Water Pollution. It closes beaches, kills wildlife and poisons our drinking water. It comes in many forms: from animal waste, construction work and air pollution. Unfortunately, many of us directly contribute to the problem. Thousands of small sources of pollution continue to harm our waters. The pollutants flow through the storm drain system into local streams, lakes and coastal waters. Individually, these pollutants may not be a major concern, but combined together they can result in widespread water quality problems.

What is the NPDES Stormwater Discharge Permit? The Clean Water Act of 1972 originally established the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to control wastewater discharges from various industries and wastewater treatment plants known as "point sources". The 1987 Water Quality Act amended the NPDES permit system to address "non-point" source pollution. This type of pollution occurs when pollutants such as bacteria, sediment, oil and grease, heavy metals, pesticides, fertilizers and trash from roadways, parking lots, yards, and other areas are exposed to rainfall and washes into our streams, rivers and oceans.

The City of South Daytona, along with other local governments is required to manage stormwater under the Federal Clean Water Act's NPDES discharge permit which establishes guidelines for municipalities to minimize pollutants in stormwater runoff to the "maximum extent practicable." Did you know that the U.S. EPA now estimates that over 80 percent of the water quality problems in the United States are due to non-point source pollution?

Day to day management of the program falls under the Public Works Department. They, in turn, report to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. However, the lifestyle and work environment of almost every resident of South Daytona will be impacted by this new law. Ultimately, each of us is responsible for protecting our waters.

What is the City's role? The NPDES rules require South Daytona, other cities and counties to keep their storm drains and sewers as free from pollutants as possible and develop a stormwater program. The City of South Daytona has already been performing some of the "Best Management Practices" of the program under our Code of Ordinances and municipal operations policies and will be implementing more in the near future. Some of the practices are:

  • Regular maintenance of public rights-of way such as street sweeping, litter collection and storm drain facility maintenance.
  • A comprehensive soil erosion and sedimentation control program.
  • Plan review procedures to assure unauthorized connections to the storm sewer are not made.
  • Proper spill response procedures.
  • Development of a comprehensive stormwater facility map.
    Identification and removal of unauthorized connections to the stormwater system.
  • Public education efforts to inform citizens about stormwater quality through educational events and newsletter articles.
  • Public Involvement Activities such as our annual "Sparkle Days Campaign" in which residents can participate in cleaning up their properties.

How can the "South Daytona Web Site" help? This web site will contain
public education information for our residents and businesses. (See our first article below!) It will periodically be updated to include: Proper Disposal of HazardousWastes, Environmental Lawn and Garden Activities, Trash Reduction and Recycling, Pet Waste Disposal and much, much more.

The City of South Daytona is excited about educating our residents in the important endeavor of a Clean Water Program and hope you will be too. We are proud of our community and strive to be environmentally educated. Please feel free to call your Public Works Department at 386-322-3080 or email our program coordinator at sdpublicworks@southdaytona.org We look forward to your comments and suggestions.