Owners of Stormwater infrastructure are required by the City of Indianapolis Stormwater Design and Construction Specifications Manual and City County Code to complete annual inspections and maintenance.

Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) are part of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program that aim to control the quantity and quality of stormwater. Successful BMPs assist with flood prevention and improve water quality by filtration of oil, sediment and contaminants prior to discharge.

BMPs can include non-structural practices such as good house keeping (such as removing debris from blocking water flow pathways), prevention of spills and response to spills where they occur and land use planning to minimize the amount of paved surface where not required. Structural BMPs include green infrastructure such as rain gardens or detention ponds to capture and slow runoff to reduce rapid discharge to storm sewers. Those systems may also include filtration for sediment or oil ahead of discharge into a detention pond.

The National Environmental Management Academy is hosting a Stormwater BMP Performance and Optimization Training Course on February 3 – 4 which covers BMP management, performance, O&M optimization. You can register using this link.