Capital Improvement Projects

Project Rationale: Why We Do What We Do.

The Department of Stormwater's work is structured to ensure that Frederick County Government remains in compliance with the Federal Government's National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System (NPDES), a program created by The Clean Water Act. 

Compliance is enforced by the State of Maryland, which issues a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System permit (a.k.a. "The MS4”) to structure how jurisdictions must monitor, protect, and enhance local watersheds. The MS4 works to improve stormwater infrastructure, promote best practices for managing stormwater runoff, and ultimately reduce the amount of pollution sent to the Chesapeake Bay.

What that means is that there are regulated, legally-required activities we must take to be good stewards of the environment, conserve natural resources, improve the health of our waterways, and protect our community.

Project Selection: How Do We Choose What to Work On?

To accomplish these watershed protection goals, our Division must identify potential stormwater projects using the Maryland Department of Environment’s guidelines.  Watershed assessments help identify, group, and rank potential projects across the county that could protect properties, waterways, and neighborhoods while meeting the State's MS4 Permit requirements.

Once larger areas of potential watershed projects have been identified, more focused evaluations are needed. A feasibility study examines a specific project's practicality and potential success, assessing things like site conditions, possible solutions and costs, environmental impacts, and regulatory compliance, all to determine if the project is practical to implement. These studies often recognize localized issues, like public concerns, HOA requests, risk of property loss, stream degradation, aging infrastructure, etc.