Caltrans Stormwater Services

California

For over two decades, Michael Baker has provided continuous on-call statewide stormwater services related to water quality policy development, strategic planning, permit implementation and continued development and refinement of the California Department of Transportation’s (Caltrans') statewide stormwater management program.

The Caltrans Stormwater Management Program provides statewide water quality policy direction, technical and regulatory information, guidance documents, specifications and funding to integrate appropriate stormwater control activities related to the construction, operation and maintenance of the state’s roadways and facilities. The program provides water quality monitoring and best management practice (BMP) development, along with implementation guidance and tools.

We have provided professional and technical services for the Caltrans Storm Drain System Inventory (SDSI) project to identify and describe existing major surface water bodies in areas subject to the Caltrans Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit using ArcView GIS and tablets with built-in GPS. We also produced an inventory of all Caltrans properties and facilities located within the Phase II, MS4 urban areas of Southern California.

Additional work elements for Caltrans include development of their new Statewide Stormwater Management Plan (SWMP), assistance with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit negotiations, Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) compliance, BMP research and design and stormwater program implementation to reduce or eliminate the discharge of pollutants to storm drain systems and receiving waters. Most recently, we assisted Caltrans with the San Francisco Bay region specific requirements to address trash, as well as analyses and implementation of the Statewide Trash Amendments.