UNC Wilmington, Master Stormwater Plan

Since stormwater management was implemented in 1988 for projects in the 20 coastal counties, there have been approximately 50 State Stormwater Management Permits issued to various projects on UNC Wilmington’s main campus, along with construction of numerous stormwater BMPs. Due to the number of permits and overlapping permit boundaries, the Division of Water Resources placed a permit hold on all future project approvals until the University developed a Master Stormwater Management plan.

McAdams was retained by UNC Wilmington in 2010 to resolve this issue. McAdams performed a comprehensive analysis of stormwater permitting at the University. Once complete, the NC Division of Water Quality allowed four projects to move forward with the understanding that UNC Wilmington is committed to completing the master permit process with DWR. The approval to move forward was achieved by working with the University and the DWR to develop a course of action to allow proposed projects to move forward as the Master Plan was being developed. Specific scope of services included:

• Quantifying individual BMP deficiencies based upon permitted impervious surface and total drainage area compared with actual impervious surface and drainage area entering each BMP facility.
• Developing a plan of action for each individual BMP to determine the potential for upgrades and retrofits to each facility, which lead to a priority list for capital improvements as funding for such becomes available.