Industrial Stormwater Regulation Consulting

Whatcom Environmental realizes that stormwater management may not be a high priority for your business and may be easy to ignore. However, the longer stormwater problems are ignored the larger those problems become. We are committed to helping you resolve these issues by working together to find practical, economical solutions. As a result, you save money that you can invest in your core business rather than expensive treatment or third-party litigation.

Most businesses are unaware of the public nature of their stormwater sampling data. All of the Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) data you are required to submit to the Department of Ecology is available on a publicly searchable database on their website. Third-party environmental action groups use this data source to identify non-compliant businesses for further investigation. They look for red flags such as worsening pollutant levels or missing DMRs to determine which sites to investigate.

We understand that managing stormwater is not your core business and we’ve developed an inexpensive assessment tool to get you back on the path of stormwater compliance.

Getting Started
Our assessment includes a sampling data review and SWPPP (Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan) review. The assessment findings provide a clear summary of your regulatory status and non-compliance issues. We can train you and your employees to administer your stormwater management program in the future, or we can assist you with improvement of your program by:

• Updating your current SWPPP or creating a new one for you
• Conducting quarterly stormwater sampling
• Submitting samples to the lab and DMRs to Ecology
• Maintaining Best Management Practices (BMPs) on your site
• Helping you navigate and understand the current and upcoming Industrial Stormwater General Permit requirements

Think Upstream
Remember: thinking upstream saves you money. If the zinc levels in your stormwater samples are high, you could pursue costly stormwater treatment. However, if you are thinking upstream you could investigate the source(s) of zinc on your site and devise simple inexpensive strategies to prevent zinc from interacting with stormwater in the first place.