Stormwater Management
Only Rain Down the Drain
When melting snow or stormwater flows across parking lots and other paved surfaces it can pick up pollutants that eventually end up in the campus storm drainage system. Our hillside campus in Worcester overlooks Lake Quinsigamond, offering a beautiful vista and a reminder of our need to protect the lake as well as all of the watershed areas of our campuses.
To mitigate stormwater impact, UMass Chan Medical School conducts regular parking lot and road sweeping, catch basin cleaning and training of facilities personnel in stormwater management.
To continue enhancing its efforts, the school has prepared a draft of its first formal Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP) to address stormwater regulations, operations and maintenance of the stormwater management system
The plan is now available for public comment. Click the image of the plan cover to read or download as a PDF.
Please send any comments to Stormwater@umassmed.edu
Video: Overview of Stormwater Issues
by Think Blue Massachusetts
What is Stormwater Management?
Stormwater management is the effort to reduce runoff of rainwater or melted snow into streets, lawns and other conveyances that ultimately end up in waterbodies. There are six minimum required stormwater control measures that go into a stormwater management plan.These six measures are:
- Public education
- Public involvement
- Illicit discharge detection/ elimination
- Construction site stormwater controls
- Post construction stormwater controls
- Pollution prevention/good housekeeping for municipal operations
Examples of stormwater pollutants:
- nutrients; fertilizers, leaves, garbage
- pathogens; pet / wildlife waste
- sediment; erosion, street deposition
- toxic; pesticides, motor oils, cleaners
- debris; litter & illegal dumping
- thermal; hot stormwater in cold rivers
What can you do to help?
Everybody has a part to play in reducing stormwater pollution. These include; making sure that there are no discharges from buildings to storm water through doorways or other pathways, inspecting equipment and storage and removing sediment and debris from walkways. For materials used and stored outside, purchasing only the amount of materials needed for the foreseeable future.
Other Resources:
Mass. Department of Environmental Protection
Stormwater outreach materials. https://www.mass.gov/guides/stormwater-outreach-materials-to-help-towns-comply-with-the-ms4-permit
U.S. EPA
General permits for stormwater discharges from small municipal systems in Massachusetts. https://www3.epa.gov/region1/npdes/stormwater/ma/2016fpd/final-2016-ma-sms4-gp.pdf
For more information, Contact the Environmental Health and Safety Department at 508-856-3985