History Description

History of Involvement for the Portage County Health District

     The process to develop the Portage County Storm Water Management Plan began in September of 2002 with the Portage County Commissioners authorizing the Portage County Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) to be the lead agency on the project. The Commissioners invited the communities affected by the Phase II rule to join the County’s plan and apply for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit as co-permittees in order to save money and standardize approaches to storm water management in the County. The Portage County Commissioners, Portage County Engineer and the Portage SWCD hosted multiple information meetings for Phase II communities. Public information meetings for participating communities were held in the fall of 2002. Meetings between the Portage County Regional Planning Commission, the Portage County Engineer, the Portage County Health Department (PCHD), and the Portage County SWCD were held January 9, January 30, and January 31, 2003 to review subdivision regulations and discuss possible revisions. A Storm Water Task Force was established in March of 2003. The Storm Water Task Force reviewed the general requirements of each Minimum Control Measure (MCM) required by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Phase II NPDES Permit.

The six Minimum Control Measures are:

1) Public Education and Outreach

2) Public Participation and Involvement

3) Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination

4) Construction Site Runoff Control

5) Post-Construction Runoff Control

6) Pollution Prevention & Good Housekeeping

     The PCHD’s responsibility in the Storm Water Management Program is creating, designing, and implementing an Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination program in compliance with MCM #3. The goal of this measure is to eliminate “…any discharge to a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) that is not composed entirely of storm water…” with the exception of NPDESpermitted activities and fire fighting activities. The PCHD’s role in identifying illicit discharges involves the detection of home sewage treatment systems (HSTS), commercial discharges, and other illicit discharges that are discharging to a MS4 without an NPDES permit. The rules for illicit discharge detection and elimination, construction, and post-construction storm water management (Resolution No. 09-0836) were adopted by the Portage County Board of Commissioners on September 10, 2009. An “Agreement For Services” between the Portage County Board of Commissioners and the Portage County Combined General Health District was adopted as Resolution No. 10-0548 on June 10, 2010. The Agreement consisted of services rendered between the dates of January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010