Stormwater Best Management Practices Essay

United States

The emergence and development of the stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) and Low Impact Development (LID) in the United States has closely associated with the regulatory history of water quality control, especially the Clean Water Act (CWA). Ever since the Industrial Revolution in the mid-19th century, water pollution has become a serious issue in the United States. But it was not until 1948, Congress passed the first major law to address water pollution, which was the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.

Unfortunately, with limited enforcement power, the act has done little to combat environmental degradation. Factories were still dumping untreated industrial chemical waste directly into rivers, and the rapidly increased urbanization intensified water pollution with untreated sewage. On June 22, 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio caught on fire because the water surface was covered with oil-soaked debris and flammable chemicals. The burning river also lit up a green fire spreading over the entire nation. The Modern Environmental Movement in the 1960s – 1970s with special concerns in air and water qualities

As a result, Congress added section 402(p) to the CWA in 1987, requiring the U.S. EPA to address stormwater pollution through a two-phase approach. Phase I began in 1990, which required NPDES permits from the following two categories: 1) municipal separate storm sweater systems (MS4) serving a population of over 100,000 and 2) industrial facilities including construction sites disturbing five acres of land or more. Phase II regulation, started in 1999, further expanded the coverage of permittees to all urbanized areas defined by Census Bureau and construction sites of one acre or