stormwater

Overview

All CRCOG municipalities grapple with stormwater - from flooding due to intense storms and inadequate or aging drainage infrastructure to water quality impairments caused by a number of factors. Stormwater can impact our water resources, from the Connecticut River and other rivers and streams that drain to Long Island Sound, to lakes, ponds and groundwater. Since aquifers, water resources, and watersheds span boundaries, our communities must work together to improve water quality and reduce negative impacts from stormwater.

CRCOG has several projects and programs related to stormwater and also supports the work of others who are dedicated to preserving water resources. Our work in this area strives to be collaborative - recognizing the commonalities but also unique situations and challenges among our member cities and towns. We strive to promote innovative approaches through collaboration with technical experts and by monitoring new and promising programmatic and technical approaches to stormwater.

This page provides information about CRCOG's projects and programs related to sustainable stormwater management, along with resources that municipalities and interested residents may find useful.

Green Infrastructure
MS4
Stormwater Utility/Authority
Resources

Green Infrastructure

What is green infrastructure? What is Low Impact Development (LID)? Are they the same thing? Many communities are trying to understand these terms as they modernize their approaches to managing stormwater. Further complicating simple definitions is the fact that these meanings have evolved over time. Additionally, various Federal and State agencies use their own terms and definitions for green infrastructure (e.g., "natural infrastructure", "nature-based solutions", etc.) In 2019, Congress adopted the following definition of green infrastructure:

"the range of measures that use plant or soil systems, permeable pavement or other permeable surfaces or substrates, stormwater harvest and reuse, or landscaping to store, infiltrate, or evapotranspirate stormwater and reduce flows to sewer systems or to surface waters." 

Green infrastructure and LID center on the basic premise of managing stormwater in ways that mimic natural systems. Green infrastructure might include deploying bioretention areas, rain gardens, constructed wetlands, dry detention basins, floodable fields, bioswales, infiltration trenches, porous/ pervious pavement, and underground infiltration systems.

Implementing green infrastructure moves beyond past practices to pipe stormwater and send it "away". This approach represents a shift in thinking about "water as waste" to "water as a resource".

MS4

Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems - called "MS4" - are municipal drainage systems that collect stormwater. The stormwater might be directed to a pipe that empties into a river or stream, to a facility meant to collect water (such as a retention basin), or the stormwater might infiltrate into the ground. Stormwater runoff can pick up pollutants from paved surfaces and other sources (called "non-point pollution") and contaminate water resources when it is piped or conveyed directly to rivers, streams, and ponds. Stormwater can impact water quality within the CRCOG region and ultimately Long Island Sound.

There are programs aimed at reducing the impact of stormwater on water quality. The federal Clean Water Act established the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems (NPDES), which authorizes states to carry out various permitting programs for clean water. Under this program, the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) issued a "General Permit for the Discharge of Stormwater from Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems", or MS4 General Permit.  Not all municipalities are subject to MS4 requirements. As of August 2024, DEEP is updating the MS4 General Permit. It is possible that additional communities will be subject to the permit.

The MS4 General Permit requires municipalities to address 6 components (click on each to review resources provided by UConn CLEAR):

  1. Public Education and Outreach
  2. Public Involvement and Participation
  3. Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE)
  4. Construction Site Stormwater Runoff
  5. Post-Construction Stormwater Management
  6. Pollution Prevention and Good Housekeeping

Each MS4 municipality must also adopt a Stormwater Management Plan and file an Annual Report on progress with DEEP. Here are links to those plans and reports for MS4 municipalities in the CROCG Region:

Did you know?

The Capitol Regional Purchasing Council provides regional procurement opportunities for some MS4 requirements? Check out Stormwater Monitoring Services and Catch Basin Cleaning Services.

Learn More

Stormwater Utility / Authority

Municipalities in the region generally lack a consistent funding source to implement stormwater management projects, despite increasing need and mandates to improve water quality. In 2021, the State enacted legislation allowing Connecticut municipalities to create a "Stormwater Utility" (stormwater authority). A stormwater utility establishes a fee structure to attribute the costs of managing stormwater infrastructure more fairly to individual properties connected to a municipal system. It provides a dedicated and consistent source of funding. There are over 2,000 stormwater utilities around the country, and, thus far, only two in Connecticut (New Britain and New London).

CRCOG has been awarded funding through the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's Climate Resilience Fund to conduct a Capitol Region Stormwater Authority Feasibility Study. This study will help CRCOG and its member municipalities determine the feasibility of taking a regional approach to financing stormwater infrastructure. CRCOG expects to begin this project this fall. Check back for details. 

Resources

Green Infrastructure and General Stormwater Quality

CRCOG Resources:

Resources by Others:

 

Stormwater Utilities

Questions?

Contact Heidi Samokar or 860-724-4282.