Thurston County Board of Commissioners (BoCC)’s Chair Caroline Mejia facilitated a hybrid meeting yesterday, August 2, to receive updates on the stormwater permit submittal, and the advisory board’s accomplishments.
The meeting was an informational briefing on the county’s compliance with its municipal stormwater permit submitted to the Department of Ecology and an update on the Storm & Surface Water Advisory Board (SSWAB)’s recent work and upcoming priorities.
In Washington State, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tasks the administration of the permit, a requirement under the Federal Clean Water Act, to the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology).
The permit issued by Ecology covers more than 80 cities and portions of five counties in western Washington and is subject to federal and state stormwater regulations.
“This is significant because Washington State’s Stormwater Regulations are more expansive than the federal. This permit conditionally authorizes stormwater discharges from the county's municipal storm sewer system; the geographic scope of this permit is not county-wide,” Larry Schaffner, Stormwater Coordinator for Thurston County, said.
This permit allows stormwater discharge to surface waters and groundwaters from district-owned or operated storm sewer systems within a geographic area, including some areas outside the county. (See photo 2).
The report involves answering a series of questions and providing supporting documentation. Community Planning and Economic Development, Public Works, Central Services, Public Health, Social Services, and Information Technology staff prepared the report.
The permit document can be found here under Attachment B.
Ecology has certified the county’s permit submitted last March 31, 2023.
“I would like to just describe a few highlights, if I may, of the past year,” SSWAB Vice Chair David Hartley reported. “Our written submittal lists a series of activities, much of which involves reviewing reports, listening to presentations, and significantly taking a field trip to view stormwater facilities.”
Hartley noted the following board accomplishments of last year.
Stormwater Management Program Plan Review and Comment - SSWAB helped fulfill the County’s municipal stormwater permit requirements for public involvement and participation, including developing, implementing, and updating the County’s Stormwater Management Program Plan.
Utility Program Review – SSWAB requested and received presentations, reviewed, and commented upon the following:
Collaboration with other Interest Groups - SSWAB’s collaboration with related interest groups included receiving a briefing on agriculture and forestry water pollution reduction programs from Thurston Conservation District and providing an SSWAB representative to the County’s Conservation Futures Ranking committee - an interagency stakeholder group.
June 9, 2023 SSWAB Retreat –SSWAB held a retreat to strategize their goals and objectives for the coming year. Documents collating the retreat’s outcomes will be the basis for SSWAB’s areas of focus for the coming year.
For 2023 and beyond, SSWAB plans to recruit for its one vacant position, develop an ‘onboarding’ mentor program matching, establish a monitoring program, increase educational opportunities for SSWAB members, assess program funding levels for adequacy in the present and future, among many others.
Other areas of focus for the coming year can be found in this document.
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