Bowling Green, KY Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

The City of Bowling Green adopted its stormwater ordinance (Chapter 21 of the Code of Ordinances) in December 2004 to comply with its Phase II NPDES MS4 designation under Kentucky's KPDES MS4 General Permit KYG20, issued by the Kentucky Division of Water (DOW) under the Energy and Environment Cabinet. The City submitted its initial Phase II permit application to KY DOW on March 10, 2003, and the program now addresses the six federally required Minimum Control Measures: public education, public involvement, illicit discharge detection and elimination, construction site runoff control, post-construction stormwater management, and municipal good housekeeping. Bowling Green's karst geology — caves, sinkholes, springs, and underground streams beneath nearly the entire city — makes the program unusually consequential. With very few surface streams in the area, most stormwater flows directly down sinkholes and through Class V injection wells (dry wells) regulated by EPA into the groundwater that feeds the public drinking-water supply. Chapter 21 prohibits illicit discharges to the MS4 under Section 21-2.04 (non-stormwater discharges other than NPDES-permitted industrial sources and firefighting), and Section 21-3.01(b) requires that any alteration changing stormwater flow into a sinkhole, drainage crevice, dry well, ditch, catch basin, or other drainage facility (natural or constructed) get prior approval from the Public Works Director or designee. Report illicit discharges to the City Stormwater hotline at (270) 393-3444 or stormwater@bgky.org.