Iowa Council Approves New Storm Water Law

The final storm water discharge ordinance adopted by Sioux City, Iowa lawmakers incorporates several suggestions made by the Master Builders' Institute.

Last week, the council delayed a final vote on the ordinance in order to give city staff time to meet with representatives of the builders to go over the proposals.

"They made some comments and we were able to incorporate some of the changes into the ordinance," Aaron Kraft, environmental services manager, said.

The ordinance beefs up the city's authority to crack down on the illegal dumping of contaminants into the city's storm sewers. This ordinance was modeled on 18 other cities' laws.

The council must enact the new rules in order to remain in compliance with the storm water permit granted by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The ordinance prohibits the dumping of anything other than storm water, snow melt and surface run-off down the storm sewers unless a permit has been issued for another discharge.

For example, Kraft said, the ordinance will ban dumping gasoline into the storm sewers and even mud that is washed into the sewers during a construction project.

The IDNR issues a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit, which the city has. The state requires cities to adopt programs to identify and eliminate "illicit discharges," information on the annual dry weather flow inspections, sampling and analyses of dry weather flows and procedures for disconnecting illicit connections.

The city must keep inspection records and measures taken to identify and eliminate the sources of any other flows.

An attorney for the Master Builders' Institute pointed out that some of the language contained in the proposed ordinance gave the city more powers than those required by the state and suggested they be more in line with state regulations.

Source: SCD