Stormwater

Your property is connected to both your surrounding neighborhood and the broader community. It plays an important role in stormwater management through the Stormwater Utility Fee and with stormwater control practices and conservation. Your property may have utility easements, or public or private stormwater infrastructure in place, and understanding how or if any of these factors impact your property is good information to know, especially if you plan to alter your property or need to distinguish responsibility to address an issue. 

Stormwater system details and specifications can be found in the Standards and Design Manual (PDF), and stormwater project regulations are listed on the Stormwater Management Documents page. Stormwater management resources for your property can be found with the Rivanna Stormwater Education Partnership, and through the Charlottesville Conservation Assistance Program (CCAP) below. The interactive CityGreen Map provides green stormwater infrastructure locations throughout the city.    

Charlottesville Conservation Assistance Program (CCAP)

Managed by the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District (TJSWCD), CCAP provides financial, technical, and educational assistance to property owners in Charlottesville who intend to install eligible stormwater control practices on their property. These practices can help address issues like erosion, poor drainage, and failing vegetation, while helping to improve the appearance and function of yards and landscapes. Most stormwater and conservation practices are eligible for a 75% financial reimbursement, and may lower your Stormwater Utility Fee. For more information on  CCAP, and to learn about what may work for your property, contact the TJSWCD by visiting their website or by calling 434-975-0224, ext. 103. 

Questions about your property and stormwater? Please email Stormwater@charlottesville.gov 

Only Rain Down the Drain!

Stormwater runoff is precipitation that flows over the ground and into the City’s stormwater system or directly into creeks, streams, and rivers. This runoff flows over land or impervious surfaces, such as paved streets, parking lots, and building rooftops. As this runoff flows, it picks up pollutants like trash, chemicals, oils, and dirt/sediment. These pollutants can harm our local waterways, negatively impact the ecological function of surrounding plant and animal habitats, and diminish our ability to enjoy outside recreation. Keeping Charlottesville's stormwater conveyance system clear and clean is essential to the health of our streams, creeks, and rivers.

Interested in learning more about water quality monitoring in Charlottesville and bacterial contamination? Visit the City's webpage on Urban Stream Health. 

Illicit vs Non-Illicit Discharges - Know the Difference

Stormwater is not treated at wastewater treatment facilities, meaning stormwater that is contaminated by pollutants will carry those pollutants directly into our local waterways. Preventing illicit discharges is vital to the health of our creeks, streams, and rivers, and knowing the difference between illicit and non-illicit discharges will help keep our local waterways healthy. The following chart provides examples of illicit and non-illicit discharges.

To report an environmental incident or concern, illegal dumping, improper disposal, spills, an illicit discharge to the stormwater system or a stream, other stormwater pollution concerns, or complaints regarding land disturbing activities please submit the Pollution Prevention Report Form.

Proactive Maintenance 

The proactive maintenance of keeping storm drains clear of leaves and debris is key to the efficient flow of stormwater and helps prevent sediment from entering our community's waterways. With your help we can keep storm drains clear and water flowing. If you need to report a major storm drain issue, contact Utilities Dispatch 24/7 at 434-970-3800.  

For more information on stormwater runoff management and best practices, visit the Rivanna Stormwater Education Partnership

In 2014, the City of Charlottesville adopted the Stormwater Utility Fee to provide a dedicated and stable source of funding for stormwater management activities. The Stormwater Utility Fee is billed twice a year and calculated based on the amount of impervious area on every eligible parcel of improved real estate property in the city, regardless of tax status.

The Stormwater Utility Fee helps the city meet its state and federal regulatory requirements related to stormwater management. Fees collected are used to repair and replace public stormwater infrastructure, implement capital projects related to water quality and drainage improvement, and to preserve, enhance, and restore the integrity of the city's water resources.

What does the Stormwater Utility Fee pay for?

The Stormwater division performs routine maintenance and repairs to built infrastructure located across the city. These installations include junction boxes, drainage inlets, and catch basins. Additionally, the Stormwater division undertakes the rehabilitation of natural stormwater features such the Schenks Branch Tributary Restoration, and Green Stormwater Infrastructure  can be found at a variety of locations in the city.   

• For information on stormwater capital improvement projects (CIP), please visit our Current Projects page.
• For stormwater system details and specifications, please view the Standards and Design Manual (PDF). 
• For information on stormwater project regulations, please refer to the Stormwater Management Documents page.  

Charlottesville has a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4). This means that stormwater and sanitary sewage are completely separated.

The City’s stormwater conveyance system is made up of storm drains, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made channels, and streams that are connected by a network of underground pipes. There are over 50 miles of underground stormwater pipes and over 4,000 stormwater structures in the City’s system.  

Since our stormwater system drains to surface waters, Charlottesville is required to develop a Stormwater Management Program under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Stormwater Phase II (PDF) regulations. Since March 2003, the City is covered by the Virginia General Permit for Discharges of Stormwater from Small Municipal Storm Sewer Systems (MS4 Permit). There are six key elements of the stormwater management program (PDF); the key elements are addressed through the development and implementation of best management practices (BMPs) and will lead to water quality improvements through the reduction of pollutants to the maximum extent practicable.  

