Goal is to make all waterways fishable and swimmable—The waters that are being polluted are the same waters you and your family enjoy for swimming, boating and fishing. Today, much of our land is covered by buildings and pavement, which do not allow rain to soak into the ground. Most areas rely on storm drains or ditches to carry large amounts of stormwater runoff from roofs and paved areas to nearby waterways. The runoff carries pollutants such as sediment, oil, chemicals and lawn fertilizers directly to streams and rivers where they negatively affect our water quality.

Federal Clean Water Act—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued regulations requiring all states, cities and counties, including Charleston County, to develop a Stormwater Management Program with the goal of reducing the amount of runoff pollution that eventually makes its way into local waters. The funds to operate this new, federally required program comes from a yearly stormwater fee charged to property owners.

Clean water is everybody’s business— Everyone contributes to stormwater runoff, and everyone will be billed. Charleston County has begun the development of a Stormwater Management Program to address water quality issues. This program will be funded by the new utility fee. All residential properties will be billed a flat rate of $36 annually. For all non-residential properties, fees will be calculated using the commonly accepted rate for stormwater fees known as the Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU). This is a descriptive value based on the property’s size and the land use of the property.