Schenectady, NY Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

Chapter 148, Article II governs the City's municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4), defined in § 148-20 as the network of roads, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches and storm drains owned or operated by the City that is not a combined sewer and not part of a sewage treatment works. Section 148-24A prohibits discharging or causing to be discharged into the MS4 anything other than stormwater, with a defined list of exempt discharges: water line flushing, landscape irrigation, rising or uncontaminated groundwater, foundation and sump-pump drains, air-conditioning condensate, dechlorinated pool water, residential car washing, and firefighting water, unless the state Department of Environmental Conservation or the City determines a specific exempt source is a substantial pollutant contributor.

The Stormwater Management Officer for IDDE, an employee designated by the City under § 148-22, administers and enforces the article and may approve additional discharges in writing to protect life or property from imminent harm. Section 148-25 separately bars operating a failing individual sewage treatment system, and § 148-26 prohibits any activity that contaminates stormwater. Anyone who spills or releases a hazardous material or other pollutant that could enter the MS4 must notify the Stormwater Management Officer under § 148-31. The article implements the state's SPDES General Permit for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems, Permit No.

GP-02-02, and every violation of a permit, order or the article itself is deemed both a misdemeanor and, under § 148-34, a public nuisance, which lets the City pursue injunctive relief under § 148-33 in addition to any fine.