Growing public awareness and concern for controlling water pollution led to enactment of the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. As amended in 1977, this law became commonly known as
the Clean Water Act and has become the cornerstone of surface water quality protection in the United States.
The Clean Water Act established the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters
of the United States and gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to implement pollution control
programs. The statute employs a variety of regulatory and nonregulatory tools to sharply reduce direct pollutant
discharges into waterways and manage polluted runoff.
Stormwater discharges are generated by runoff from land and impervious areas such as paved streets, parking lots,
and building rooftops during rainfall and snow events that often contain pollutants in quantities that could adversely
affect water quality. As part of the Clean Water Act, the EPA developed the National Pollution Discharge Elimination
System (NPDES) to improve water quality by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United
States. Most storm water drainage systems are considered point sources.
A critical component of the NPDES regulation to control discharges requires municipalities to employ best management
practices (BMPs). A BMP can be a technique, measure or structural control used to manage the quantity and improve the
quality of storm water runoff to the maximum extent possible, and in the most cost-effective manner.
ADS offers a wide range of BMPs that address both quantity and quality of stormwater runoff. These include:
As the industry leader in stormwater management systems, we can assist the design engineer or architect in meeting the EPA requirements for their specific site development project.
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