Stormwater Utility Manuals

The stormwater utility manuals that were reviewed for this work were found to have several common elements.  The contents of each of the manuals are displayed in table form so that the reader can quickly find information about any aspect of the utility creation process. 

User Pays

Most of the manuals include a discussion of the user pays idea.  In order to create a successful stormwater utility, the ideas of “user” and “benefit” must be adapted to fit activities undertaken by a stormwater program.  Accordingly, a user is usually defined as a piece of property and stormwater management services are seen as a benefit received by the property.

Legal Requirements

Stormwater manuals usually include a discussion of the legal requirements for the creation of a utility.  This section includes guidelines on how to distinguish the user fee from a tax and how to establish a user charge system that is fair and equitable.  It may also include guidelines on the elements that should be included in the local ordinances used to establish the utility and the user charge system.  Experience has shown that state law must provide local governments with clear legal authority to establish stormwater utilities.  

Needs Assessment and Revenue Requirements

Stormwater management projects usually involve years of planning so the manuals usually break the planning stage into several steps.  They advise stormwater managers to begin by assessing their needs, goals, constraints, and existing resources to better determine the scope of the project.  Next, they usually discuss methods of determining the total costs of the project and different financing options.  For example, the manual may discuss combining tax dollars from the general fund, state revolving fund money, and utility revenues to finance the stormwater management project.

Master Plans, Public Education, and Steps Toward Implementation

In these sections, the manuals discuss administrative concerns such as how to assess long-term planning needs, the importance of public education programs, and steps to take toward the full implementation of the stormwater utility.  Long-term planning needs include funds for the operation and maintenance of stormwater management systems and major capital improvements that have been scheduled.  Experience has shown that public education programs are one of the most important components of a successful utility planning program and most manuals provide examples of ways to educate the public about the need for the new utility, the reasoning behind the user charge system, and how the new utility will improve the quality of life for residents of the service area.  The manuals usually advise planners to implement the utility program in steps.  Often a relatively low interim rate structure is first implemented to prepare land owners for the new charges and ensure a smooth transition from the old general fund system to the utility.  Then, once a stormwater master plan is adopted that includes a list of specific projects to be undertaken, the stormwater utility rate structure is revised to increase the fees, providing the funding that is needed to construct and operate the projects.  

Stormwater Charges, Billing Systems, and Credits

The determination of user charges and the formation of the rate base are two of the most difficult aspects of the utility creation process.  These sections include guidelines on how to choose the types of properties to be included in the rate base and the types of properties that should bear the greatest cost burden under the new system.  These sections discuss the most common type of rate structures- those that use the impervious area of single family residences as the basis for the rate with the use of equivalent residential units (ERUs) for other land uses.  This information is essential to help utility planners determine what the base charge for the utility billing system should be, how the base charge should be calculated, and how to use the base charge in the calculation of the fees for non-residential properties.  Finally, some of the manuals discuss the possibility of offering credits to property owners who install on-site stormwater controls to minimize the impacts of stormwater runoff from their property.       

Stormwater Utility Manuals:

Apogee Research, Inc.  (1992).  Storm Water Utilities:  Innovative Financing for Storm Water Management. Prepared for the U.S. EPA Water Policy Branch, Office of Policy Analysis, Office of Policy, Planning, and Management, Washington, D.C.

This manual was prepared for the Water Policy Branch of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Policy, Planning, and Management to help local governments find ways to raise sufficient funds to support stormwater management programs and comply with EPA regulations.  The manual covers the legal, financial, and institutional components of a stormwater utility and discusses some of the most common obstacles to utility formation.  Clean Water Act issues, NPDES permits, and other funding sources are also addressed.   The guidelines outlined in this manual are based on a survey of fifty utilities nationwide that included information about their general characteristics, billing systems, revenues, and setup.  

Cyre, H. J.  (1982, September 16).  Stormwater Management Financing.  Presented to the International Public Works Congress in Houston, Texas. (134 KB)

This presentation covers stormwater funding options and discusses the user pays idea.  The author provides examples of the rate structures of Bellevue, Tacoma, Boulder, Denver, and Corvallis and discusses the how to assess a community’s needs in the utility creation process. 

Cyre, Hector J. Five Phases in Developing and Implementing a Stormwater Utility. Kirkland, Washington: Water Resources Associates, Inc. 

