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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNCS000585_MS4 Annual Report (2023-24 FY)_20240906 Alig.. NEW BERN NORTH CAROLINA Public Works Department P.O. Box 1129,1004 S. Glenburnie Road New Bern,N.C. 28563-1129 Phone: (252) 639-7501 Fax: (252) 636-1848 September 6, 2024 City of New Bern MS4 Program Annual Report Prepared by Avery Smith Stormwater superintendent 1.0 Introduction This report is a summary of the annual progress of New Bern's Stormwater Management Program. This program was established in March of 2001 to meet the requirements of the National Discharge Elimination System(NPDES),Neuse Riparian Buffer Rules, and the Neuse Stormwater rules. This document will review the progress of the program from July 1, 2023, to June 31, 2024. The phrase "reporting period"will be used to reference the above timeframe. 2.0 Public Education and Outreach During the reporting period, we have participated or host several events where the opportunity to pass information pertaining to stormwater and reduction of pollution took place. • We hosted a quarterly course for the public known as New Bern 101. The course consist of 7 classes with the purpose of enlightening anyone who wants to attend on how municipal operations are carried out. During the Public Works session,we take the opportunity to educate the attendees on the importance of the MS4 program and pollution reduction practices they can perform during daily life. Information about the course can be found at the link below: https://www.newbernnc.gov/departments/administration/new bern_101.php • During the current reporting period, we conducted a presentation for the Carolina Nature Coalition on the Duffyfield Stormwater Enhancement Project phases 1-3, and its importance not only to flood mitigation but also its benefits to the reduction in nutrients and pollution in Jack Smith Creek and ultimately the Neuse River. (Photo below) P�OLi ZCIOC, cy I �r Going Back to Green `Using FEMA Land Acquisition' QUIj 111-1, II 11E ,�. Fa Stonnwater administrator/supenrdendenl for the City of New Bem.Avery Smith,will describe howthe City of New Bern is using FEMA buyout land to create green space for flood mitigation.Avery will also explain how this project and the Duffyheld project will improve environmental qualities. Join CNC and Avery @ UUFNB,308 Meadow St,NB Tuesday,May 21 st.@ 7:30PM This Presentation is Open to the Public OR .0X • In September of the reporting period, stormwater staff hosted a storm drain stenciling event. Where we invite youth from the Craven Early College Junior Civitans to downtown New Bern to stencil nature and pollution relate pictures and phrase on drainage inlets. • itiso 4000,,t . i '."'�'1c t . `k :�'�. • Annually, Public Works sets up a booth at our Mumfest event held in the month of October. The booth has a variety of materials pertaining to stormwater and pollution reduction/elimination. • We provide brochures concerning management of yard waste and trash to participating Homeowner associations to be distributed to new members to their neighborhood. • We've conduct five tours of the Jack Smith Creek Wetlands, to promote the benefits of stormwater retrofits on the quality of the city's stormwater discharge. • New Bern is a partner in the Clean Water Education Partnership,we employ them for advertising and education materials. This link will take you to the FY24 annual report: https://nc- cleanwater.com/annual-reports/ The City of New Bern strives to improve this measure. We continue to add materials and activates to connect with our target audience. Mechanisms such as: • Outreach to schools with materials and staff to speak to the youth on the importance eliminating pollution in our waterways. • Improvements to our website. Our goal is to make the site more educational and easier to navigate. • Outreach to businesses on the importance of waste management and reducing illicit connections and discharges. 3.0 Public Involvement and Participation Over the 23 years of New Bern's stormwater program the town has established several avenues for public involvement and participation. A summary of the activities the public participated in during the reporting period is listed below: • Adopt-a-Street program • A monthly City of New Bern community clean-up, the event is hosted by the city, citizens are supplied bags and pickers. The areas addressed are determined by the need or citizen input. 1 Keep New Bern - L /} C I JE ,42 WE CAN'T BEAR LITTER! r•.• ',• _AC-77 Community Cleanup Schedule: 3pm-4pm Wednesday, March 13: Pine Tree Drive Wednesday, April 10: Oaks Road Thursday, May 9: River Road Thursday. June 13: Amhurst Boulevard Thursday, July 1 1 : Neuse Avenue (4:30-5:30pm) Thursday, August 15 : Old Airport Road Thursday. September 1 2: TBA Thursday, October 10: TBA Keel) NeNV Hem /11 I 0 CLEANtlillt4e.WE CAN'T BEAR LITTER! !r _ By signing this pledge. I promise not to litter. I promise to encourage my family and friends not to litter. I will commit to specific actions for a litter-free environment. including picking up trash when I see it and throwing it away in a trash can. Keeping New Bern litter free protects our community and our environment. I promise to do my part because "We can't bear litter!" • • Change begins with each of us. A future goal for public involvement and participation program is Adopt-a-Stream. Once staffing and logistic are finalized we hope to involve citizens in the upkeep of our accessible stream and waterways. Sound River has also offered to partner with New Bern to assist with achieving this goal. 4.0 Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE) The elimination of illicit connections and discharges is a challenging task, it relies heavily on public reporting mechanisms and the knowledge of what should not be put into the stormwater system. We also have established a network of employees that share information about possible infractions, this network has proven to stop several discharges during this reporting period. For example: • A leaking grease receptacle at Mario's Pizza- 1822 Glenburnie Rd. • Wing Stop wings in the New Bern Market Place shopping center, the grease receptacle was overfilled We receive numerous reports of waste disposal in and around ditches, waterways, and stormwater structures annually. In response