NCS000424_Good Housekeeping - Pollution Prevention Plan_20200716

Town of Fletcher
"Good Housekeeping/Pollution Prevention"
Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan
Plan for Public Works &
Parks & Rec Maintenance

Introduction
In an effort to comply with NPDES requirements for municipalities under an MS-4 Permit to
meet the minimum measure "Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping" for Municipal
Operations, the Town of Fletcher has drafted the following plan in an effort to comply with the
seven items under this minimum measure.
The Town of Fletcher has a Public Works Department that currently consists of nine (9) full-time
employees and one (1) part-time employee (including the Public Works Director).
The Town also has a Parks and Recreation Department that currently is staffed by a Director,
Recreation Program Supervisor, and two (2) maintenance staff that maintain the 2 parks located
in Town.
Fletcher's population as of the 2010 Census was 7,187. (The 2018 population estimate was
8,333). Fletcher is approximately 6.5 square miles.
The Public Works Department operates from one older facility located at 25 Howard Gap Road.
The Parks and Recreation staff is split between Town Hall (at 300 Old Cane Creek Road) and an
older cabin and storage building located also at 25 Howard Gap Road. The "Bill Moore
Community Park" is located at 85 Howard Gap Road, and the smaller "Kate's Park" is located
on Library Road on an unaddressed parcel directly in front of the library at 120 Library Rd.
The following manual is intended to serve as guidelines for compliance with the "Pollution
Prevention/Good Housekeeping" minimum measure for municipalities under an NPDES MS-4
permit. A copy of this document will be kept on file by the Directors of both departments and
within the offices of the facilities that provide these services.
Questions should be directed to Eric Rufa, Planning Director, at [phone]

1) Vehicle and Equipment Maintenance
• The vast majority of the Town's fleet vehicles and equipment are maintained INSIDE
the Fletcher Public Works building and not near any storage drains.
On the rare occasion or emergency where a vehicle or piece of equipment is
maintained outdoors, care should be taken to stay away from storm drains or other
drainage conveyances and to avoid spills, leaks etc. Great care should be taken when
repairs involving fuels, lubricants, paints, hydraulic fluid, solvents, antifreeze, battery
acid, and other hazardous materials are being done. In the event of any spills, leaks or
other accidents, procedures outlined under #3 of this manual (Good Housekeeping
and Spill Prevention) shall be followed. Staff should also make sure that the vehicle
or equipment needing maintenance is brought to the Public Works Building as soon
as possible, and any spills should be cleaned up immediately using only dry clean up
methods.
In the rare event that a leaking vehicle cannot be brought indoors immediately, place
a drip pan under the leak and clean up any spills immediately. And report the issue to
your supervisor. The drip pan should be emptied into a secure recycle drum or
hazardous material contained as soon as possible.
2) Vehicle & Equipment Washing
• The majority of Town vehicles are taken off site to commercial drive through car
washes. (This includes police dept. fleet, administrative vehicles, etc.)
• As the Town does not have a vehicle wash bay or ability to wash vehicles indoors,
care to the maximum extent practical should be taken to avoid washing other larger
Town vehicles and equipment in locations where the runoff can enter storm drains.

