Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4)

Polluted storm water runoff is often transported to municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) and ultimately discharged into local rivers and streams without treatment. The EPA's Stormwater Phase II Rule establishes an MS4 stormwater management program that is intended to improve the Nation's waterways by reducing the quantity of pollutants that stormwater picks up and carries into storm sewer systems during storm events.

Common pollutants include oil and grease from roadways, pesticides from lawns, sediment from construction sites, and carelessly discarded trash, such as cigarette butts, paper wrappers, and plastic bottles. When deposited into nearby waterways through MS4 discharges, these pollutants can impair the waterways, thereby discouraging recreational use of the resource, contaminating drinking water supplies, and interfering with the habitat for fish, other aquatic organisms, and wildlife.

In 1990, the EPA promulgated rules establishing Phase I of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater program. The Phase I program requires operators of "medium" and "large" MS4s, that is, those that generally serve populations of 100,000 or greater, to implement a stormwater management program as a means to control polluted discharges from these MS4s. The Stormwater Phase II Rule extends coverage of the NPDES stormwater program to certain "small" MS4s but takes a slightly different approach to how the stormwater management program is developed and implemented.

This web page includes links to the documents that are part of the Village of Deerfield's efforts to minimize pollution from storm water runoff, as part of its federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Phase II permit.

Please contact the Public Works Department at 847-317-7245 if you see or suspect pollution discharging into our lakes, rivers, or storm drains. 

Additional information

A full explanation of the NPDES MS4 program can be found at the USEPA's website and at the IEPA's website.

Village of Deerfield's Storm Water Management Plan

To read about how climate change could impact the Village’s storm water runoff and surrounding water quality, visit www.globalchange.gov/explore/midwest.