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Storm
water events cause water pollution that is primarily
associated with urban and agricultural runoff and remain
the major cause of water quality problems and water
use impairments in Illinois.
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Inadequate
storm water management causes flooding and erosion
that contributes to sediment deposits that fill drainage
channels and plug culverts and storm drainage systems.
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Stream channels and navigable rivers become obstructed
by sediment deposits which reduce their hydraulic capacity, thereby
causing an increase in flood crests and flood damage
and the possibility of attendant personal injuries and
deaths.
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More than 450 municipal separate storm sewer systems
in Illinois will be required to implement a storm water
control program under the Storm Water Phase II Regulations
of the US EPA.
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The Illinois EPA has
developed a statewide watershed strategy to promote public
involvement in protection and management of watersheds
since the fate of water resources lies with the people,
businesses, and industries that are within the watershed
surrounding these resources.
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Any solution
to public and private problems due to storm water will
require financial commitments of sufficient amount,
stability, fairness, and equity.
- It is important to create a mix of financial mechanisms
for more flexible and cost effective solutions to storm
water management and control necessary to meet federal,
state and local requirements.
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A successful
financial mechanism called a storm water utility (user)
fee has been developed and implemented successfully
in more than four hundred local governmental jurisdictions
in the United States.
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The General
Assembly finds in Section 2.b. of the Environmental Protection
Act that it is the purpose of the Act to establish a
unified, statewide program, supplemented by private remedies,
to restore, protect and enhance the quality of the environment,
and to assure that adverse effects upon the environment
are fully considered and borne by those that cause them.
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A storm water utility
could adopt a fee structure based on the permeability of
land area or other factors which increase the rate of runoff
and effect the potential to contribute pollutants to surface
and groundwater during storm events, thereby helping to
accomplish what the General Assembly finds in Section 2.b.
of the Environmental Protection Act.
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Consequently, the
Illinois Water Environment Association advises that a
storm water utility (user) fee be considered as an alternative
to finance public storm water management and to meet
the established needs of stakeholders in any watershed
partnership.
