Case Studies

Edmonds, Washington: Transforming Stormwater Compliance with NPDESPro

Introduction

With a population of 43,000 residents, the city of Edmonds in Washington State is not only defined by its thriving community but also by its stunning natural features. Edmonds boasts 5 miles of pristine shoreline, with a view of The Puget Sound, which dominates the city's drainage basin, receiving a remarkable 86 percent of its stormwater runoff. When the city faced significant challenges in organizing and reporting their stormwater compliance data, NPDESPro transformed their processes, making compliance easier and more efficient.

Challenges

Before implementing NPDESPro, Edmonds struggled with several issues:

  • Data Organization: Compliance data was stored in messy and inconsistent Excel spreadsheets.

  • Time Consumption: Manually organizing and reporting data was time-consuming and prone to errors.

  • Historical Data Access: Lack of accessible historical data made tracking and understanding past activities difficult.

Patrick Johnson, Sr. Stormwater Engineering Technician, reflected on the situation: "When I took this position over about six years ago, one of my first tasks was to figure out the history of IDDEs. I opened the Excel document, and it was a mess. We didn't have any consistency or historical knowledge to understand what watersheds we looked at or specific outfall pipes. This changed all that”.

Implementation

  • Data Centralization: Edmonds transitioned from Excel spreadsheets to NPDESPro’s centralized system, eliminating data inconsistencies and improving efficiency.

  • Automated Reporting: Edmonds leveraged the software’s ability to generate reports for direct submission to their state Department of Ecology.

Results

1. Efficiency Improvement: The switch from spreadsheets to NPDESPro made data organization far more efficient. "First of all, it eliminates the spreadsheet disaster that it is. It's so much more efficient," noted Johnson.

2. Time Savings: Automated reporting saved significant time. "I just literally click a button in the XML file, and I can submit that schema right to ecology. It's unbelievably amazing in terms of saving me time," Johnson added.

3. Enhanced Organization: The ability to access and understand historical data improved. "I now have the ability to see which watersheds I'm revisiting over and over," highlighted Johnson.

Conclusion

The adoption of NPDESPro has been a game-changer for Edmonds’ stormwater compliance efforts. The software’s user-friendly interface, consistent data entry forms, and automated reporting capabilities have significantly improved efficiency and accuracy. "The thought that comes to mind using the software is, how come we didn't do this sooner? I think it’s true for everybody that works here, but we kind of become cheerleaders of the application because once you understand what it can do, it’s like, this can actually help people,” " Johnson reflected. "I believe I've only scratched the surface. I think there's way more to explore and get into with NPDESPro".

NPDESPro has proven to be an invaluable tool for Edmonds, simplifying their compliance efforts and reporting needs. "In a perfect world, we would all be technological geniuses, but that’s not how it works. I love how NPDES Pro is very user-friendly, from surface graphics to deeper functionalities. It's a good product. Who doesn't like to have their job made simpler?" Johnson concluded.