Monterey used 2NFORM, an advanced stormwater management software solution, to achieve full California stormwater compliance for Phase II requirements.
If you know their iconic sea otters, you already know a bit about the City of Monterey, California. Situated along the picturesque Monterey Bay, Monterey is a coastal city known for its scenic beauty, historic landmarks, and rich marine life. Because the majority of the City’s stormwater flows directly into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the City’s stormwater runoff can have significant impacts on the nearby marine environment.
Unfortunately, the stormwater system is challenged by a few stressors. Like many urban areas, increased development has created more impervious areas that generate stormwater runoff. The City’s climate—a mix of heavy rainfall interspersed with drought conditions—rugged coastal topography, and poor soils accelerate runoff and increase erosion risks, further straining the stormwater system.
Complex regulations with little supporting infrastructure
Despite its unique setting, Monterey faces similar challenges that many stormwater programs confront: complying with complex and evolving regulations while the required data is scattered across disparate systems. In particular, they now face developing an asset management plan as part of California’s upcoming revision to the Phase II NPDES permit, a daunting task for any program but especially for one that has struggled to develop a comprehensive inventory of their stormwater hard assets.
In anticipation of the new Phase II permit, the City’s stormwater team, under the leadership of Tricia Wotan and Kevin Anderson, appreciated the need for a new digital framework to store their asset information, identify and fill data gaps in their inventory, and calculate core information for asset lifecycle analyses. They recognized the importance of a proactive stormwater program to protect the local residents and charismatic wildlife that draws people to the area.
They struggled to manage their stormwater assets and inspections with their old strategies because they lacked a unified data management system to serve as a strong foundation for their work. Monterey’s old approach required manual data entry into forms that left the data disconnected from everyday decision-making. Errors and inconsistencies were difficult to detect. Systematic compilation and analysis of the information needed for annual reporting, responding to audits, or even making resource allocation decisions were nearly impossible.
Leveraging technology
Enter 2NDNATURE’s innovative stormwater management software, 2NFORM. This user-friendly, GIS-based platform was designed specifically for municipal stormwater teams to centralize all necessary data for MS4 permit compliance, transforming their fragmented digital landscape into a cohesive and insightful map-based system. The City worked with 2NDNATURE to align their data to the Enhanced Stormwater Foundation Template, a standardized GIS data structure that enables MS4s to build and maintain an accurate stormwater asset inventory with the necessary attributes and condition data to help manage the assets effectively and efficiently. From the outset, the collaboration between Monterey and 2NDNATURE was marked by a shared vision of future data needs and reporting outcomes.
Like nearly all MS4 programs, Monterey found that their asset data had gaps. 2NFORM highlighted for them the most important attributes to collect in the office or field to ensure that they can proactively manage their stormwater system. Making the data more visible and accessible meant that they could start filling the critical gaps as soon as the next field inspection.
By using 2NFORM, Anderson and Wotan know that their inventory will simply get better through time without requiring any more effort from their staff beyond their routine inspections and reporting. The improved inventory will in turn make it easier to develop an asset management plan. Other workflows, like illicit discharge detection and elimination, will become more robust, too, with better information about where pollutants are originating and where they may end up.
Wotan noted, “We’ve greatly appreciated the innovative solutions, prompt support, and willingness to meet and problem-solve in helping us meet our compliance needs in a format that we were assured the regulator would accept.”
Real World Impacts
The impacts of 2NFORM have been profound. The City’s platform transformed stormwater data into operable information, enabling the team to query and analyze data in ways that were previously impossible. The charts and data produced by 2NFORM provide clear insights into the program’s effectiveness and opportunities for further impacts, facilitating communication with regulators and stakeholders.
The system is also dynamic, allowing the City to adaptively manage their assets through the challenges of aging infrastructure and increased runoff. The City readily enters new data about their hard assets with each site visit, noting places where the system is stressed and support is needed.
One of the most significant benefits of 2NFORM is its ability to integrate seamlessly with the City’s existing ArcGIS system. This integration established a unified system for managing stormwater data, eliminating the need for manual data entry across multiple platforms and significantly improving data quality. Anderson observes, “It is a game changer to have our stormwater asset data readily accessible to the entire stormwater team and a supporting strategy to efficiently improve our data quality over time.”
The City of Monterey’s successful adoption of 2NFORM underscores the software’s ability to transform asset management practices for stormwater programs. The efficiency, accuracy, and compliance support provided by 2NFORM have proven invaluable in meeting regulatory demands and improving operational processes. For stormwater managers facing similar challenges, 2NFORM offers a robust solution to streamline asset management and enhance regulatory compliance.
Learn More About 2NFORM
Explore how 2NFORM can revolutionize your asset management practices. Contact us to learn more and see how our solutions can meet your stormwater management needs.
