The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, or DEP, is in the process of finalizing changes to individual and general permits for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) that would result in stringent and costly requirements on municipalities throughout the state. Coincidentally, the Municipality Authorities Act was recently amended to allow for creation of stormwater authorities. In light of the growing regulatory burden associated with municipal stormwater permitting, municipal officials increasingly are looking to form stormwater authorities as a vehicle to comply with these requirements.

Federal and state stormwater regulation is a relatively recent phenomenon for municipalities. Traditionally, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and DEP focused on improving the quality of water bodies through regulation and permitting of point sources, (i.e., discharges of pollutants from discrete locations such as a pipe or conveyance, initially focusing solely on industrial and sewer discharges). Stormwater regulations were developed initially by municipalities in order to reduce flooding and protect public health and safety. The first statewide MS4 permit was issued in 1990 and only applied to medium and large MS4s, which included cities and counties with populations of greater than 100,000. In 1999 DEP expanded permitting to small MS4s, which implicated many more municipalities throughout the state. Small MS4s currently are eligible for a general permit, PAG-13, which was adopted in 2003, while medium and large MS4s must obtain individual stormwater permits.

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