Stormwater Authority

Beginning in 2003, all of Pennsylvania came under Federal/ State permit regulations (EPA & DEP) for stormwater requiring the Borough to perform certain inspections as well as repairs, maintenance and ongoing monitoring to our storm water system and the public streams in the municipality. Our system is defined as a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System, or (MS4). To date, the Borough has been forced to spend Tens of Thousands of dollars yearly to comply with the permit, and is on-going with various activities that must be completed in specified years. In short, the Borough must meet these required deadlines or face excessive penalties. This isn't going away in the foreseeable future and we have years of work required with anticipated expenses totaling in the millions of dollars. You will see below a more technical explanation of this process.

Unfortunately, this comes as an unfunded mandate from the Federal and State agencies. Unfunded meaning there is no money being made available from either the Federal or the State government to assist the Borough in meeting the requirements of the permit on a yearly basis. Baldwin Borough is not the only municipality or neighboring community facing this issue. We are all under similar permit requirements.

Stormwater discharges from both the Public and Private systems (including but not limited to overland water flow between and through private properties, springs, roof drains, etc.) within the Borough to the surface waters of the Commonwealth. In short, almost every drop of water that falls from the sky within the Borough is MS4 regulated by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) through what’s known as an MS4 permit. This is a required process and not optional. To this effect, the Borough’s MS4 operates as a public utility serving each property owner, or user of the MS4, throughout the Borough.

The documents located below go into more detail regarding the Stormwater Authority: 

Borough Stormwater Services Fee Adoption

Stormwater Management Fee Study

Stormwater Resolution

Stormwater Ordinance No. 913 - Formation

For detailed maps, borough residents can view them at the Baldwin Borough Municipal Building.