What is Stormwater Management?

Stormwater Management facilities are man-made structures that help reduce flooding, slow water run-off flows, and clean pollutants from this run-off using individual Best Management Practices (BMPs).

Generally, all new construction and redevelopment sites are required to be constructed to provide stormwater controls that address run-off volumes and velocities and in turn pollutant loads associated with the increase in the property impervious surface. These impervious surfaces include parking lots and the rooftops. In some cases, these BMP stormwater controls are referred to as Stormwater Quality Facilities (SCF) depending on your regional jargon.

As part of these planning requirements SCFs, or BMPs must also be properly maintained and regularly inspected to ensure they continue to perform to specification. In most cases, municipal personnel will inspect your BMPs to ensure you are inspecting and maintaining them to specifications. The municipality must do this as they are audited by the state to confirm the municipality are enforcing post-construction regulations which the EPA has prescribed as mandatory in all U.S. States and regions.

In fact, legislation has strengthened for the EPAs mandated Post Construction Stormwater Management Guidance thereby making due diligence compliance more critical than ever. It may be helpful to provided additional on-site signage near these BMPs to serve as a reminder for facility and staff and demonstrate to government inspectors your maintenance diligence.

Why do you need Stormwater Management?

Facility owners are responsible for the care and management of these BMPs, which include their regular inspections and subsequent reporting. Just a few years of mismanagement or neglect of BMPs with native planting and underdrain designs can cause complete failure and require major remediation. For this reason, it is very important to ensure that your stormwater management facilities are functioning properly.

It is common for stormwater systems to fail or degrade in critical areas, even following recent construction as a result of design or construction flaws. Many facility managers, or owners are not familiar with the structural components of their stormwater BMPs and how to detect whether or not these BMPs are functioning properly. It can be confusing to understand what the maintenance obligations of the stormwater management facilities are, as these responsibilities can be unique between states and regional localities and individually designed facilities.

What is an (O&M) and why is it important?

Water quality facilities must be routinely inspected and maintained to ensure functionality. Each water quality facility constructed should have an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Site Plan. Having a management plan that includes annual stormwater inspections will provide owners and managers with the valuable information they need to put together long-term maintenance budgets.

Why are Inspections Important?

All stormwater mangement facilities require periodic inspections and maintenance. The first step is to identify all of the facilities and to delineate the maintenance responsibilities for each of them. Even if a facility appears to be in good condition, it should still be professionally inspected on an annual basis at a minimum. This is to ensure that there are no hidden deficiencies, and maintenance activities should be performed proactively instead of reactively.

Our stormwater service team can provide the annual inspection, reporting, and work with you to create a plan within your budget. It is much more cost effective to catch any deficiencies early rather than having to perform costly remediation repairs when the problems become severe.

What are Swales, Detention Ponds, and Rain Gardens?

These systems are planted depressions that allow stormwater runoff the opportunity to be absorbed by plants and soils or be conveyed to other downstream discharge systems. Ponds, swales, and gardens are designed to infiltrate stormwater back into the ground near the site it drained off of. Landscape maintenance is needed to promote longevity. When excess sediment has built up it must be excavated and replanted.

What is Underground Stormwater Detention?

Underground stormwater detention systems are plastic, metal, or concrete chambers designed to store stormwater runoff. This system may infiltrate stores water back into the ground or have a restricted or metered release downstream. Annual inspections may be required. Contact us to ensure your system works properly and is functioning within compliance standards.

What is the QR Code Medallion Due Diligence Service?

HANTHO will place QR code medallions on your stormwater assets out in the field as a permanent fixture to offer real time, on-site inventory of all actions, costs, inspections, maintenance, and repairs. This QR code will provide immediate access to AS BUILT plans, and up-to-date revisions. It will highlight warranty timelines and target concerns for corrective actions before costs increase, such as, poor designs, potentially improper installations and follow up corrections.

This system can also be integrated for your reporting needs such as, municipal reporting, industrial permit requirements and even integrate information directly into your organization ESG reporting. No other company offers this level of oversight.