NepRWA’s regional program, the Neponset Stormwater Partnership (NSP), has kicked off the new year on a high note with many towns within the watershed signing on to participate in the 2019 NSP program year.

This year marks the fourth year of community commitment to the NSP and is the first year of multiple reporting deadlines for the Massachusetts Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit, which towns must now follow as of July 2018.

The permit is a driver for brand new projects and programs for town departments such as public works, engineering, and environmental planning. This is a somewhat daunting task, but towns are enthusiastic about the guidance and technical support offered by the NSP. 

Canton, Dedham, Milton, Quincy, Sharon, Stoughton, and Westwood have recommitted to various tasks supported by the NSP, including:

-public participation and outreach
-stormwater permit technical assistance
-elementary school education programs
-support when preparing key permit documents
-printing regional public outreach materials
-creating model stormwater bylaws

This past January, the NSP held the first of four quarterly trainings. The session included a speaker from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation discussing specific new MS4 program requirements and how the implementation of the program aligns and differ with the new MS4 requirements of towns. During the meeting, the NSP also released several stormwater management program templates for towns to use in order to meet first year requirements of the permit.

The NSP looks forward to the next quarterly training in April, with plans to discuss the process of locating existing stormwater infrastructure to retrofit so that it can perform as green infrastructure or low impact development, and improve water quality of the Neponset River on a watershed based scale.

For access to the NSPs Tools and Templates, visit the yourcleanwater.org webpage.

Taylor Walter, Water Resources Engineer, Feb 2019