Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping

Leaf collection truck 2000Preventing pollutants from entering a waterway is less expensive than restoring a waterway after it has been polluted. Therefore, Silver Spring Township first focuses on preventing pollution before it happens. Best Management Practices (BMPs) under each of the minimum measures, but especially under this pollution prevention category, focus on preventing pollutants from contacting stormwater.

Municipal activities such as winter road maintenance, minor road repairs, and other infrastructure work, automobile fleet maintenance, landscaping and park maintenance, and building maintenance can release pollutants into MS4s that ultimately discharge to nearby waterbodies. Municipal facilities can also be sources of stormwater pollutants if BMPs are not in place to contain spills, manage trash, and handle non-stormwater discharges. 

Sweeping parking lots and streets and cleaning storm drains can prevent pollutants from entering nearby waterways.

Silver Spring Township has staff trained to prevent and reduce stormwater pollution from activities like maintaining MS4 infrastructure and performing daily municipal activities. This primarily includes: 

  • Developing inspection and maintenance procedures and schedules for stormwater BMPs
  • Implementing BMPs to treat pollutants from transportation infrastructure, maintenance areas, storage yards, sand and salt storage areas
  • Establishing procedures for properly disposing of pollutants removed from the MS4
  • Identifying ways to incorporate water quality controls into new and existing flood management projects
  • Developing a training program for all municipal staff involved in activities that could discharge pollutants to the MS4
  • Developing standard operating procedures that incorporate stormwater BMPs for common municipal activities