Effective July 1, 2015, the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) will be implementing new stormwater management regulations in order to meet the goals outlined in Green City, Clean Waters, which is the city's 25-year plan for managing combined sewer overflows. The new regulations will change the requirements for water quality volume, rate and treatment. The water quality volume requirement will increase from 1 inch to 1.5 inches. The peak release rate will decrease from 0.24 to 0.05 cubic feet per second per acre of non-infiltrating impervious area. Lastly, the new regulations will require 100 percent of surface runoff that cannot infiltrate into the ground to go through a pollutant reducing practice. The lowered release rate and pollutant reducing practice will only apply to projects in the combined sewer area that cannot infiltrate.
In addition to the new technical regulations, PWD will also be implementing new practices for the review and approval process. For example, PWD will generate simplified technical worksheets and application materials, which are anticipated to reduce review times. In addition, PWD will be implementing a new expedited review option. Also, a new Stormwater Management Guidance Manual and plan review website will be created in order to provide better information to developers and designers.
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