Sugar Land, TX Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

Land Development Code Sec. 11-11 makes it unlawful to discharge or cause to be discharged into the municipal separate storm sewer system, waters in the State, or waters of the United States an illicit discharge, and Sec. 11-12 separately bans constructing, using, or maintaining an illicit connection, giving anyone with a connection that became illicit under the Chapter 60 days from written City notice to comply. Sec. 11-7 defines an illicit discharge broadly and lists examples including runoff from washing gas stations or vehicle service garages, water from washing vehicles with soap or solvents, leakage from dumpsters, wash out from concrete trucks, and super-chlorinated pool or spa water over 5 ppm.

Sec. 11-14 separately bars throwing, depositing, or spilling solid waste into the storm sewer system, waters of the state, or waters of the United States, with an affirmative defense if the waste went into a solid waste container under Chapter 3, Article IX. Property owners along a watercourse have their own duties under Sec. 11-22: keep their stretch reasonably free of trash and debris, avoid removing healthy bank vegetation beyond what maintenance requires, and stabilize their portion of the watercourse against erosion. New development or redevelopment disturbing one acre or more must implement a post-construction maintenance plan for structural stormwater controls under Sec.

11-28, filed and recorded in the Fort Bend County real property records, with the stormwater management facility inspected at least annually under Sec. 11-29 and deficiencies corrected within 90 days. City officers may enter premises at reasonable times to inspect, copy records, and take samples under Sec. 11-27.