STP Maintenance Educational Materials
There are numerous ways local governments can educate residential or commercial property managers on Stormwater Treatment Practice (STP) inspection and maintenance techniques. One of the easiest methods is to create a list of local contractors who can perform STP inspections and maintenance. Other methods that have been used around the country include how-to videos, cable television programming, and manuals or handbooks that help privately-held STP owners understand what various STPs are, what they do, and how to maintain them. Community and watershed-based workshops are also an option, as are citizen hotlines to report maintenance problems. A checklist for conducting inspections by private property owners is included in Maintenance Inspection Checklists
Samples of educational materials aimed at educating private and commercial structural STP owners on how to perform inspections and maintenance are outlines below. The samples are in .pdf format and require the Adobe Acrobat reader. You can get the reader for free in just a few minutes HERE.
Thurston
County, Washington, "How to Care for Your Stormwater Pond"
This web document is an excerpt from the publication Maintaining Your Stormwater Pond: A Step-by-Step Guide to Keeping Your Stormwater Pond Happy and Healthy. Geared toward private land owners and homeowner associations, this document answers basic questions on the whys and how-to's of stormwater pond maintenance.
Northern
Virginia Planning District Commission, Maintaining Your BMP - A Guidebook
for Private Owners and Operators in Northern Virginia (Best Management
Practices, or BMPs, include STPs)
This document is designed for individual property owners, homeowners association representatives, and residential/commercial property managers. The guidebook outlines the basic maintenance and planning tasks to help keep STPs functioning properly, and includes information on types of STPs, general maintenance needs, who should carry out maintenance, inspections, and planning for STP maintenance costs. Includes a sample inspection checklist and an STP maintenance costs planning sheet.
Montgomery
County, Maryland, "Commercial Stormwater Facility Maintenance"
This is a two-page downloadable guide to oil/grit separators, underground storage structures, and other facilities often employed at commercial sites. This guide is written primarily for STP owners at commercial sites as a quick overview of basic STP maintenance issues.
This guidebook describes the four primary types of STPs found in the County and outline some basic maintenance tasks to keep them functioning properly.
City of Eugene, Oregon, Stormwater Drain Maintenance on Private Property
The short guide discusses the maintenance of stormwater drains (also known as "catch basins"), street gutters, underground pipes, roadside ditches, and open drainage channels. Proper stormwater drain maintenance is crucial for flood control and water quality protection. The guide explains the private property owner's responsibility to maintain stormwater drains on his or her property and some simple maintenance procedures to meet this responsibility.
City
of Los Angeles, California Public Agency Activities Stormwater Guide
To ensure that employees of the City of Los Angeles do their part to reduce stormwater runoff, the Division has prepared this guide that identifies city activities that may have an impact on stormwater quality and the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements applicable to those activities. In addition to listing specific NPDES permit requirements, each section highlights Stormwater Treatment Practices (STPs) that may be implemented to further improve the quality of stormwater and non-stormwater runoff including maintenance issues for structural and non-structural STPs.
This booklet is a guide for individuals and homeowner associations on the proper function and maintenance of stormwater ponds. Instructions are provided on inspections, dredging, weed control, herbicides, pollutants and pesticides. Photos and descriptions of nuisance aquatic plant species are provided to aid in the identification and removal of these species from stormwater ponds.