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 As a precautionary response to COVID-19, Ohio EPA is currently operating with most staff working remotely. If you are working with our staff on a current project and you know the name of the employee you are working with, email them at firstname.lastname@epa.ohio.gov or call them directly. The Agency website has contact information for every district, division, and office. In order to reach us, please contact Ohio EPA’s main phone line at (614) 644-3020 or the main line for the division or office you are trying to reach.

After March 23, our district offices and Central Office will be temporarily closed and will have increasingly limited ability to receive deliveries, plans, etc. All entities are encouraged to submit plans, permit applications, etc., electronically where there are existing avenues to do so, such as the eBusiness Center (eBiz). Please refer to the list of available services on the main eBiz webpage. We encourage you to make use of all that apply, even if you have not used eBiz in the past. Plans under 25 MB can be emailed. For large plans over 25 MB, entities should work with the reviewer/division to upload via LiquidFiles. Directions for submitting docs via LiquidFiles is available on YouTube. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you in advance for your understanding. If you wish to send hard copies of documents to any of Ohio EPA’s district offices, the best method to ensure we receive these documents is to send them via U.S. Mail. Since all offices are closed, deliveries outside of U.S. Mail (FedEx, UPS) will likely be returned because the offices are closed and deliveries cannot be made.

To report a spill or environmental emergency, contact the spill hotline (800) 282-9378 or (614) 224-0946. 

Rainwater and Land Development

Ohio’s Standards for Stormwater Management, Land Development and Urban Stream Protection

Stream systems, including their corridors, and wetland resources are vital environmental features and are extremely sensitive to urbanization. The intent of this book is to allow development to occur while minimizing the impact to water resources, especially streams.

This manual defines Ohio’s standards and specifications for storm water practices implemented during land development. The target audience is that group of professionals involved in the design and implementation of development projects, but it is also used by others interested in implementing sound practices that minimize erosion, sediment and storm water impacts.

The manual integrates water resource protection into development site planning in order to maintain or improve stream integrity. Early chapters discuss practices and strategies for protecting streams and wetlands, treating storm water pollutants, and establishing permanent runoff controls. The latter chapters include chapters regarding construction-phase practices, including standards and specifications for sediment control, temporary runoff control, soil stabilization and control of pollutants other than sediment. Appendices offer additional important information for design such as storm water design examples, soils, planning around streams, and use of and impacts to soils.

  • Phased Disturbance
  • Clearing and Grubbing
  • Tree and Natural Area Preservation
  • Construction Entrance
  • Dust Control
  • Grade Treatment
  • Top Soiling
  • Temporary Seeding
  • Mulching
  • Permanent Seeding
  • Sodding
  • Temporary Rolled Erosion Control Products (Erosion Control Matting)
  • Turf Reinforcement Matting

Manual Updates

The last entirely new edition of the Rainwater and Land Development manual was issued in November of 2006, but new materials have been added with changes and corrections made since that time. These are always included in new printings and in files posted to this site, but your manual may be older and need updating. Since 2012, updates have been indicated in the manual’s table of contents (Introductory Information) and is the best way to see what has been updated and when it occurred. You are encouraged to provide your name and contact information to us in order to receive news of updates and proposed changes for the manual (john.mathews@epa.ohio.gov).

Stream Channel and Flood Plain Erosion

To control pollution of public waters by soil sediment from accelerated stream channel erosion and to control flood plain erosion caused by accelerated storm water runoff from development areas, the increased peak rates and volumes of runoff shall be controlled such that:

  1. The peak rate of runoff from the critical storm and all more frequent storms occurring on the development area does not exceed the peak rate of runoff from a one year frequency storm (of 24 hours duration) occurring on the same area under pre-development conditions.
  2. Storms of less frequent occurrence than the critical storm, up to the one hundred year storm, have peak runoff rates no greater than the peak runoff rates from equivalent size storms under pre-development conditions.

The critical storm for a specific development area is determined as follows:

  1. Determine by appropriate hydrologic methods the total volume of runoff from a one-year frequency, 24-hour storm occurring on the development area before and after development.
  2. From the volumes determined in (a), determine the percentage increase in volume of runoff due to development, and using this percentage, select the 24-hour critical storm from this table.

If the percentage of increase in volume of runoff is:

Equal to or Greater Than
and Less Than
 the Critical Storm for Peak Rate Control will be
—
10
1 year
10 20 2 year
20 50 5 year
50 100 10 year
100 250 25 year
250 500 50 year
600 — 100 year
     

 

Download the Ohio Storm Water Control Guidebook

 

Central Office Storm Water Technical Assistance Staff

Mathews, John

Manager

(614) 265-6685

Reinhart, Justin

Water Resources Engineer

(614) 705-1149

Vacant

 Transportation Related Projects  
     

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