Miami Beach, FL Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

Chapter 46, Article X, the city's Water Quality article, was adopted by Ordinance No. 2021-4435 on July 28, 2021, to keep pollutants out of the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4), Biscayne Bay and surface waters. Sec. 46-233 obligates the owner or operator of any residential, commercial or industrial property, or a construction site, to install structural controls, such as silt fences or sedimentation ponds, and non-structural controls, like sweeping and equipment maintenance, at their own expense. Sec. 46-234 separately bans throwing, draining or discharging any pollutant, or maintaining an illegal connection, into the MS4, right-of-way, Biscayne Bay or surface waters.

A narrow list of discharges is exempt under Sec. 46-235, including water line flushing, air conditioning condensate, irrigation water, footing drains and uncontaminated roof drains, but only if they meet state water quality standards and don't meaningfully add pollutants. Anyone who learns of a release must immediately notify the environment and sustainability department, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's State Warning Point if the material is hazardous, keeping a written record for three years under Sec. 46-236. The city can also cut off a property's access to the MS4 in an emergency or after a documented illicit discharge under Sec. 46-237. Fines collected feed the Biscayne Bay Protection Trust Fund created in Sec. 46-230 to pay for further water-quality enforcement and restoration work.