Stormwater affects the water you drink.When precipitation hits the ground, some water trickles down into groundwater aquifers, while the rest flows on the surface to lakes, streams and rivers. Depending on where you live, your drinking water comes from either surface water (lakes and rivers) or a groundwater aquifer.

-Henry the Water Drop

Henry Says
Henry Says

Interested in what the City of Kalamazoo is Doing to Protect Your Surface Water Resources?

We want you to know the many actions the City of Kalamazoo undertakes each day to protect our precious water resources. It starts with having an approved State of Michigan National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit, specifically for our Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4). An MS4 stormwater system has no connections to the sanitary sewer system; they are completely separate. When it storms, the water runs off the ground to our roadway drains and pipes that eventually empty or discharge to a creek/river from outfall pipes. The runoff water eventually enters (discharges) the Kalamazoo River.


Above: Storm water entering a drain and discharges from an outfall pipe to a creek.

ILLICIT DISCHARGES are any direct or indirect non-stormwater discharge or seepage to the stormwater system, that does not consist of only stormwater or only uncontaminated groundwater. The State-approved NPDES Permit establishes the City's Stormwater Management Program (SWMP) to eliminate any Illicit Discharges by either prevention, good housekeeping or educating the public.

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

The City's SWMP explains our:

  • Stormwater Ordinances and related protection standards
  • Participation in public involvement and education outreach efforts
  • Preventive measures to control erosion and prevent sediments from entering our road drains at construction and redevelopment sites
  • Good housekeeping efforts like street sweeping, leaf collection, brush and bulk trash collections
  • Managed snow and ice removal operations such as plowing and salting the roads
  • Material recycling programs including those where residents can take household hazardous waste for disposal
  • Plans to prohibit, eliminate and respond to illicit discharges and connections to the storm sewer system and surface water bodies
  • Environmentally safer products list
  • Lawn care, and proper applications of pesticides and herbicides

We want to HEAR from YOU!

Please take a look and comment on our MS4 NPDES Condensed Permit Application, and the Final Attachment Compilation by clicking the buttons on the sides of this page.

Shortened versions of the SWMP (Stormwater Management Program), and the Stormwater Public Education Plan are also available for your review. Learn more by using our Resource Library page or make a request on the Contact page for more information.

In 2022, the City of Kalamazoo revised its technical document "Performance Standards for Groundwater Protection Within Wellhead Protection Capture Zones and Stormwater Management". The revisions were implemented to meet requirements in our State MS4 NPDES Permit for the discharge of stormwater to the surface waters of the state.

The Performance Standards for stormwater management in the City are essential for developers going through the Site Plan Review process.


Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Our stormwater protection partner

Under an Inter-Agency Agreement between the City of Kalamazoo and Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC), KVCC's downtown campuses are "nested" under the City's Permit. KVCC complies with all necessary measures to report and resolve stormwater quality issues using the City's ordinances and other regulatory plans. KVCC has several stormwater points of discharge (outfalls) to the creeks in their downtown campuses. Working collaboratively with the City, KVCC developed their own state approved Stormwater Management Program (SWMP) including implementation of an Illicit Discharge Elimination Plan (IDEP).


KVCC's nesting agreement also includes a Public Education Plan outlining the strategies its partners can participate in to educate the public on stormwater issues and concerns.

Why is the IDEP Program so Important?

The IDEP program was established to prohibit and eliminate illicit discharges and connections including sanitary wastewater to the City of Kalamazoo's municipal stormwater sewer system. Together the City and KVCC will tackle instances of non-compliance, resolve violations and enforce stormwater ordinances and other regulations.
Our approved MS4 IDEP contains the following requirements:

  • A program to find, prioritize and eliminate illicit discharges and illicit connections identified during dry weather screening activities.
  • A description of a program to minimize infiltration of seepage from sanitary sewers and on-site sewage disposal (septic) systems into the storm sewer drainage system.
  • A method for determining the effectiveness of the illicit discharge elimination inspections of each storm water discharge point (outfalls) to the creek, river or ground.
Routine dry weather screenings of the outfalls to identify illicit connections, as well as facility inspections are conducted regularly to fulfill these obligations.

Get Involved!

You can help keep Kalamazoo's water clean! Some tactics include using your property wisely, disposing of hazardous products properly, conserving water, and more. Learn about proper disposal and ways to conserve water.

Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP)