I hope that you are all seeing the evidence that the City now has a more proactive and informative stormwater program that it can really be proud of for years to come.  I am very proud of how far we have come.  The City continues to need volunteers from the community to assist with the stormwater program, so please don't be shy.  Call Jill Lacy at 706-866-2544 x 1206 if you or a group of you are interested in volunteering.

Thank you again for allowing me to serve the City!

Sincerely,

Jill Lacy

Don't Forget...

Water is our single most precious natural resource, and it is the responsibility of each citizen to help protect that resource for both today and for the future. Our City’s storm water system is a pathway for every drop of water to find its way in to our natural streams, rivers, and lakes. These resources must be conserved; therefore we must think about how to protect our storm water system from pollution.

What is Storm Water?

Stormwater is precipitation that cannot soak into impervious areas such as paved streets, parking lots, and building rooftops during rainfall events. Because it cannot soak into the ground, it "runs off" the land into neighboring waterways. Stormwater runoff often contains pollutants in quantities that could adversely affect water quality. Stormwater pollution from point sources and nonpoint sources is a challenging water quality problem. Unlike pollution from industry or sewage treatment facilities, which is caused by a discrete number of sources, stormwater pollution is caused by the daily activities of people everywhere. Rainwater runs off streets, lawns, farms, as well as construction and industrial sites. It then picks up fertilizers, dirt, sediment, pesticides, oil and grease, and many other pollutants on the way to streams, rivers, and lakes. Stormwater runoff is the most common cause of water pollution.

What is Storm Water Management?

Stormwater management is the process of changing land use practices in the built landscape in order to maintain the quality, quantity, and rate of runoff as close to the pre­development condition as possible. This includes preventing runoff at the source by minimizing the amount of hard surfaces; providing areas to detain water and slow its progress toward the streams; amending soils in order to absorb more water; constructing filtration areas with vegetation to filter water as it moves across the land; and practicing good housekeeping both day-to-day and on construction sites in order to prevent sediment and other pollutants from washing into streams.

Why is Storm Water Management Important?

In areas that do not have man-made impermeable surfaces, precipitation normally takes a long time to reach a stream. A small amount of water falls on the stream surface, but most of the water reaches the stream only after it has soaked into the ground and moved through the soils. When impermeable surfaces are added to a watershed, the water reaches the stream very quickly and in much larger quantities than the stream is used to. In addition, urban areas are normally serviced by a system of pipes and catch basins which are designed to get water off the land as quickly as possible and convey it to the stream. This excessive volume of water is more than the channel can handle and erosion of the channel results. When the channel erosion occurs, it causes cloudy (turbid) water that negatively affects the organisms in the stream and the downstream users of the water, in addition to destroying habitat. It is, therefore, important to prevent runoff at the source wherever possible.

The City of Fort Oglethorpe operates a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) under provisions of the Georgia General NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) Permit No. GAG610000. The required Notice of Intent filed by the City of Fort Oglethorpe to operate its MS4 was approved by GA EPD in April of 2006 and can be viewed here. 

PLEASE REMEMBER...ONLY RAIN DOWN OUR STORM DRAINS. The pollution you prevent today will protect your drinking water supply tomorrow.

Please visit the following sites for more information on Storm Water Management:

Stormwater Glossary

U.S. EPA Storm Water Program

Georgia EPD Watershed Protection Branch

Atlanta Regional Commission Stormwater Program

THIS IS A “NO! NO!”

Anything allowed to wash down our storm drains leads eventually to our creeks and streams.  The rule to remember is…

 ONLY RAIN!
DOWN OUR STORM DRAINS!
Help Prevent
Pollution!

If you have a favorite photo that you would like to see included on our website, please submit it electronically to kethornton@fortogov.com.

Submitting a photo does not guarantee that it will be posted on the website.  We reserve the right to determine if a photo should be posted.

Street sweeping in the City meets part of the requirement for Good Housekeeping.  Great job Public Works department!!  Thanks for the hard work.