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SWM-CS 980915�i North Central Texas Council Of Governments Ken Griffin City Engineer City of Coppell P.O. Box 478 Coppell, TX 75019 Dear Ken: i PP September 15, 1998 In accordance with recent federal, state, and local initiatives, NCTCOG is proposing the development of a watershed -based regional strategy. In January 1998, USEPA published proposed rules to control polluted runoff from municipal separate storm sewer systems of small ( <100,000 population) municipal and county governments in urbanized areas. These proposed rules, which are scheduled to be finalized in March 1999, constitute Phase 11 of EPA's NPDES municipal storm water program. Phase I rules governing municipalities greater than 100,000 in population are already in effect. During FY99, the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission is also initiating watershed programs to address state stream segments that are not meeting state water quality standards, partly due to urban runoff. NCTCOG intends to expand its successful Phase I regional strategy for managing storm water quality, which is currently underway with the seven largest Metroplex cities and two TxDOT Districts, to incorporate additional cities and counties in the Denton - Dallas -Fort Worth urbanized area that may be impacted by the emerging regulations. Enlisting all watershed partners to cooperatively examine and address common water quality issues results in a broader sharing of the efforts and greater opportunity for success. Working together will also help entities explore the most effective and cost- efficient ways to manage storm water quality. This past May, NCTCOG held a kick -off meeting to launch the expanded regional program by providing opportunities for discussion of the proposed NCTCOG FY99 work scope, financial cost share, and other related issues. I hope you were able to attend. We will be starting the FY99 work program in October with organizational meetings to be held in each of the 4 major watershed areas. You are welcome to attend any of the following scheduled meetings: • East Fork Watershed —Garland Performing Arts Center, 10 am —12 pm, October 14 • West Fork Watershed — Hurst Council Chambers, 1:30 pm — 3:30 pm, October 21 • Mainstem Watershed — DeSoto Civic Center, 10 am —12 pm, October 22 --� • Elm Fork Watershed — Farmers Branch Council Chambers, 1:30 pm — 3:30 pm, October 23 To provide for your entity's participation in this program, we have sent the necessary contractual documents to your entity's administrative office for execution. Program participants may execute the Interlocal Agreement with NCTCOG and have the authorized representative sign the accompanying Authorization Letter(s) as appropriate. We have asked that they return all three signed copies to NCTCOG for final execution. For program participants with smaller cost shares, the abbreviated "FY99 Funding Commitment Response Form" may be used instead of the more formal interlocal agreement, and all that is needed is to simply return the three signed response forms. If you would like to see the work scope or cost shares, please contact your administrative office. Our goal for FY99 is to work with participating entities to design a regional strategy that will benefit all participants. We hope you will join this unified effort to develop a sound regional strategy to successfully address the challenges of storm water and watershed management. Feel free to contact me You. or eith Kennedy at 817 -695 -9210. Thank John Pr( Director, of Environmental Resources 616 Six Flags Drive, Centerpoint Two P. O. Box 5888, Arlington, Texas 76005 -5888 (817) 640 -3300 FAX: 817 - 640 -7806 ©recycled paper