Lawrence Park Information | Hydro Physics of Erie PA

STORM WATER AND THE MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM (MS4)

Lawrence Park Township has two separate sewer systems: one for sewage and one for storm water. Each serves to take care of waste that residents and Mother Nature create.

The storm sewer channels "clean" water to 4 Mile Creek, which empties into Lake Erie.  It is vital to the environment to keep the sewage and storm water separate. 

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) monitors the township’s adherence to Federal and Commonwealth laws concerning discharges into the watershed. They are particularly interested in the steps that communities take to protect the purity of the public waterways.

Lawrence Park Township likewise is concerned with keeping the water supply safe for future generations and ordinances have been put into place to that end.  When all is said and done, though, it is the responsibility of each person and business in Lawrence Park to ensure our water quality.

For more information on what you can do to help save our resources, please see DEP's brochure, When It Rains It Drains

LAWRENCE PARK’S ORDINANCES

The Codified Ordinances of Lawrence Park Township include an extensive section about storm water management (Chapter 1043). The ordinance was amended in March of 2004 to include what was allowed to enter the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System. It says, in part:

"No person in the Municipality shall allow, or cause to allow, stormwater discharges into the Municipality’s separate storm sewer system which are not composed entirely of stormwater…"

We may not dump anything into the storm sewers that contains material other than clean water. Further, our activities should not cause harmful material to seep into the ground that eventually ends up in the storm sewers or groundwater.

Exceptions:
There are exceptions, as long as they do not contribute significantly to
the pollution of storm water.

1. Discharges from firefighting
2. Uncontaminated water from foundation or from footing drains
3. Dechlorinated water line and fire hydrant flushings
4. Routine external building wash downs that do not use detergents or other compounds
5. Lawn watering
6. Water from individual residential car washings
7. Water from crawl space pumps
8. Pavement wash waters where detergents are not used and no toxic or hazardous material are present on the pavement
9. Dechlorinated swimming pool discharges
10. Uncontaminated groundwater

This information is publicly available on the Lawrence Park Township website under Dirt in the Drain, Turtles Complain .