Lucas County and its co-permittees are required by the Ohio EPA General National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit to develop and implement a Stormwater Management Plan designed to reduce the discharge of pollutants from the County's municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) to protect water quality, and to satisfy the water quality requirements of the Ohio Revised Code and the Clean Water Act. The Lucas County Plan can be accessed using the link below and associated questions can be addressed by contacting the Lucas County Engineer's Office at (419) 213-2860.

Lucas County SWMP (PDF)

Since 2003, the U.S. and Ohio Environmental Protection Agencies has required Lucas County and 11 urbanized townships (Jerusalem, Monclova, Spencer, Springfield, Swanton, Sylvania, Washington, and Waterville) and municipalities (City of Waterville and Villages of Whitehouse and Holland) within the county to obtain a storm water discharge permit under the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), and to develop a management plan that addresses permit requirements to minimize pollution caused by runoff. Lucas County adopted the first plan in 2003, with updates in 2022. A new set of revisions are now necessary to reflect improvements made to the program since the last revision, and to address new permit requirements by the Ohio EPA that went into effect in April 2021.

“The focus of our Storm Water Management Program is to improve the water quality in our streams, rivers, and Lake Erie by reducing the amount of pollutants that are washed into them as a result of a storm or from various activities in the watershed. The plan does not specifically address drainage or flooding issues, or the repair or installation of storm drains,” stated Lucas County Engineer Mike Pniewski.

As required by the permit, the storm water management program must address six “minimum control measures”: public education, public involvement, illicit discharge detection and elimination, construction site runoff control, post-construction storm water management, and pollution prevention for local government activities.