Stormwater

Stormwater runoff management throughout Santa Fe County

To protect water quality, the federal National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program requires a permit to discharge stormwater to municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s). MS4s include publicly owned or operated streets, catch basins, ditches, storm drains, culverts, and other stormwater conveyances. The unincorporated urbanized areas of Santa Fe County fall under permit number NMR040000, which is currently under administrative continuation by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This permit includes the City of Santa Fe and the New Mexico Department of Transportation. Permittees are required to maintain a stormwater management program that addresses six minimum control measures and report annually to EPA on that program. The minimum control measures are as follows:

1. Public education and outreach on stormwater impacts
2. Public involvement/participation
3. Illicit discharge detection and elimination
4. Construction site stormwater runoff control
5. Post-construction stormwater management in new development and redevelopment
6. Pollution prevention/ good housekeeping for municipal operations

Proper stormwater management is critical to prevent unnecessary erosion and promote soil moisture retention. The Santa Fe County Board of County Commissioners passed resolution 2024-064 on April 30th, 2024 adopting the Santa Fe County 2024 MS4 Permit Stormwater Management Program Plan. 

In Santa Fe County, stormwater management is distributed across the Public Works Department, Growth Management Department, and Sustainability Office. The Public Works Department’s MS4 responsibilities include stormwater management on County roads, facilities, solid waste convenience centers, and construction sites. The Growth Management Department’s responsibilities include code enforcement actions to ensure stormwater protection measures are in place, construction and development plan review, public education, and administration of stormwater codes. The Sustainability Office handles public education and outreach through activities such as the County Adopt-a-Road Program and Earth Day events.

What is Stormwater Pollution?

Stormwater pollution is any material that could wash down drains or roadsides into arroyos, ditches or drains. Stormwater is not treated at a wastewater plant. It flows downhill and downstream into the river. Trash and pollutants that end up in streets, ditches, and arroyos will likely end up in the Santa Fe River. Every year significant amounts of time and money are spend on street sweeping, maintaining stormwater structures, and installing/improving infrastructure that removes pollutants – but this only goes so far. It is much more effective to stop pollution at the source.

Pollutants that affect stormwater quality don’t just come from industrial activities, but also from our daily activities, such as leaked automobile fluids, pet waste, and litter. Santa Fe County’s current population is approximately 155,000 residents. Because of this, what we do every day has a collective impact on the water quality in the river. Weather patterns appear to be experiencing long-term changes. The general rainfall pattern in the Southwest is changing to fewer storms per year with larger, more intense events when they do occur. This can lead to greater amounts of pollution building up in our community between storm events which are washed into the river with a single large storm. In addition, with longer periods between storm events, soils can become drier, making them hydrophobic (water repelling). This intensifies the amounts of water and pollution that runoff and travel to the river during storm events.

Responsibly Disposing of Household Waste

Properly disposing of household hazardous wastes is easier than people may know. For residences of Santa Fe County, hazardous household wastescan be disposed of at the Hazardous Waste Collection Center at the Buckman Road Recycling and Transfer Station (BuRRT). The center is open Fridays and Saturdays, every week from 8:00 AM - 4:45 PM, holiday schedule may effect operations. Accepted wastes include paints, automotive fluids, pesticides, solvents, fluorescent bulbs/tubes, and some cleaners. For more details on what is accepted, contact information, and hours of operation please click on this website or call the Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Authority hotline at (505) 424-1850.

Please visit the Santa Fe County Solid Waste (Trash) and Recycling webpage for additional resources for waste disposal.