Tools to Measure Source Control Program Effectiveness

The ultimate goal of any source control program is improvement of environmental conditions as a result of reductions in pollutant loadings. When these reductions are associated with residential and commercial sources, measurable changes may take place slowly. As the sources become more diverse and less amenable to traditional regulatory approaches, source control programs become more complicated and must rely more and more on untested strategies. In addition, nonregulatory approaches rely heavily on public outreach and voluntary actions, which often yields results in small increments over a relatively long time frame. Therefore, effectiveness measurement tools that measure intermediate results (e.g., increased awareness, behavior change) are necessary to make sure programs are heading in the right direction.The purpose of this project, which was conducted in two phases, was to identify and develop evaluation tools that are applicable to a range of commercial and residential source control programs. In the first phase, a model framework was developed for incorporating effectiveness measurement into a source control program and tools were identified by assessing existing efforts to measure program effectiveness. During the project's second phase demonstration projects were conducted by stormwater and wastewater agencies to test the framework and tools identified in Phase 1.The report describes the Phase 1 and Phase 2 project results and discusses the advantages, disadvantages and applicability of each tool tested. The information obtained from the different tools is compared. Costs of source control program elements and effectiveness measurement tools are determined. The tools needed to assess the final steps on the environmental improvement process shown above (i.e., improved effluent and receiving water quality, improved ambient condition) are briefly discussed. Overall project findings regarding the feasibility of measuring a source control program's impact are presented.