Stormwater Utility Feasibility Report City of Newark, Delaware

Abstract

The City of Newark owns, operates, and maintains a complex stormwater drainage system in the Upper Christina River and White Clay Creek watersheds including over: • 60 miles of storm sewers (Figure 1), • 200 miles of roadway curb and gutter, • 3000 stormwater inlets or catch basins, • 34 stormwater detention ponds, • 500 acres of floodplain along 10 stream miles within the City.

The City of Newark proposes to adopt a stormwater utility as a dedicated and sustainable funding source to finance administration, operation, and maintenance of stormwater, water quality, watershed, and floodplain programs largely required by State and Federal laws and regulations such as: • Delaware Stormwater and Sediment Regulations, • Delaware Source Water Protection Law of 2001, • Federal Clean Water Act, NPDES MS4 Part 2 Permit and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL), • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Program, • Federal Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996.

The goals of the Newark stormwater management program are to: • Prevent and reduce flood damage from flood events (Table 1), • Prevent and solve stormwater drainage problems, • Improve water quality in the White Clay Creek and Upper Christina River watersheds (Figure 3), • Decrease pollutant loads entering the City’s drinking water streams and wellhead areas, • Reduce soil erosion and sediment problems.