3) Good Housekeeping & Spill Prevention
• As spills present the biggest threat to stormwater quality, extreme care must be
exercised to keep spills to a minimum.
• Outdoor work areas should be kept tidy. Tarps and drop cloths should be utilized to
prevent overspray of debris.
• Containers should not be left open and exposed.
• Tools and supplies should be put away when work is complete, indoors to the
maximum extent practical.
• Waste generated from the job should be disposed of immediately in a safe and closed
container/dumpster/trash can.
• Sweep up after outdoor projects and dispose of the waster properly. Do not spray or
hose down an outdoor work area, particularly near a storm drain.
• While the Town does not have its own fueling station, care should be taken while
filling vehicles or gas cans to make sure that fuel is not spilled. Do not top off tanks
as this increases the chance of spills. Stay with the vehicle while fueling to make sure
that fuel does not spill onto the pavement.
4) Spill Response & Reporting
• Recognizing that spills do occasionally occur, if a spill does occur, it is your job to
make sure the spill's impact on stormwater is minimized.
• Fletcher Public Works will maintain a spill kit at its facility. Parks and Recreation
Maintenance should immediately contact public works in the event of a spill.
• Public Works/Parks and Recreation Maintenance should be aware of their stormwater
drains and assure that they are maintained and safe from spills.
• If a spill occurs, clean it up immediately if you can do so safely. Spills or leaks of
non -hazardous materials such as salt, fertilizers, lubricants, or hydraulic oils can
typically be cleaned up easily, especially if you have utilized a drop cloth or parked
on a paved surface. But it is crucial to clean up quickly before the material can be
spread by wind, rain, or vehicle traffic.
If a leak occurs, stop the leak and contain the spill with a drip pan or other appropriate
container. Utilized DRY CLEAN UP methods such as like sweeping up granular
materials, or absorbents for liquids (and then sweep up).

• Never hose down a spill.
• If the spill is hazardous, or beyond the capability of the cleanup material
available to you, or if you don't know what the spilled material is, please report
the spill immediately to your supervisor.
• All spills should be reported and an incident reporting sheet should be filled out,
detailing the nature of the spill, and the method used to clean the spill up.
5) Street Maintenance
The Town of Fletcher utilizes a street sweeper. The public works department
currently does street sweeping of all Town maintained roads with curbs on a quarterly
basis. The Town also occasionally does street sweeping on some of the major roads in
Town that are still under the maintenance of NCDOT.
During street maintenance and repair work, care should be taken to keep wastes from
getting into storm drains. Do not do saw cutting before or during a rain event. Protect
storm drain inlets when working nearby, and immediately clean up any waste
generated from street maintenance and repair and properly dispose. Do NOT hose
down any waste into storm drains or leave material behind that could wash down the
storm drain during rain.
6) Outdoor Storage of Materials and Wastes
• Portable containers such as pails and bags should not be stored outdoors. If such
materials must be stored outdoors for a short time, they should be covered with a tarp
and secured.
• The Town's supply of salt used for roads during snow and ice shall be kept in a
covered location with containment to assure no spillage occurs.
• Trash containers should be covered at all times and emptied frequently. Leaking
containers should be disposed of and replaced as soon as possible.
• The Town's uses oil tank should utilize concrete barrier/secondary containment
underneath.

7) Landscaping and Lawn Care
• Pesticides & Fertilizers used in the parks could contaminate stormwater runoff if not
applied properly, especially when used in excess.
• Always use any agricultural chemicals strictly according to the manufacturer's
directions. Soils should be tested periodically to make sure that application of
fertilizer is necessary.
• Do not apply any agricultural chemical before, during, or immediately after a rain
event, unless the manufacturer's label says to.
• When spraying, try to use "spot spraying" rather than broadcast application so that
the chemicals only land on their target areas.
• To the maximum extent practical, fertilizers and pesticides should not be sprayed
within 30 feet of the duck pond, the creek, and any stormwater drain or inlet.
Otherwise these chemicals could be washed into the water body or stormwater
conveyance.
• If any granular material winds up on a paved surface in the parking lot, sweep or
blow it back onto the vegetated area immediately after applying. The same procedure
should be used following mowing if grass clippings end up on the pavement. Grass
clippings should not be dumped into a water body or stormwater conveyance.
Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination
Municipal employees working around town can assist other staff by alerting a supervisor of any
illicit discharges into the stormwater system.
Examples of things to be aware of would include strange pipes or hoses leading from individual
properties to a storm drain or odd stains in the vicinity of a storm drain. These can often be
indicative of an illicit discharge (or pollution) into the storm drain.
Any observable flows or vapors rising up out of a storm drain during dry weather should be
reported to your supervisor. This can be an indicator of an illicit discharge somewhere upstream.
If possible, try to determine where the flow is coming from so you can report that information as
well.