West Palm Beach, FL Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

Article V of Chapter 90, adopted to satisfy federal Clean Water Act obligations and the city's NPDES permit, makes it unlawful under § 90-203(a) for any person to directly or indirectly deposit, discharge, spill or dump anything other than stormwater into the city's public waters or separate storm sewer system, and separately bars industrial-activity discharges that lack a valid NPDES permit. Section 90-203(c) prohibits illicit connections to the stormwater system and applies retroactively, reaching connections made in the past regardless of whether they were permitted when installed.

Section 90-204 requires anyone who learns of a violation to notify the director immediately and to take reasonable steps to contain and clean up the discharge. Section 90-205 exempts specific flows from the general prohibition, including water line flushing, landscape and lawn irrigation, air conditioning condensation, individual residential car washing, dechlorinated swimming pool discharges, street wash water, and firefighting flows, plus any discharge covered by an NPDES permit that the discharger files with the director within 60 days of issuance. Under § 90-206, an authorized official may enter property to install sampling or metering devices and inspect for compliance, and the director can require a discharger to self-monitor and report periodically.