Mandated by Congress under the Clean Water Act, the NPDES Stormwater Program is a comprehensive two-phased national program for addressing the non-agricultural sources of stormwater discharges which adversely affect the quality of our nation's waters.



The Program uses the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting mechanism to require the implementation of controls designed to prevent harmful pollutants from being washed by stormwater runoff into local water bodies.

Each county and municipality throughout the nation is issued an NPDES Permit. The goal of the permit is to stop polluted discharges from entering the storm drain system and local coastal waters.  

The Permit consists of six minimum control measures which include 1) Public Outreach & Education 2) Public Participation 3) Illicit Discharge Detection & Elimination 4) Construction Site Stormwater Runoff 5) Post-Construction Stormwater Management and 6) Municipal Operation Pollution Prevention and Good Housekeeping.

Each minimum control measure consists of several Best Management Practices with associated Measurable Goals.  The City actively and aggressively works towards meeting each strategy established in its Permit.   Melbourne's NPDES Permit became effective July 16, 2003 and is valid until June 16, 2008.