Stormwater

The City of Belle Meade is covered under the Tennessee NPDES General Permit for Discharges from Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (Permit No. TNS000000). This permit requires the City to maintain a set of programs to manage the quality of stormwater runoff from the storm sewer systems. The program is organized within six minimum control measures (MCMs):

  1. Public Education and Outreach
  2. Public Involvement/Participation
  3. Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination
  4. Construction Site Stormwater Runoff Pollutant Control
  5. Permanent Stormwater Management at New Development and Redevelopment Projects
  6. Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping for Municipal Operations

Belle Meade manages the stormwater program jointly between the Public Works and Building & Zoning Departments. The Public Works Department maintains the City’s storm sewer system/infrastructure and issues permits for work within the City’s right-of-way. The Building & Zoning Department issues permits for land disturbing work on private lots. A third party engineering consultant supports the City’s stormwater program through various MS4 Permit compliance activities such as site plan review services. Examples of the programs the City maintains to comply with the MS4 permit include:

  • Issuing land disturbance permits and performing erosion prevention and sediment control inspections (MCM 3 & 4)
  • Regular street sweeping and creek cleaning (MCM 3 & 6)
  • Public meetings to discuss various stormwater related topics (MCM 1)
  • Organizing volunteer creek cleanup (MCM 2)
  • Requiring annual inspection/maintenance records for permanent stormwater control measures (i.e. underground detention structures, rain gardens, permeable pavement systems) (MCM 5)