| ACE/ ACOE | Army Corps of Engineers has authority over wetlands alteration, Rivers & Harbors Act 1899, Nationwide Permits for outfalls into navigable waters, Stormwater Management Facilities, discharges into ditches. |
| BMP | Best Management Practices are techniques, measures or structural controls used to manage the quantity and improve the quality of stormwater runoff. The goal is to reduce or eliminate the contaminants collected by stormwater as it moves into streams and rivers. |
| 319 |
Section of the Clean Water Act that deals with Stormwater. |
| Clean Water Act |
Short name adopted in 1972 for the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 as Amended. |
| CRMC | Coastal Resources Management Council or RI CRMC is an agency required in each state by the federal Coastal Zone Management Act. This agency regulates lands within 200 feet of the coastal feature, contiguous wetlands (including freshwater wetlands), and near-shore waters. |
| DEM OWR/ RIDEM |
RI Department of Environmental Management is delegated to implement and enforce the federal Clean Water Act by the U. S. EPA in Rhode Island. Office of Water Resources staff oversee stormwater discharge permits and related activities. |
| DPW | Department of Public Works is the municipal department that most often is responsible for maintenance of street drains, storm sewers, and sanitary sewers. Some towns have a Sewer Authority that interacts with DPW. |
| EC4 | The Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council was legislated under the Chafee administration and is chaired by DEM Director. It includes state agencies of Administration, Health, Transportation, Emergency Management, Energy Resources, Commerce, DEM, CRMC, and Statewide Planning. |
| EPA | U. S. Environmental Protection Agency administers the Clean Water Act. Region 1 EPA in Boston is our local office. |
| Gray infrastructure | System of pipes, pumps, and treatment to capture and remove pollutants from storm- and used-water. |
| Green Infrastructure | System using natural models and materials for capturing and treating stormwater. EPA’s statement on green infrastructure |
| Impervious Cover | Any solid surface that water does not penetrate: paved roads, bridges, parking lots, sidewalks, run-ways, and roofs |
| LID | Low Impact Development, a nationally recognized set of principles and guidance to maintain ecosystem services in developed area promoted by EPA. |
| MCM | Minimum Control Measures in the MS4 Stormwater program are 6 actions required of a municipality: (1) Public outreach and education; (2) public participation; (3) illicit discharge detection and elimination; (4) construction site run-off control; (5) post-construction stormwater management; (6) stormwater management for municipal operations. |
| MS-4 | Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System that is owned by a government entity or institution that is permitted to discharge pollutants into receiving waters under the NPDES/ RIPDES provisions of CWA. |
| NEIWPCC | Established by an Act of Congress in 1947, the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission is a not-for-profit interstate agency that utilizes a variety of strategies to meet the water-related needs of our member states—Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. |
| NPDES/ RIPDES |
National Pollution Discharge Elimination System and its delegated form, Rhode Island PDES, is the permitting system for discharging into the waters of the United States. |
| NRCS | Natural Resources Conservation Service is a federal agency of the U. S. Department of Agriculture that, among its many functions, educates commercial interests, hobby farmers, municipalities, and others about managing run-off and other practices to protect water. |
| Non-point run-off | Ambient water flowing across land and constructed areas that does not come out of a pipe/ point source. |
| POTW/ WWTP | Publically Owned Treatment Works/ Wastewater Treatment Plant. |
| TMDL | Total Maximum Daily Load of a specified pollutant that is a targeted threshold, allocated among the sources of that pollutant within a watershed, so that waters of U. S. do not exceed the Water Quality Standards. |
| WLA | Waste Load Allocation is that part of the loading capacity (WQS) that is already allocated to an existing or future point source (permitted discharge). |
| WQS | Water Quality Standards are the thresholds of physical condition and concentrations of elements or pollutants that may be discharged into waters while protecting the designated uses of that water body. |