Bartow County Engineering Department

The Stormwater Management Program

In 2003, Bartow County responded to an environmental mandate from Georgia's Environmental Protection Division to develop a comprehensive stormwater management program to protect water quality in the state’s waterways. This mandated program was necessary to comply with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Stormwater Phase II Permit regulations of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

It is the mission of the Bartow County Stormwater Management Program to:

• protect the health and safety of both the public and the ecosystem;

• address both stormwater quality and stormwater quantity concerns, and

• meet or exceed Federal and state mandates regarding stormwater.

What is Stormwater Management?

Stormwater is the runoff that comes from parking lots and rooftops and flows into our storm drains and streams carrying silt, debris, fertilizer and other pollutants with it.  Since stormwater runoff is untreated, pollutants end up in our lakes and other water resources.  In addition to adding pollutants to stormwater, urban development increases the amount and velocity of runoff that occurs, so that downstream properties are flooded, channels and streams become eroded over time, and natural beauty and habitat are lost.

In the past, urban drainage systems were developed to address only one concern—to carry runoff from a major storm safely through the area being developed.  Little attention was given to downstream impacts on flooding, water quality or maintenance.

Stormwater management is an approach that integrates all aspects of stormwater runoff to protect the environment and provide the highest quality of life for current and future generations.  Stormwater is managed by integrating it into all phases of development, beginning with conceptual layout and grading and continuing through provisions for long-term maintenance; and by retaining natural features and adding special controls that filter out pollutants and limit changes in runoff that cause downstream erosion and flooding.

Stormwater management is also a new approach for developing capital improvement programs to address existing stormwater problems in the community to reduce flood levels downstream and in a manner that reduces pollution and erosion.

Stormwater management also affects the operation and maintenance of the drainage system.   The stormwater system must be carefully inventoried and condition assessments must be made on a regular basis; minor changes to the system must be done to allow regular maintenance of control features that are sensitive to blockage and erosion; failures must be identified promptly and repaired while they are relatively simple to fix; and vegetation must be managed in an effective manner so that pollutants are filtered out and channel banks are not eroded.

A major part of an effective stormwater management program is monitoring streams and regulating discharges into streams to identify any pollution or water quality issues.

Finally, the public must be an active partner in stormwater management. Public outreach and education programs are essential to gain support for County programs and assistance in pollution prevention and control.

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