Town of East Hampton

Stromwater Program

In the spring of 2009 the Town of East Hampton was notified by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) that the Town would be covered under what is called an MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and administered by NYSDEC. The reason for the Town to be included in this permit is due to the fact that a few of our waterbodies, Accabonac Harbor, Lake Montauk and Northwest Creek, have surpassed their TMDL (total maximum daily load) levels of pathogens.

Over a 3-year period, following notification of coverage, the Town is required to implement a stormwater management program (SWMP) to satisfy the appropriate water quality requirements of the Environmental Conservation Law and Clean Water Act.

Development within the Town increases the amount of impervious surfaces, which leads to an increase in runoff and runoff borne pollutants. These pollutants are deposited from the atmosphere, leaked from vehicles or are windblown from adjacent areas. During storm events these pollutants quickly wash off and are rapidly delivered to downstream waters or stormdrains.  The Pollutants of Concern (POC) entering our waterbodies are pathogens; these are found in pet and other animal waste along with failing septic systems and other waste storage facilities.  Other pollutants that are not addressed in this permit, but which are detrimental to the environment are suspended solids, trace heavy metals, hydrocarbons (oil and grease), nutrients (phosphorous and nitrogen), pesticides and chlorides (road salt).

The MS4 Permit requires the Town to develop, implement and enforce a stormwater management program to reduce the discharge of pollutants from the permit area to the maximum extent practicable to protect water quality.

The Town is required to provide an Annual Report to NYSDEC summarizing progress made on reaching the goals of the permit in six minimum measure areas. The six areas are:

•  Public Education and Outreach
•  Public Involvement and Participation
•  Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination
•  Construction Site Stormwater Runoff Control
•  Post - Construction Stormwater Management
•  Pollution Prevention / Good Housekeeping for Municipal Operations

The Town will revise the Design & Construction Standards for Land Development to include the requirements of the NYSDEC Phase II Stormwater Management Program. This document can be found elsewhere on the Town website.

The Town will implement Local Laws to comply with the NYSDEC requirements, which can be found in the Town Code. The Town Code is available on the Town Website.

Explanation of the permit's requirements:

This new regulation is an unfunded mandate; this puts the financially strapped Town in a difficult position. 

The first two Minimum Control Measures (MCM's) deal with education and involvement with the public, this requires the Town to create brochures, hold meetings and suggest other methods to create public awareness.  The Town will establish a contact person and create and maintain a website to keep the public up to date with the development and eventually improvements of its Storm Water Management Program (SWMP) plan. 

Requirements for MCM 3 will be a costly undertaking; this measure is directed at identifying and eliminating Illicit Discharges throughout the Town.  This would be accomplished by inventorying all outfalls (culverts or drains directing concentrated flow) that discharge into State waters (State waters are defined as any surface water in the Town's jurisdiction).  All the conveyance systems (defined as pipes and stormdrains) that lead to these outfalls also have to be inventoried.  To perform this task the hiring of new personnel and equipment will be required.  After this has been established, discharges reported by any Town worker or member of the public would be able to be traced back to its source and remedied.  To make this program most effective it is a requirement to educate all Town employees and the public on the importance of identifying these problems and how they affect the environment.

For the following MCM's 4 and 5 the Town is required to develop, implement a review and enforcement program for construction and post construction activities that disturbs an acre or greater.  This program will entail hiring new personnel and corresponding vehicles and equipment.  It will also necessitate educating Town Building and Code personnel to review and inspect new and ongoing applications.

The final MCM, 6, requires retrofits made to our stormsewer system, this will include, but are not limited to; detention ponds, filtration systems and other leaching systems, which will restrict or eliminate pathogens entering State waters.  It also requires the Town to record all maintenance of roads and vehicles and to develop a strategy for improvement that will be reviewed annually for its effectiveness.

All though these new requirements are a great way to improve Town water quality, it will take a large budget and staff to do it properly.  If the Town is not within compliance with this new permit the Town is liable for fines up to $37,500 per incident, per day.  These fines are a good incentive to develop our plan in a timely manner.  The Town is in the process of pursuing grant funding to help with this great burden.

For all questions and comments please email: MS4@town.east-hampton.ny.us