Q: How is the Stormwater Utility Fee calculated and how do I pay it? 

Our Stormwater Utility Fee Flyer (PDF) has more information on the fee and how it is calculated. The Treasurer's Office can provide you with more information on Real Estate Taxes, including when these taxes are due and how to pay your Real Estate Taxes online.  

Q: What is an example of a Stormwater Utility Fee calculation?

1. Total impervious area = 2,100 square feet
2. Divide by 500 square feet (one billing unit): 2,100 / 500 = 4.2
3. Round to the next whole number: 4.2 rounds to 5 billing units
4. Multiply the number of billing units by the rate ($1.20 per billing unit per month) to determine the annual fee: 5 x $1.20 x 12 = $72 annual fee, billed at $36/half, due in June and December

Q: What do I do if I feel my Stormwater Utility Fee is incorrect?

If you think your Stormwater Utility Fee needs to be adjusted, please fill out and submit the Stormwater Utility Fee Adjustment Application (PDF).  

Q: What can I do to reduce my Stormwater Utility Fee?

• Property owners can remove impervious surfaces from their property. This will result in a direct fee reduction if the removal of impervious surfaces results in fewer billing units.
• The City’s Stormwater Utility Fee Credit Program (PDF) provides property owners an opportunity to reduce their stormwater utility bill by operating and maintaining a stormwater management facility. These practices include, but are not limited to, bioretention facilities, permeable pavement, and green roofs. 

Q:What is stormwater, and why is it important?

Stormwater runoff is rain or snowmelt that flows over the ground and into the City’s stormwater system or directly into creeks and streams. As this runoff flows, it can pick up and transport harmful pollutants such as oils and greases, heavy metals, pesticides, fertilizers, trash and debris, sediment, and animal wastes.

Q:Where does stormwater go after it enters storm drains?

Our storm drains do not connect to water treatment facilities, but rather drain untreated into local waterways.  As a result, contaminated stormwater runoff is a major source of pollution to our local waterways. Excessive contamination of runoff causes sedimentation of our streams, water quality degradation, and unhealthy water conditions for humans and wildlife. 

Stormwater in Charlottesville flows from smaller creeks such as Rock Creek, Schenks Branch, Lodge Creek, and Pollocks Branch, into larger creeks like Moores Creek and Meadow Creek, and eventually into the Rivanna River.  

View a map of the City’s local waterways, of which there are over 45 miles. From the Rivanna River, water flows into the Middle James, or Piedmont Region, of the James River.  The James River then takes our water to the Chesapeake Bay. Finally, the water from the Bay ends up in the Atlantic Ocean.

View a Public Service Announcement the City created to illustrate stormwater’s journey.

Q:What are impervious surfaces, and how do they affect stormwater?

The biggest influencing factor on stormwater runoff is the presence of impervious surfaces, which are any surface coverings that do not absorb water, including roads, roofs, and parking lots. As a result, water cannot soak into the ground, and instead drains into the stormwater system, and then our creeks and rivers, much faster then it naturally would. This rapid drainage, along with the increased quantity of runoff results in high peak flows in waterways during storms, causing severe erosion of stream banks, scouring of stream beds, excessive sedimentation, and flooding.

In urban environments such as Charlottesville, large areas are covered with impervious surfaces. There are almost 99 million square feet of impervious surface in the City. That is enough to cover over 1,700 football fields!

Q:Why is sedimentation a problem for waterways?

Sediment loading is recognized as one of the greatest threats to the Rivanna River and the Chesapeake Bay; sediment carries pollutants that have bonded to it into waterways, suspends in the water column and blocks sunlight from aiding in the growth of aquatic vegetation, clogs the gills of fish (sometimes suffocating them) and eventually destroys aquatic habitat in stream beds when it settles.

Q:What is green stormwater infrastructure?

Green stormwater infrastructure utilizes plants, trees, and other measures to mimic natural processes that control and treat stormwater before it enters creeks, streams, and rivers. Green stormwater infrastructure includes practices such as vegetated roofs, bioretention, tree planting, permeable pavement, and rainwater harvesting that aim to intercept, evaporate, transpire, filter, infiltrate, capture, and reuse stormwater. 

Some examples of green stormwater infrastructure projects completed by the City include the vegetated green roof on City Hall, the bioretention filter at Charlottesville High School, and the constructed wetlands in Azalea Park. Check out the CityGreen Map to see these and many more examples!

Q:What is a watershed?

A watershed is an area of land where all water drains into a common waterway, be it a stream, river, lake, wetland, estuary, or even the ocean. Since all water runs downhill due to the force of gravity, watershed boundaries are typically comprised of ridge tops or high elevation areas. 

A watershed can be very large and can cover several states. For example, the Chesapeake Bay watershed encompasses over 64,000 square miles, and consists of parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware and Virginia. Watersheds can also be very small, encompassing a few small streams or wetland areas. Charlottesville lies in the Rivanna River watershed, which is a medium sized watershed, encompassing 766 square miles. The Rivanna River watershed is nested within the James River watershed, which lies within the even larger Chesapeake Bay watershed.