(A) (1) Persons shall conduct land-disturbing activity so that the post construction velocity of the ten-year storm runoff in the receiving watercourse to the discharge point does not exceed the greater of:
(a) The velocity established by the table in subsection (D) of this section; or
(b) The velocity of the ten-year storm runoff in the receiving watercourse prior to development.
(2) If conditions (1)(a) or (b) of this subsection (A) cannot be met, then the receiving watercourse to and including the discharge point shall be designed and constructed to withstand the expected velocity anywhere the velocity exceeds the “prior to development” velocity by 10%.
(B) Acceptable management measures. Measures applied alone or in combination to satisfy the intent of this section are acceptable if there are no objectionable secondary consequences. The Commission recognizes that the management of stormwater runoff to minimize or control downstream channel and bank erosion is a developing technology. Innovative techniques and ideas will be considered and may be used when shown to have the potential to produce successful results. Some alternatives are to:
(1) Avoid increases in surface runoff volume and velocity by including measures to promote infiltration to compensate for increased runoff from areas rendered impervious;
(2) Avoid increases in stormwater discharge velocities by using vegetated or roughened swales and waterways in lieu of closed drains and high velocity paved sections;
(3) Provide energy dissipators at outlets of storm drainage facilities to reduce flow velocities to the point of discharge (these may range from simple rip-rapped sections to complex structures); and
(4) Protect watercourses subject to accelerated erosion by improving cross-sections and/or providing erosion resistant lining.
(5) Upgrade or replace the receiving device structure, or watercourse such that it will receive and conduct the flow to a point where it is no longer subject to degradation from the increased rate of flow or increased velocity.
(C) Exceptions. This rule shall not apply where it can be demonstrated that stormwater discharge velocities will not create an erosion problem in the receiving watercourse.
(D) Table. The following is a table for maximum permissible velocity for stormwater discharges in feet per second (F.P.S.) and meters per second (M.P.S.:
Material | F.P.S. | M.P.S. |
Material | F.P.S. | M.P.S. |
Fine sand (noncolloidal) | 2.5 | 0.8 |
Sandy loam (noncolloidal) | 2.5 | 0.8 |
Silt loam (noncolloidal) | 3.0 | 0.9 |
Ordinary firm loam | 3.5 | 1.1 |
Fine gravel | 5.0 | 1.5 |
Stiff clay (very colloidal) | 5.0 | 1.5 |
Graded, loam to cobbles (non colloidal) | 5.0 | 1.5 |
Graded, silt to cobbles (colloidal) | 5.5 | 1.7 |
Alluvial silts (noncolloidal) | 3.5 | 1.1 |
Alluvial silts (colloidal) | 5.0 | 1.5 |
Coarse gravel (noncolloidal) | 6.0 | 1.8 |
Cobbles and shingles | 5.5 | 1.7 |
Shales and hard pans | 6.0 | 1.8 |
(Source: Adapted from recommendations by Special Committee on Irrigation Research, American Society of Civil Engineers, 1926, for channels with straight alignment. For sinuous channels, multiply allowable velocity by 0.95 for slightly sinuous, by 0.9 for moderately sinuous channels, and by 0.8 for highly sinuous channels.)
(Ord. No. 98-7, passed 1-8-1998 ; Ord. No. 23-040, § 1, passed 5-11-2023)