vacuum-truck crews clean catch basins in an ongoing fashion. BMPs not maintained by the city are inspected, and the city either issues citations or works with property owners to do the maintenance.
In southern Florida, Allstate Resource Management has contracts to annually maintain and repair catch basins for homeowners’ associations. Its reports are sent to local government entities requiring the work to be done, says Allstate’s Jennifer Bustos Fitz. A final inspection by a certified engineer includes a visual inspection of all outfalls, grates, stormwater manhole covers, weirs, baffles, manholes, and catch basins. If an engineer concludes that an inspection of underground culvert pipes is warranted, that also is conducted. The company maintains that proper budgeting enables water control districts to properly maintain systems in an affordable fashion. The company also stresses that, since south Florida is a region where seasonal rains fall over flat lands that offer little drainage, it is imperative that ongoing maintenance of drainage systems is performed for flood prevention and compliance. Allstate advises its clients to ensure that the systems are cleaned before the rainy season begins, but the schedule depends on the budget of the homeowners’ associations, Bustos Fitz points out. “[Matter] builds up over the years; there’s not really one instance that makes it clog,” she says. “It’s normally a buildup over time. I do notice most of the calls we have for stormwater cleaning generally come during the rainy season when they realize they haven’t cleaned it in three years, and now their parking lot is flooded. But other than that, there is no really seasonal variation.”Bustos Fitz notes that if homeowners’ associations are seeing to it that the systems are maintained annually, rain events, such as the heavy ones that often grace southern Florida during the summer, should not cause exceptional problems requiring additional maintenance. Maintaining the BMPs is relatively inexpensive compared to ignoring the issue. For instance, one of Allstate’s clients pays $750/yr. for an annual cleaning of three catch basins. Four to six employees are dedicated to maintenance of stormwater BMPs. In executing its work, Allstate uses vacuum trucks to jet out the lines and clean debris in the catch basins. “Sometimes you’ll have to reinstall the baffles because they’ve fallen off or replace them if for some unknown reason they are not there,” Bustos Fitz says. “After it’s cleaned out, there may be some head walls that need to be repaired, which can be anything from cement work to back-sealing with soil in eroded areas. We also notify the homeowners’ associations if they have anything that needs to be repaired.”Allstate Resource Management provides a list of features of a properly maintained stormwater drainage system:Catch-basin grates, stormwater manhole covers, and outfalls are clear of obstructions. Catch basins are free of mud, debris, silt, and pollutants.There are no indications of a drainage system failure, such as sunken pavement.There are no deteriorated head walls or broken gates.Weirs and internal baffles are in place and in proper working condition.Swales and retention and detention areas have not been modified.In southern Florida, the material vacuumed out of the catch basins – mostly sand, silt, and leaves – is not considered hazardous waste but rather is considered biodegradable matter and is taken to a landfill, says Bustos Fitz. Although her company doesn’t deal with mosquito issues, it has initiated procedures to test water for different types of pollutants. “The only reason we started getting into that is because it is what the homeowners were interested in,” Bustos Fitz explains. “It’s necessity-based. We take a water sample to a certified lab and ask them to check for nutrients and petroleum, such as oil and gas. To date, we haven’t found seriously significant pollutants.”Allstate sometimes encounters catch basins that haven’t been cleaned for years. “It messes up the entire system because in most cases it will cause flooding,” Bustos Fitz reports. “There might not be too much flooding, but you can see that it’s very slow for water to come down. It causes wear and tear on the grass from being flooded out.”When cities are going to be proactive and put in BMPs, Lewis suggests that they follow it up with a maintenance program in accordance with the manufacturer’s requirements. “Right now the biggest fallacy is the follow-up I see from agencies, cities, and municipalities in the enforcement of maintenance of the BMPs they require to go in on new construction,” Lewis continues. “They are not requiring follow-up maintenance. I’ve had numerous environmental groups say they see our devices out there, and they are full because they are not on a maintenance program, but right now we have no authority to push a maintenance program down anybody’s throat. All we can do is follow up with where the device went in, send the information out, make follow-up phone calls, and keep our fingers crossed. It’s really up to the cities, the municipalities, the agencies, and the state water board to push a little harder on that.”“I think cities need to institute programs with the manufacturers. If I put a device in your city and then I try to enter into a strip mall contract to maintain those filters, I think the city should have a program where I notify them that it’s been 30 days since the owner or management of that mall has received notification to enter into a maintenance contract,” he says. “Cities need to step up to the plate and tell companies that they require these devices to be put in and that they require them to maintain them and keep records. EPA’s Clean Water Act requires records to be maintained. Lewis concludes that the most promising BMP is the people factor: “Educated people. I see the debris every day on the road when I’m out on storm drains. The way people just throw things on the ground – the cigarette butts – it just goes on and on.”
