Many benefits can accrue when municipal staff is involved with helping a state administer a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) industrial stormwater discharge permit. Such is the case in Eugene, OR, where Jon Wilson, CSM, lends technical assistance to carry out a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for the administration of general industrial stormwater discharge permits for sites within the city’s urban growth boundary. The city exerts greater influence on the permit development process, forms close working relationships with the regulatory agency and industrial community to help identify low-cost pollution reduction solutions, and subsidizes the city’s industrial stormwater program costs through fee sharing. The result: a reduction in non-compliance, civil penalties, third-party lawsuits, plus a reduction in the municipal stormwater pollutant load.
What He Does Day to Day
Wilson’s days are spent balancing his primary responsibilities managing and implementing Eugene’s industrial stormwater and stormwater monitoring programs. In fulfilling the MOA, “my primary responsibilities involve evaluating permit compliance by conducting site inspections and reviewing paperwork associated with the permit, including visual monitoring, training, corrective action reports, and analytical monitoring data,” says Wilson. His other role is to monitor the weather to determine which storm events would be suitable for municipal stormwater permit monitoring, which is used to characterize the pollutants discharged into surface and groundwater during storm events and gauge BMP effectiveness.
What Led Him to This Line of Work
Wilson developed a deep appreciation for water spending his childhood summers at his grandparents’ lake home in western New York. “I also remember my mother telling me that when she looked for me when I was a small child, she would often find me playing with water in the sink,” he adds.
During Boy Scout camping trips in his teen years, Wilson began to recognize the role clean water played in sustaining healthy ecosystems and their respective role in creating communities with a high quality of life. “This recognition inspired me to study natural resources with a concentration in ecosystem assessment at North Carolina State University,” says Wilson.
Following graduation, he worked for an environmental consulting firm that assisted municipalities with fulfilling their NPDES permit requirements. “As a part of this work, I recognized the impact stormwater from industrial sites had on water quality,” he notes. In an effort to make the greatest positive impact on water quality he could through his career, Wilson moved to Oregon, where he transitioned into the public sector, implementing Eugene’s industrial stormwater program.
What He Likes Best About His Work
Wilson says he always felt as if he had a responsibility to give back to the community. “My passion for water quality enables me to do just that,” he says. “I feel exceptionally lucky that I get to give back in this capacity to a community I appreciate so much. From a day-to-day standpoint, I really appreciate the opportunity to work directly with businesses to reduce the pollutant concentration in their stormwater discharge. Although businesses respect the idea that they need to protect the environment, environmental regulations are generally not wildly popular. Once they realize that relatively low-cost modifications to site practices can not only dramatically reduce pollutant concentrations but also improve work flow and increase employee morale, they eventually become appreciative of the situation.”
His Biggest Challenge
As a municipal employee administering industrial permits on behalf of the state, Wilson says at times he feels as if he’s “walking a tightrope while being involved in a juggling act. First and foremost, you have make sure that your decisions are what’s best for the environment—that’s a given. However, you also have to make sure a business is complying with state regulations in such a way that they are able to continue operating.”
