Annual Stormwater Reports

Haverhill Stormwater Management Plan
Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP) for the City of Haverhill was developed to meet requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Phase II stormwater regulations.  In 1987, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) amended the Clean Water Act to require a two-phased national program to address water pollution from stormwater.  Phase I, promulgated in 1990, addressed stormwater discharges in approximately 900 of the nation’s largest cities.

Background
Phase II of the stormwater program was published in the Federal Register on December 8, 1999. The Phase II regulations require operators of municipal storm sewer systems (MS4s) located in urbanized areas with populations of fewer than 100,000 people to obtain a NPDES permit for their stormwater discharges.  In Massachusetts, permits are issued jointly by EPA – Region I and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).  Haverhill is a MS4s community
 
The central focus of the NPDES Phase II permit is the Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP). Each permittee designs its own SWMP with the goals of reducing the discharge of pollutants from the stormwater system to the maximum extent practicable and protecting water quality.
 
To meet the “maximum extent practicable” standard, the City must develop and implement Best Management Practices (BMPs) for the following six minimum control measures: 

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

This stormwater web site offers the reader useful links to other web sites; Details Haverhill’s current SWMP plans and updates to these plans; and will be use as a BMP for Public Education and Outreach.

For more information or reporting of illicit discharges to the stormwater system, please call (978) 374-2334 or email stormwater@cityof haverhill.com