UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
AUG 1 1
OFFICE OF
WATER
Dear Municipal Stormwater Manager:
We are pleased to provide you with the new Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE)
Manual. Prepared by the Center for Watershed Protection, in cooperation with Robert Pitt of the
University of Alabama, and funded by an EPA grant, this manual is an up-to-date and
comprehensive guide for detecting and eliminating illicit discharges.
Using the experience of more than 20 Phase I communities, the IDDE manual describes many
cost-effective and efficient discharge detection techniques. The manual is designed as a guide to
help the thousands of Phase II communities currently in the process of developing illicit discharge
detection and elimination programs, one of the six minimum control measures required by EPA's
National Pollution Discharge and Elimination System Phase II stormwater program.
Illicit discharges include cross-connections from sanitary sewers, midnight dumping, laundry or
car washwater, or any discharges to the municipal separate stormwater system that are not
composed entirely of stormwater. Illicit discharge detection and elimination programs are
designed to minimize the contamination of surface and groundwater supplies though monitoring,
inspection, and resolution of illegal non-stormwater discharges.
The manual provides practical information on the various approaches, technologies, and
techniques that operators of regulated small municipal storm sewer systems (MS4s) can use to
comply with EPA's illicit discharge detection and elimination regulations.
The manual's first chapters explain in broad terms the administrative and technical considerations
communities setting up their own IDDE programs need to consider. Following chapters
introduce increasingly technical information on a variety of topics, such as discharge tracking and
outfall reconnaissance inventories. The manual provides information on estimating program
costs, and presents timelines on how long program implementation will take. The information
contained in this manual will also be useful to Phase I communities that wish to modify their
existing programs. A CD-ROM containing 11 technical appendices is included in the back of the
manual.
For more information, please contact Ted Brown at the Center for Watershed Protection, 410-
461-8323, ewb@cwp.org or Nikos Singelis of the EPA's Water Permits Division 202-564-0692,
singelis.nikos@epa.gov. If you wish to obtain an IDDE manual, contact Lance Wills at
wills.lance@epa.gov.
Sincerely,
Boornazian, Direc;
Water Permits Division
Internet Address (URL) • http://www.epa.gov
Recycled/Recyclable • Printed with Vegetable Oil Based Inks on Recycled Paper (Minimum 30% Postconsumer)
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