Stormwater Program Support

The growth of urban areas and developed spaces has led to an increase in paved impervious surfaces and loss of natural groundcover, which negatively impacts hydrologic processes. When it rains, stormwater flows over these impervious surfaces, carrying pollutants to our waterways and sometimes causing flooding and erosion. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency implements and develops stormwater management programs and regulations to protect our nation’s natural resources, bolster the built environment, and improve the quality of human life. To be successful, these activities require a wide variety of support.

ERG provides multifaceted technical and communications support to help EPA implement several stormwater management programs, including the agency’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, green infrastructure, integrated planning, and stormwater communications programs. For example, ERG helps EPA update and reissue their Construction General Permit and Multi-Sector General Permit, including developing supporting materials to help permittees understand requirements, and we provide long-term stormwater planning technical assistance to communities. We help EPA facilitate its annual Campus RainWorks Challenge and develop guides and tools that promote implementation of green infrastructure and integrated planning processes. We also develop a variety of resources and outreach products, such as permitting compendiums, fact sheets describing Best Management Practices for Stormwater (provided as part of the National Menu of BMPs for Stormwater), integrated planning fact sheets and Permitting Authority Toolkit, and Stormwater Smart outreach tools that help communities and permitting authorities improve water quality and manage stormwater more comprehensively.