Maintenance for Stormwater Treatment Practices

Maintenance is imperative to preserve performance and extend useable life of stormwater treatment practices. Increased attention to mass balance, numerical goals, total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), and antidegradation requirements has created the need for more emphasis on stormwater treatment practice maintenance in order to meet permitting and reporting requirements. The purpose of this paper is to advance short and long-term maintenance considerations so as to develop more realistic maintenance plans. To do so, a municipal public works survey was developed, distributed, and the results were analyzed. The results of the survey revealed that most (61 percent) cities and counties perform routine maintenance once or more per year. Complexity of maintenance is most often minimal or simple, but is more complicated for constructed wetlands, soil/sand filters, and permeable pavement. The most common causes of required maintenance are sediment buildup and litter/debris. Survey results for maintenance cost compare well with data gathered from a national literature review.