to these reports, additional brochure were created to educate potential offenders and the concerned public of the hazards associated with these actions. The material outlines the city's waste disposal ordinance from the IDDE section of our code. Below are examples of the brochures: • This brochure outlines the importance of not dumping/littering in or around ditches and waterways. NORTH C A R O L I N There's a - • This informational was created to respond to the miss better option '::w e . management of yard waste and debris, really focusing on than a ditch for Clean water discharging grass into the streets. trash and yard begins g g debris I v. in your front yard! It' up to you to keep our it all rivers and streams clean disposal of yard vva5�e and pristine As we continue to evolve our program, we hope to expand our IDDE education to touch local businesses and industries. Fortunately, most of the major industrial site within our limits already possess NPDES permits. These permits hold these entities accountable for their discharge, as well as our inspection of their outfalls. 5.0 Construction Site Runoff Control The City of New Bern requires new construction projects to acquire Sediment and erosion control permits through the State Sediment and Erosion Control Program. By doing so, the city meets it requirements for Construction Site Runoff Controls. This measure permits and controls development disturbing land at and above one acre of land. Activities disturbing under an acre in a larger common plan development are also included in this practice. During this reporting period, we have employed additional staff to assist with monitoring construction sites within our city limits. This Project Coordinator has the task of insuring new developments and construction sites adhere to the requirements of their erosion control permits and enforce good housekeeping for these sites as well. Our goal for the next reporting period is to incorporate information and links for applicants and the general public about controlling run-off effectively and efficiently. We also want to create an avenue for anyone using our hotline to report problems that may be associated with the mismanagement of construction site runoff and erosion in general. 6.0 Post Construction Site Runoff Control One of the first measures created for New Bern's Stormwater Program was Post Construction Site Runoff which is enforced by an internal permitting process. This process requires applicants to submit SCM designs to include post construction nitrogen exports and flow calculations. The submittal certifies that the implemented SCM's will function as intended. Once constructed, all SCM are inspected annually by certified SCM inspector to insure they continue to work properly. During the reporting period two permits were issued: Project Name Project Size Post- Nitrogen construction Offset in LBS. Nitrogen export Carolina Senior Care— 5 acres 21.5 LBS/AC/YR 645 LBS. 3681 Neuse Blvd. Duke Energy Substation 182.5 acres Project retains 0 LBS Retrofit—701 NC Hwy 100% of its 55 West runoff on-site Another step taken to strengthen New Bern's Post Construction Site Runoff Program was the adoption of new and improved stormwater ordinances. These changes mirror the state stormwater ordinance template. We also have adopted the state stormwater manual to aid designers in choosing an SCM that works best for their applications and the city's. 7.0 Pollution Prevention and Good Housekeeping for Municipal Operations The City of New Bern strives to completely implement this measure, though full implementation can not be predicted steps have been made to get us close to this goal. One of the largest hurdles is interdepartmental cooperation, gaining avenues of communication that improve our knowledge and records of the training and education other departments is a major part of meeting the requirements of this measure. We do have certain practices in place, for example: • An inventory of all city facilities,pollution hazards are identified and monitored as they pertain to each area. • We have GIS mapping capabilities that allow staff to layer commodities and their specific location. This system is also used to inventory stormwater structures, water and sewer infrastructure, and even street sweeping schedules. • The city conducts daily street sweeping operations • During the winter months three vacuum trailers are deployed to pick-up loose leaves throughout the city's limits. • Sigma Consulting and Training INC. conduct a yearly spill response class to keep staff up to date on the minimum training needed to remediate basic spills. • Areas are designated for washing and decontamination of vehicle, these areas are either wash bays draining to sanitary sewers, commercial car washing facilities, or for heavy equipment areas constructed to isolated runoff to a treatment device. Goals for the next reporting period: • Record keeping. Staffing shortages and communication limitations between departments have hindered this practice. 8.0 Retrofits for Nutrient Reduction and Stormwater Treatment A challenge for a lot of cities as old as New Bern is improving stormwater treatment in the sections of town constructed before stormwater rules were in play. We are constantly working on project that will reduce our nitrogen footprint in the Neuse River. During this reporting period these projects have been in the works: • The Duffyfield Stormwater Enhancement Project—The scope of this project has two major goals flood mitigation and stormwater treatment. The flood mitigation portion consist of the expansion of a central wet pond and the upfitting of a larger pump station. This should shorten inundation times for effected parts of the Duffyfield community. As for stormwater treatment, series of city owned lots will be turned into a manmade wetland upstream of the wet pond and pump station. • East Rose St. Basin Expansion and Pump Station Retrofit—This project's scope is similar to the previous project except the station is located on a drainage canal whose flow is hinder by river backflow and undersized piping under the railroad. The basin area around the station will be expanded to improve the supply of water for the pumps and plantings will be added for nature-based water treatment. The pump station will receive improvements that will enhance its performance.