CALIFORNIA'S NEW SANITARY SEWER COLLECTION SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS – AN SSMP OPPORTUNITY?

The California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) adopted Statewide General Waste Discharge Requirements (WDR) for sanitary sewer collection systems, focusing on the reduction of sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs). The WDRs purpose is to require proper management, operation, and maintenance of the sanitary sewer system because it is assumed that many SSOs are preventable. Since these regulations are closely fashioned from the national CMOM effort, it is likely that other states will follow, or CMOM will eventually be adopted by the USEPA. This paper includes a summary of the WDR requirements, details specifics related to the Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP) requirements, and provides examples of how certain requirements in the SSMP can be completed to assist a municipality, either within or outside California, to better manage their collection systems.