Water Utility Programs

Stormwater Quality Program

The Stormwater Quality Program has four main components:
1. Public Education 
2. Water Quality Monitoring
3. Regulatory Compliance
4. Source Control

The City of Boulder participates in the Keep it Clean Partnership (KICP), a regional stormwater program formed in 2001.

The KICP combines resources and implements programs to help improve the quality of the stormwater that enters our streams and lakes as a result of runoff from residential, commercial and industrial areas. The KICP also meets the requirements of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater permitting program.

Boulder Creek Watershed

The Boulder Creek Watershed drains approximately 440 square miles on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. The basin is bordered on the west by the Continental Divide where headwater tributaries begin in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Boulder Creek flows through the City of Boulder and out to the confluence with St. Vrain River, and eventually the South Platte River.

Boulder Creek is impacted by many activities associated with various land features and land uses. The impacts include:

• sedimentation from highway maintenance and bank erosion;
• acid mine drainage from historic gold mines in the mountainous region of Boulder County;
• pollutants associated with urban runoff;
• stream channelization and reduced riparian habitat functions;
• pollutants from agricultural runoff;
• damage to riparian vegetarian and sedimentation from stream bank erosion from ranching practices; and
• point sources from industrial and municipal discharges.

To better understand impacts to Boulder's surface water, the city regulary examines water quality to discover how the community's water resources are changing over time, and to help identify and mitigate potential sources of pollution.

Background

The Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972 mandated the development of federal programs to protect waters throughout the United States. The CWA intially focused on point-source pollution, such as wastewater treatment plant discharges. In the 1980s, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began addressing other pollution sources referenced in the CWA, including non-point source discharges, such as stormwater flows.

During the time the Clean Water Act was amended to address stormwater quality, Boulder developed a Comprehensive Drainage Utililty Master Plan (CDUMP) to address flood and stormwater issues. In 1989, Boulder's Stormwater Quality Program was developed as a component of the CDUMP to address water quality issues related to stormwater runoff.

For more information about the Stormwater Quality Office, please call 303-413-7350.

Last Updated on Thursday, 07 March 2013 10:34