Cyre provides a brief overview of five phases that he believes should be considered when developing a stormwater utility system.  The paper is based on the author’s professional experiences working with Water Resources Associates and on the experiences of several communities that have established utilities.  This paper does not offer detailed step-by-step information on how to establish a utility.  However, it would be very useful for communities that are considering establishing a stormwater utility since it focuses on project acceptance and political issues involved in the early stages of the utility formation process.

Doll, A., Lindsey, G., & Albani, R.  (1998). Stormwater Utilities:  Key Components and Issues.  Advances in Urban Wet Weather Pollution Reduction Conference, Water Environment Federation, June 28- July 1, 1998, Cleveland, Ohio, pp. 293-302.

This paper, based on the 1992 Apogee Research manual, discusses the common components that are needed to set up a stormwater utility with a special emphasis on the political challenges that could arise. The paper also provides case studies of Austin Texas, Bellevue Washington, and Boulder Colorado.

Florida Association of Stormwater Utilities. (1998). Establishing a Stormwater Utility in Florida. Tallahassee, Florida: Author. [Online] Available: http://www.fasu.org. 

This manual was complied by the Florida Association of Stormwater Utilities to assist Florida communities interested in establishing a stormwater utility.  The manual contains information about what stormwater utilities are, legal issues related to the utility creation process, public acceptance of the new utility, establishing the rate structure, setting up the billing system, and the administration of the new utility.  The manual is available online at http://www.fasu.org and hard copies may be ordered from the association’s website. 

Institute for Water Resources.  (1991). Financing Stormwater Facilities:  A Utility Approach.  Chicago, Illinois: American Public Works Association.  (1,081 KB)

The Institute for Water Resources published this manual for local officials interested in creating a stormwater utility.  It is based on the manual that was written by Lindsey in 1988 for the State of Maryland.  This manual is more thorough than most on the calculation of user charges and contains a worksheet that can be used in the calculation of stormwater user charges. 

Lindsey, G.  (1988).  Financing Stormwater Management:  The Utility Approach. Baltimore, Maryland: Stormwater Management Administration, Maryland Department of the Environment. (4,439 KB)

This manual focuses on the financial aspects of utility creation.  It is based on A Survey of Stormwater Utilities that was written by the same author and discusses briefly all of the aspects of utility creation.  This manual contains detailed information concerning how to calculate utility charges for each type of property classification.  It provides four examples of rate structures based on data from Prince George’s County, Maryland that would help decision-makers determine what types of properties should be included in the rate-base. 

Priede, N.  (1985). Financing Stormwater Management Through a Utility.  Stormwater Management "an update".  University of Central Florida Environmental Systems Engineering Institute Publication 85-1, 183-187.

This article identifies the key components of a stormwater utility program and uses Tallahassee, Florida as an example of how to determine the size of a single family unit (SFU) and how to determine what rate to charge for a SFU in order to get a desired amount of revenue.  

Priede, N. & Hobel, M.  (1986, September).  The Stormwater Management Utility:  An Innovative Financing Method.  Florida Municipal Record,  68-70.

This paper is an adaptation of Priede, 1985 that was published in the Florida Municipal Record.

Water Environment Federation.  (1994).  User-Fee-Funded Stormwater Utilities.  Alexandria, Virginia: Author.

This manual was prepared by the Water Environment Federation for professionals interested in creating a stormwater utilities.  The authors discuss the technical, financial, and institutional requirements for the successful implementation of a stormwater utility in detail and they stress the importance of public education programs.  The manual also contains four case histories that discuss the efforts of Bellevue, Washington; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky. 

Water Pollution Control Federation.  (1990). Organizing a Self-Sustaining Utility for Stormwater Services.  Alexandria, Virginia: Author.  

This is a collection of the papers that were presented at the WPCF’s Technical Practice Committee workshop of the same name.  It provides an overview of the elements that are necessary for a successful utility program as they were presented during the workshop and includes information on financing, implementation, legal issues, and the management of stormwater utilities.  Two of the papers were case histories of two successful utility programs (Bellevue, Washington and the Louisville-Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District, Kentucky) that were presented by representatives of each utility.  

Part 1 (4,614 KB)  Part 2 (3,334 KB)  Part 3 (4,052 KB)  Part 4 (1,687 KB)

Water Resource Associates, Inc.  Introduction to Stormwater Utility Financing.  Kirkland, Washington:  Author.

This paper provides a general overview of the stormwater utility creation process by outlining the basic steps to take in each phase of development and identifying potential pitfalls that should be avoided by utility planners.  This resource would be most helpful to planners who are investigating the creation of a utility and are determining the feasibility of the creation of a utility in their area.

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