Decision Points : Storm Water Drainage Utility

Happy Storm Water New Year!

Will Hampton — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 16:30:00 GMT

On Aug. 13, the City of Round Rock staff celebrates “Storm Water New Year” as we reach the end of another storm water permit year. Our mandatory permit requires the City to maintain and hopefully improve water quality in our creeks and waterways. Each we are required to report our accomplishments to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).

This year is particularly significant as we reach the end of our five-year permit term which requires full implementation of the Best Management Practices and accomplishment of goals listed in the permit (PDF).

We are proud to say that we completed all of the permit requirements but we realize there is still much work to do. The 2012 City Survey (PDF) revealed 43.5 percent of Round Rock citizens are “Very Satisfied” or “Satisfied” with the “City storm water education and outreach efforts.” However, it also revealed there is another 10.4 percent who expect more. Our own (non-statistical) storm water awareness survey demonstrated that approximately one-third of respondents do NOT know our storm inlets drain directly to creeks. What!?! That is right – we have a ‘storm drain’ system that drains directly to creeks without filtration or treatment.

Round Rock grew 20 percent and gained more than 17,000 residents in the last permit term (2007-2012). Many of our new residents are from older areas of the country where storm “sewers” combine with wastewater flows and pass through a treatment plant. They do not realize that if they throw their cigarette butt into the inlet, blow their grass clippings into the street or fail to properly pick up after a pet … the next rains will carry all of this into our creeks. Yuck!

Look for more information and outreach from the Round Rock Storm Water team as we work toward increasing residents’ understanding of how they can help improve the water quality in our creeks. In the meantime, please visit storm water on the city website for more information.

Did you know that 58 percent of Texas waters are impaired?

Will Hampton — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:15:00 GMT

It is estimated that up to 90 percent of those impairments are due to polluted storm water. Storm Water is the result of rain runoff and even snowmelt that travels across roofs, yards, parking lots and streets and into our creeks and waterways.

We are currently conducting a survey to gauge residents’ knowledge and perceptions about storm water so that we can tailor future outreach and pollution prevention efforts. The survey is available through April at http://www.roundrocktexas.gov/survey.

In 2007, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) began requiring urbanized areas to create a Storm Water Management Program to maintain and improve local water quality. TCEQ required cities to create a plan and obtain a permit to ensure compliance with EPA regulations and the Clean Water Act.

The Storm Water Management Plan addresses several TCEQ mandated elements:

Public Education and Outreach
Public Participation
Illicit Discharge Detection
Construction and Post Construction Storm Water Management
Pollution Prevention

Please help us by providing your feedback as we strive for a storm water program that is effective, efficient and meaningful to the citizens of Round Rock.

EPA mandates, fiscal responsibility drive storm water utility consideration

Will Hampton — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 21:58:00 GMT

The City of Round Rock is facing ever increasing demands for effectively managing storm water runoff due to land development and increased federal and state regulations. Our extensive drainage system requires consistent, dedicated funding to ensure regulatory compliance, environmental preservation and – most importantly – protection of life and property from flood damage.

It is the City’s responsibility to manage our storm water drainage system. We are required by the Federal Emergency Management Administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to ensure certain development, maintenance and water quality standards are met.

Currently, we pay for the storm water system from general revenues such as sales taxes and property taxes. Because of declining sales tax revenues and increasing demands for other services funded by general revenues, such as police and fire protection, we believe the time has come to change how we fund the storm water system. Also, many of the requirements noted above are new, unfunded mandates from the federal government that we anticipate will only become greater over time.

A Storm Water Drainage Utility – where residents and businesses pay a monthly fee to fund the system – is a recognized best practice throughout the country and used by more than 60 Texas cities. Fees would be based on a property’s impact to the system, which would more appropriately and fairly allocate the costs for storm water services while providing vital funding stability. As the demand and subsequent costs of providing this non-optional service continue to rise, it is more important than ever to ensure a fair and equitable distribution of those costs.

A Storm Water Drainage Utility meets the Community’s financial objectives in two important ways. First, it aligns with our citizen’s preference for user fee based program funding, where service costs are paid for by those who use and benefit the most. Second, it aligns with the City’s adopted financial policy which has a primary objective to reduce general fund reliance on volatile sales tax revenue to fund basic services.

As always, we will continue to make every effort to find cost controllers and revenue generators as we work to provide the services as efficiently and effectively as possible.