SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - Minnehaha County is being told to make plans to monitor storm water runoff in a two mile buffer around Sioux Falls.
Planning Department Head Scott Anderson says the county has no storm sewers but the mandate calls for addressing highway, street and development runoff adjacent to the city.
Commission Chairman Gerald Beninga says the final cost is unknown and the county has five years to implement a plan. He says 95 percent of what the county considers includes the city of Sioux Falls. He says the county has five years to implement a a water discharge plan and the federal government may change it's mind three times. Beninga says it's another great example of an unfunded federal mandate.
The Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System is from the Environemtal Protection Agency's Clean Water Act requiring highly populated urban areas to address storm water discharge.
The E-P-A monitors flows into the Big Sioux River and the Pipestone and Skunk Creeks.