View our most recent fact sheet: Minimum Control Measure (MCM) #6 – Good Housekeeping!
Stormwater runoff from rainwater or melting snow transports pollutants into the stormwater system and ultimately into our local streams. Roads, parking lots, driveways, and rooftops prevent water from soaking into the ground. Instead, a large amount of stormwater goes directly into our streams. Because this stormwater runoff is not cleaned or filtered, many of our streams are polluted.
Stormwater can pick up sediment and harmful nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, which in high levels can have toxic effects on animal, plant, and human life. Planting warm-season grasses and other native plants can help to filter these pollutants out before going into our streams.
Pennsylvania’s MS4 Program was developed to help reduce the negative effects of stormwater pollution. Together, we can all do more to improve local water quality.
Municipalities need to conduct activities and work tasks in ways that minimize stormwater pollution as required by MCM #6. These tasks include:
• Create an inventory of all operations and land uses that may contribute to pollution
• Develop, implement, and maintain a written operation and maintenance program
• Develop and implement an employee training program.
Feel free to use the fact sheet and any other materials on this page in any communication or educational outreach to local residents and business owners.
You cannot protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own, that they must protect them.
~Professor Wangari Maathai
If you have other ideas you’d like to see us address in our MS4 educational tools, please contact us!