The Center for Watershed Protection this week released the final installment of the Urban Subwatershed Restoration Manual Series, Manual 9: Municipal Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping Practices.

Historically, most communities have had little reason to consider the stormwater pollution generated by their own municipal operations. Over the last decade, this reality has begun to change as the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System spurred communities across the country to begin developing comprehensive pollution prevention/good housekeeping programs.

While municipal pollution prevention/good housekeeping concepts are relatively simple, many communities have found that developing a program can be both confusing and intimidating.

Several guidance documents have been written about the source control practices that can be used to address individual pollution-generating activities (e.g., building maintenance, waste handling and disposal), but few have focused on the development of comprehensive pollution prevention/good housekeeping programs.

For this reason, the Center developed Manual 9. It provides "how to" guidance, and outlines the Center's most recent ideas on how municipal pollution prevention/good housekeeping practices can be used to address local water quality issues and watershed restoration goals. Key topics covered include:

· The basics of municipal pollution prevention/good housekeeping and the reasons for developing comprehensive programs for it in the first place;

· How to investigate and improve ten major municipal operations, including park and landscape maintenance, street repair/maintenance and hotspot facility management;

· How to identify which major municipal operations have the greatest impact on water quality and how to craft a pollution prevention/good housekeeping strategy addressing those greatest threats; and

· How to set measurable goals and scope the level of effort needed to develop an effective pollution prevention/good housekeeping program.

The manual is intended primarily for use by smaller NPDES Phase II communities and other unregulated communities interested in protecting and restoring local water resources.

However, other entities regulated under Phase II of the NPDES program (e.g., departments of transportation, military installations, school districts), as well as communities regulated under Phase I of the NPDES program, will also find it useful.

The manual is available for free download.

9/12/2008