Integrating Stormwater Pollution Prevention into Government Operations

Integrating Stormwater Pollution Prevention into Government Operations

Pollution prevention includes any practice that reduces, eliminates, or prevents pollution at its source before it is created. Most pollution prevention efforts are voluntary and have primarily been aimed at industry. Communities manage a variety of operations—such as parks and landscaping, winter road maintenance, construction projects, public facility maintenance, and vehicle/fleet maintenance—that can either prevent or contribute to stormwater pollution. In particular, cities and towns with municipal stormwater permits must implement a variety of “pollution prevention” measures but these primarily focus on stopping contaminants from entering runoff rather than reducing the amount of the pollutant generated in the first place.

There exists an untapped potential to apply pollution prevention in the stormwater sector so that communities can not only achieve their stormwater management goals but also save money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and conserve water. With a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, CWP created a toolkit focused on the intersection of government operations that manage or generate stormwater pollutants and pollution prevention strategies that reduce the amount of pollutants used or generated by substituting less harmful materials or changing the technology or operating practices used.



The audience for the toolkit includes municipalities in in New Jersey, New York (including eight federally-recognized Indian Nations), Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The toolkit includes a searchable database of resources organized by six government operations, interactive tools for assessing pollution prevention opportunity and calculating benefits, and case study examples for inspiration. CWP delivered two national webcasts on the toolkit content that can be viewed on the toolkit website.