Stormwater Management

Stormwater Management is part of Public Works Engineering. The Stormwater Management section implements and manages the City’s NPDES Municipal Stormwater Permit which includes the following programs and projects: 

  • Stormwater Planning
  • Public Education and Outreach
  • Public Involvement and Participation
  • MS4 Mapping and Documentation
  • Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE)
  • Controlling Runoff from New Development, Redevelopment, and Construction Sites
  • Operations and Maintenance
  • Source Control Program for Existing Development
  • Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) for Impaired Waterbodies
  • Design and Construction of Stormwater Capital projects

Why Do We Manage Stormwater?

Let's reflect on what stormwater runoff is, where it comes from, and where it goes. Stormwater runoff includes rain, and water runoff from your lawns, rooftops, sidewalks, roadways, and other impervious surfaces. Stormwater runoff flows through our stormwater system of drains, pipes, and ditches – in some cases untreated - into our streams, rivers, and lakes. Stormwater carries with it pollution such as oil, chemicals, fertilizers, and other pollutants it collects along the way.
 
How do we do our part to stop this residential stormwater pollution (which is the source of nearly 75% of the 140,000 pounds of toxins entering Puget Sound each day)? Green Stormwater Infrastructure - aka Low Impact Development (LID) is the implementation of techniques and structures that allow the on-site treatment and infiltration of stormwater - helping to retain a developed site's natural hydrology the was present before development.

Stormwater Management Action Planning

 

The Phase 2 Municipal Stormwater Permit S5.C.1(d) is requiring the City of Puyallup to go through a ‘Stormwater Management Planning’ process. 

 

The first steps of this permit requirement is as follows:

Step 1: 

  • Complete a receiving water assessment which documents and assesses existing information related to the local receiving waters and contributing area conditions to identify which receiving waters are most likely to benefit from stormwater management planning.  This has been completed.   

Step 2:

  • Complete a receiving water prioritization informed by the assessment and other local and regional information.  We are to determine which receiving waters will receive the most benefit from stormwater facility retrofits.  We are currently working on this phase.  

 

A PowerPoint presentation summarizing the process so far, and our prioritization preliminary results can be found HERE.  If you have input or questions regarding the assessment and prioritization, please feel free to contact Paul Marrinan.

 

Future Steps:

  • There will be future phases of work associated with the planning process as outlined in the Ecology Phase 2 permit.  
  • Among other steps, we will have to identify retrofits.  The retrofits and actions shall be designed to: 
    • 1) conserve, protect, or restore receiving waters through stormwater and land management strategies that act as water quality management tools, 
    • 2) reduce pollutant loading, and 
    • 3) address hydrologic impacts from existing development as well as planned for and expected future buildout conditions.  

There are not mechanisms to require these retrofits to be installed with the city’s current permit, but we expect the implementation will be required in later permit updates/versions.  

  1. Report A Spill

To report a spill or illicit discharge into a catch basin or other area of the stormwater system, please call (253)770-3336. Learn more about how to report a spill.

  1. NPDES Program
  1. Water Quality & Flood Control
  1. Current Stormwater Projects