Wilmington, NC Environmental Rules: Stormwater Management (2026)

Section 12-22(a) prohibits any person from causing or allowing "the discharge, emission, disposal, pouring, or pumping of any liquid, solid, gas, or other substance, other than stormwater" into a stormwater conveyance, the waters of the state, or onto land exposed to wind and rain, where the substance is likely to reach the drainage system. The section carves out twenty-two specific nonstormwater discharges as allowed so long as they are not a significant pollutant source, including water line flushing, landscape irrigation, individual residential car washing, dechlorinated swimming pool water, footing and foundation drains, and discharges under a valid NPDES permit. Subsection (b) lists prohibited substances "including, but not limited to, oil, wastewater, automotive fluids, household or industrial chemicals, animal waste, paint, garbage, yard debris... and litter," and states plainly that "a violation of section 12-22 shall constitute a misdemeanor."

The stormwater utility itself is established under § 12-11 through Chapter 160A, Article 16 of the General Statutes, funded by service charges billed on the equivalent residential unit standard, where one ERU equals 2,500 square feet of impervious surface under § 12-13. Illicit physical connections into the stormwater system are separately banned under § 12-23, including connections made before the rule existed, with disconnection required. Property owners also carry an independent drainage duty under § 12-29(b): they must take "adequate precautions on their property to ensure positive drainage," keeping ditches, drains and swales clear of obstructions, or face city corrective work billed back to them as a property lien.