Storm Drainage

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM INFORMATION

2021 STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

The city updated its Stormwater Management Program that will continue to guide efforts to further improve the quality of our city's stormwater discharges.

Fife's 2021 Stormwater Management Program

WHAT IS THE STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM?

The program is part of the city’s compliance with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit or NPDES, which is a requirement of the federal Clean Water Act. The program establishes the local regulations, maintenance and administrative procedures, and educational and outreach programs that the city will continue to act upon to address and reduce pollution from stormwater discharges. The Washington State Department of Ecology administers the program in our state.

2020 ANNUAL REPORT TO ECOLOGY

The city filed an Annual Stormwater Report with the state Department of Ecology to report on stormwater management program activities from 2020.

You can view that report here.

Want more information about the DOE and the Western Washington Phase II Municipal Stormwater Permit process, visit this website.

2020-2021 POLLUTION PREVENTION PERFORMANCE REPORT FROM TACOMA-PIERCE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT

You can view that report here.

MORE INFORMATION FOR WHAT LOCAL RESIDENTS CAN DO TO PROTECT OUR WATERWAYS

Here is an information sheet about what you can do to help ensure our stormwater discharge system stays free of oil and debris.

FREE CAR WASH PROGRAM FROM CITY OF FIFE

The City of Fife is encouraging residents to skip washing cars at home and instead use a commercial car wash this summer. How do two free car washes sound?

The City of Fife is partnering with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and Marine View Ventures to provide free carwashes at the Tahoma Market at 6006 Pacific Hwy E. Fife households will be provided the codes for two free washes (normally $10 each) to be used from July 15 to Sept. 30, 2021.

Your postcard was mailed to you in mid-July and you should have received it by now. Don't throw it out! The codes on the card are redeemable through Sept. 30, 2021.

Here’s why it’s so important to use a professional car wash service. When you wash your car at home, oil, grease and grime flow untreated into storm drains and into our creeks, rivers and Commencement Bay.

Typically, the average home uses anywhere from 80 to 140 gallons of water per car wash. Commercial car washes save a considerable amount of water. Tahoma Market only uses 27 gallons of water per car wash. Another benefit of a car wash at Tahoma Market is that it has on-site water cleaning. Tahoma Market continually uses and sanitizes the facility’s recycled water, but about once a month, a commercial vendor pumps the entire system, the water is cleaned and then released into the sewage system. With this process, harmful chemicals aren’t going untreated into our waterways like they do when you wash your car at home.

These car washes are provided as part of the city’s public education and outreach program for the Western Washington Phase II Municipal Stormwater Permit.

STORMWATER DRAINAGE INFORMATION

Are you aware of any Spills or Illicit Discharges? Fife is using 253-922-9315 as a “hotline” to report any spill that could enter into the storm sewer that could constitute a threat to human health, welfare of the environment. If you observe a spill that presents a severe of an imminent threat to human health please call the local Ecology Office Southwest Region at 1-360-407-6300. Thank you for caring about the environment.

Federal Clean Water Act

Stormwater is the leading contributor to water quality pollution in our urban waterways. As urban areas grow, it is also the state’s fastest growing water quality problem. Under the Federal Clean Water Act, the City of Fife is obliged to meet new and higher standards for water quality; the storm drainage utility was created to provide the funding necessary to meet those standards, and also to fund a program of improvements to the storm runoff collection system in the City of Fife.

It is anticipated that the list will be updated in the years ahead, as projects are completed and new projects are added, and that the drainage utility will also fund smaller projects, that may not be formally added to the capital improvements list.

Providing Services to Additional Districts

The City of Fife has also provided services to Drainage District 21 through an interlocal agreement with the District that was executed during the summer of 2004, and has provided funding for improvements to the tide gates at the Fife Ditch pump station, through an interlocal agreement with Drainage District 23 and other partners.

Drainage District 21 provides mainline creek, ditch, culvert, and tide gate maintenance in southeast Fife and portions of Edgewood, Puyallup, and unincorporated Pierce County.

Drainage District 23 provides similar services in north Fife and portions of Milton, Edgewood, and unincorporated Pierce County.