Stormwater runoff from roofs, parking lots, roads or other infrastructure can be a serious problem for building owners and their communities.

Beyond the potential damage that stormwater can cause to buildings, contaminants including oils, chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, sediment and trash can flow into drains, retention ponds, and inevitably, the drinking water supply. This is one reason why it is important for building owners to have a reliable stormwater management solution in place, said Heather Hamlin, business development manager for Georgia for sustainable water management company Aqualis. 

In addition to the environmental concerns, there are other important considerations for building owners when it comes to stormwater management. 

“There are regulations in every city and county regarding stormwater that building owners need to be aware of,” Hamlin said. “These include the need for regular inspections and upkeep of your stormwater assets — the aboveground retention/detention ponds, underground detention ponds, catch basins, drains or other assets that are used to move stormwater away from your property.” 

In 2004, Atlanta adopted a post-development stormwater management ordinance requiring nearly every commercial development to manage the quantity and quality of their stormwater runoff. In 2013, the city updated the program with a green infrastructure requirement. Understanding and following these regulations can be a complex process, however. 

Hamlin walked Bisnow through what Atlanta building owners should know to stay in compliance. 

Bisnow: Can you walk us through some of the key points Atlanta building owners need to understand about stormwater regulations? 

Hamlin: Commercial owners are required to do annual inspections and regular maintenance of their stormwater assets. This may sound simple enough, but when a development has been handed over to a new property owner, they may see the stormwater requirements as part of the big stack of legal paperwork they have to sign and then promptly forget about it until a problem occurs. Out of sight, out of mind. 

This is how stormwater management can go from a proactive to a reactive scenario, when owners are only acting because a problem has occurred, and now their assets need more severe, expensive repairs than they may have had if they had been inspected and maintained regularly. 

Bisnow: What are some of the biggest challenges building owners face when it comes to complying with regulations? 

Hamlin: I would say it’s mostly an awareness issue. Along with the out-of-sight, out-of-mind problem I mentioned, some owners may not even know that they have a retention pond on their property that they are responsible for. 

There’s also the issue of enforcement. Some counties may be more lax than others when it comes to enforcing these regulations, and owners may not be aware of how stringent their particular area is about stormwater management. Atlanta, however, has been bringing this issue to the forefront, and building owners should be complying accordingly. 

Bisnow: What penalties are associated with noncompliance? 

Hamlin: Owners will receive a notice of violation with a deadline to meet the requirements. That could mean bringing in their own inspector or complying with the county inspector, who will then issue them a new deadline to fix any issues that are spotted. If they don’t, they could face significant fines and consequences. I’ve seen building owners and property managers get sent to court over ignored violations. It’s very serious. 

Bisnow: How is Aqualis working to help Atlanta building owners comply with these regulations? 

Hamlin: It starts with educating our customers. We work with them to translate complex regulations so they can clearly understand what they are responsible for. We then provide a formal proposal for their annual inspection and any repairs that might need to be done to put the property back into compliance. We also handle preventative maintenance, which goes a long way toward avoiding costly repairs down the road. 

We can also assist with due diligence related to stormwater management, which is especially important on both sides of the buying and selling equation. During a presale inspection, stormwater assets often get forgotten, which could be an expensive oversight. We recommend a close inspection of these assets, including a camera inspection of inside the pipes, to get a true sense of things. This is also something we can handle for either a buyer or a seller and could serve as a key negotiating tool. 

This article was produced in collaboration between Aqualis and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.