KDOT receives a silver and bronze award for their work with community water ways

TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Transportation has received a bronze for Innovation and silver for Program Management in the National Municipal Stormwater and Green Infrastructure Award program. KDOT placed in two out of three possible categories.

“The quality of stormwater runoff is important to the health of our rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands. Rainwater can pick up many different pollutants when it hits the ground and has no treatment facility,” said Dale Kirmer KDOT Staff Engineer. “It drains into our waterways through pipes and ditches. The pollutants can cause turbidity (cloudy water) and overgrowth of algae as well as harm aquatic organisms and the ecosystem.”

KDOT manages compliance within six areas of municipal separate storm sewer system, also known as MS4, on state-owned right-of-way across Kansas. To successfully achieve this, KDOT has developed a MS4 compliance strategy that promotes stormwater quality, optimizes processes and looks for new opportunities to minimize impacts to stormwater runoff.

The agency’s Stormwater Management Plan (SMP) includes several elements connected to compliance such as:

• Promotion of the Adopt-a-Highway program.
• Comprehensive construction site runoff requirements for all KDOT projects.
• Continued focused on post-construction stormwater management specific to the highway environment.