Stormwater Management Program

Environmental Protection

We strive to maintain high stormwater quality and manage stormwater retention systems to protect our environment. Our efforts include monitoring water quality and implementing best management practices (BMP's) for stormwater treatment.

Texas Law Regarding Bodies of Water

Public vs. Private Streams: In Texas, streams are considered public if they are navigable in fact or by statute. A stream is navigable if it retains and average width of 30 feet from the mouth up.
Groundwater Rights: Landowners own the groundwater beneath their property, but this right does not guarantee a specific amount of water.
Surface Water Rights: Surface water rights are regulated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), and landowners must obtain permits for the use of surface water.
Streambed Ownership: The streambeds is considered public property up to the gradient boundary, which is the line halfway between the low and high-water marks.

If a creek runs through private property in Texas, the ownership and rights can depend on several factors:

Navigability: If the creek is navigable in fact (meaning it can be used for transportation) or navigable by statute (retaining an average width of 30 feet from mouth up), it is considered public property. The state owns the streambed up to the gradient boundary, which is halfway between the low and high-water marks.
Non-Navigable Streams: If the creek is not navigable, it is generally considered private property. The landowner owns the creek bed and the water within it.
Permits and Regulation: Even for non-navigable streams, landowners may need permits for certain activities, such as building dams or other structures that could impact the water flow.
Public Use: Even if a creek is on private property, the public may have the right to use it for activities like fishing or boating, depending on local regulations and the specific circumstances of the creek.

It's always a good idea to consult with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for specific advice and to ensure compliance with all relevant laws and regulation.

Clean Water Act

The current effort to improve the water quality in the Nation's streams started in 1972 with the passage of the Clean Water Act (CWA). The main emphasis of this legislation was to establish a system to control pollution from point sources, with the goal of reducing pollutants so that the water in our lakes and streams is both fishable and swimmable. To achieve this goal, the CWA established the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). The NPDES requires that anyone discharging a pollutant from a municipal wastewater or industrial point source must obtain an NPDES permit, which specifies effluent limits, monitoring requirements, and enforcement mechanisms.

The CWA also contains regulations to address pollution from diffuse non-point sources. The EPA defines non-point source pollution as “any pollution associated with diffuse land use activities that cumulatively results in water quality degradation.” Phase I of the NPDES regulations required municipalities with populations over 100,000 to classify their stormwater runoff and develop programs to reduce the pollutants in their runoff.

On December 8, 1999, U.S. EPA promulgated regulations, known as Phase II, requiring permits for stormwater discharges from small MS4s and required small MS4s to obtain permit coverage by March 10, 2003. Since Texas has delegation authority to administer the NPDES program in the State, the TCEQ developed and released their draft TPDES Small MS4 General Permit on September 1, 2002, to meet the March 10 deadline.

A series of lawsuits followed the permit release, which ultimately ended up in the 9th Circuit Court. A suit brought by business groups, developers and a coalition of Texas cities and counties challenged the constitutionality of the Phase II regulations. On January 14, 2003, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court issued its decision in Environmental Defense Center et al. vs. EPA. The ruling upheld the Phase II regulations on all but 3 of the 20 issues that were contested. On September 15, 2003, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a revised panel decision, which denied all petitions for rehearing and remanded portions of the rule affecting small MS4s to the EPA. The Court found that portions of the federal regulations were not consistent with the CWA, because the Phase II rules did not address permitting authority review and public participation and notification. The three issues that were remanded back to EPA required that the Notice of Intent and SWMP be made available to the public and undergo meaningful review by the State to determine if the MEP standard is met, and there must be a process to accommodate public hearings.

An EPA guidance memo, dated April 16, 2004, was issued to permitting authorities and the TCEQ revised and released their second draft TPDES Small MS4 General Permit on August 8, 2005. After a second public comment period, the TCEQ revised and released the final TPDES Small MS4 General Permit on August 13, 2007.

The original general permit expired August 12, 2012, and the Small MS4 General Permit, TPDES Permit No. TXR040000, was reissued on December 13, 2013. Each subsequent permit is effective for five years from the date of issuance. This is the sixth SWMP for the City of Tyler and its sixth permit period; each SWMP is updated as required to comply with any new requirements promulgated with the new TXR40000, Small MS4 General Permit.

Minimum Control Measures

The City's current Stormwater Management Program consists of the following eight Minimum Control Measures (MCMs):

Public Education and Outreach

All permittees shall develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive stormwater education and outreach program to educate public employees, businesses, and the community of the impacts of stormwater discharges on the local stormwater system, waterways, and waterbodies, as well as the steps that the public can take to reduce pollutants in stormwater.