Water Quality Management Plan (March 2015)

The 2013 Ordinance directs the City to adopt a Water Quality Management Plan for all areas within the EARZ.  The purpose of this plan is to establish and implement best management practices to include, but not limit to, public education and outreach, hazardous waste education, construction-site stormwater runoff control, and pollution prevention. The scope of the Water Quality Management Plan is very similar to the requirements of the Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TPDES) Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) general permit, which includes the City of Georgetown, based on the rules adopted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on December 11, 2013.

The TCEQ’s newly adopted rules require the City to submit to TCEQ the Implementation Program for the Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP). The SWMP describes the minimum control measures and Best Management Practices (BMPs) that will be implemented by the City in order to achieve the regulatory standard of reducing pollutants in the City’s storm water to the “maximum extent practicable”. The Implementation Program for the SWMP proposes to reduce stormwater pollution by increasing the city’s control of pollution sources. In addition, it provides maps and photos that identify many of the points where stormwater is discharged from the city to other municipalities. The City’s SWMP was approved by TCEQ on November 17, 2014, and must be fully implemented within 5 years of the TCEQ’s issuance of the General Permit.

For purposes of the Water Quality Ordinance, the 2014 SWMP also serves as the Water Quality Management Plan.

If you have additional questions or would like further information on the City’s SWMP, to include the MS4 general permit, please contact the SWMP lead at MS4Operator@Georgetown.org.