County
conducting inventory of storm sewer structures
The Platte County Planning and Zoning Department is currently
gathering data on existing storm sewer structures within
the county as part of a federally-mandated project to
improve water quality.
In 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency enacted
phase two of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination
System (NPDES). The regulations concern stormwater discharge
and require municipalities to obtain a permit from an
official NPDES authority. In this case, Platte County
must get a permit from the Missouri Department of Natural
Resources.
The main focus of the current inventory survey will be
older urban areas of unincorporated Platte County.
County staff will be photographing, measuring and evaluating
the current condition of storm sewer structures. These
structures include storm sewer inlets, outlets and field
inlets. In order to examine these structures, some property
may have to be accessed through existing easements. Staff
members will be wearing orange vests and will have county
identification badges. It will take approximately ten
minutes to evaluate and catalog each storm sewer structure.
Platte County Planning and Zoning Director Aaron Schmidt
said gathering data on these structures is essential to
protecting water quality in the future. "We can monitor
water quality by taking tests at the end of storm sewer
lines," said Schmidt. "But first, we have to
know exactly where these structures are."
Evaluating these structures is just one part of a six-part
program the county must complete in order to get the NPDES
permit. Some of the other steps involve educating the
public about water quality issues and developing guidelines
for detecting and addressing illegal discharges into the
storm water system.
Anyone with questions about this water quality project
should contact the county's Planning and Zoning department
at (816) 858-3338.
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