WEF MS4 Survey: Interesting Findings from 3 Years of Data

This paper and presentation provides an overview and analysis of the interesting findings from the WEF MS4 survey, conducted over the past 3 years on a bi-annual basis. The survey has received a statistically significant level of response for each of the three years, and provides valuable insight to the challenges, successes and needs of MS4 stormwater NPDES Permit holders. The paper and presentation will provide an assessment of the data compiled through 2023. The nature of the questions included in the survey paralleled the six identified Stormwater Institute (SWI) objectives to ensure that information received can best enable efforts to meet the WEF SWI future of stormwater vision. Specifically, the survey included the following topic areas: 1.Drivers for MS4 Planning and Investment Decisions 2.Challenges for MS4 Programs 3.Information and Resource Needs for MS4 Programs 4.Preferred Information Sources 5.Annual Program Budgets and Budget Needs Some topic areas in the survey were covered in greater detail than other areas. For instance, the questions addressing item 3 above (Information and Resources Needs for MS4 Programs) covers a majority of the six SWI objectives associated with the Rainfall to Results vision, which requires a significant amount of questions compared with other sections of the survey. Also, it should be noted that the questions under item 5 (Annual Program Budget and Budget Needs) not only provides information on one key SWI objective (Close the Funding Gap), but also supports WEF's ongoing effort to enable the category of stormwater in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Infrastructure Report Card©. An important first step in a maturing infrastructure sector is to better understand the fundamental challenges and needs. This survey and analysis represent this first major step in the stormwater sector, which is a field that is notoriously data-poor. By collecting metadata on the sector, this effort places a mirror up to the MS4 sector to identify the priorities that need to be addressed in the near term while allowing for planning for coverage of other areas in a long-term strategic fashion. Results in many areas confirm expectations, such as the strong motivation for investments in stormwater infrastructure associated with regulatory compliance, localized flooding impacts, and the restoration of water quality and habitat, as these are fundamental aspects of many stormwater programs. It is also not surprising that most MS4s (being caretakers of separate storm sewer systems) are not highly motivated by wastewater-oriented runoff-driven impacts. These results suggest a continued focus on regulations impacting the MS4 sector as well as addressing both water quality and quantity issues associated with separate storm sewer systems. A perhaps unexpected finding is the lack of priority noted by respondents regarding climate change dynamics that point to the need to highlight how changing precipitation patterns will impacts MS4s in the future. These education opportunities may be rooted in highlighting the impacts of recent episodic flood events, such as Hurricane Harvey in Houston and the occurrence of two 1000-year-plus storm events in a three period in Ellicott City, Maryland. Future water quality impacts are also evident, as recent studies show that the current approach to stormwater management infrastructure, which has been designed based upon an assumption of climatological stationarity, will become increasingly inadequate to address urban runoff volumes, rates, and associated pollutant loads in the face of climate change. The challenges for MS4s align more closely with expectations, as the survey respondents identified the need for funding, an evolving regulatory landscape, and aging infrastructure as high-priority concerns in stormwater programs. There is a clear thread that ties these topics together, as evolving regulations drive needs to replace aging and failing infrastructure as well as implement additional measures to address continued degradation attributed to runoff that is seen in many urban waters across the U.S. today. And these needs demand higher volumes of funding, which is a challenge in an infrastructure sector where an estimated 1/3 or less of all regulated entities have any dedicated source of revenue, regardless of the level of revenue generated compared with the identified current and anticipated future needs. A positive first step towards addressing the funding challenge is the formation by EPA of a Stormwater Funding Task Force, which is a result of early efforts by the WEF SWI and associated groups to advocate for greater focus in the area of inadequate funding in the MS4 sector. It is clear that continued efforts to address these top challenges are needed.