Municipal Construction Stormwater Site Inspection Toolkit
Implementation Guidelines for Western Washington
The goal of this project was to develop a toolkit of five checklists for use by municipal
stormwater inspectors to more easily track compliance with construction stormwater
site inspections as required by the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) Phase II municipal stormwater permit in Western Washington. The Municipal
Construction Stormwater Site Inspection Toolkit includes a set of three checklists for
erosion and sediment control (ESC) inspectors:
The toolkit also includes two checklists for inspectors addressing proper installation
of permanent stormwater BMPs/facilities that focus on bioretention and permeable
pavement:
Post-Construction Permanent Stormwater BMPs/Facilities Inspection Checklist
Initial ESC Inspection Checklist
Construction ESC Inspection Checklist
Post-Construction ESC Inspection Checklist
Project and Toolkit Overview
Construction of Permanent Stormwater BMPs/Facilities Inspection Checklist
Step 1: Each checklist contains a header that can be modified to add City/County
contact information and a logo.
Step 2: Each checklist contains a Project Information box on the first page that can
be tailored to track information that a City/County needs for project tracking and
enforcement. Some of this information can be completed in the office prior to going out
in the field.
Step 3: The inspection questions were developed based on Elements #1-13 of a
Construction Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan. The inspection questions are
intended to provide inspectors with a consistent list of items to inspect and are not
intended to replace a stormwater/surface water manual or CESCL certification. New
inspectors may need supplemental information when responding to these questions.
These questions can be tailored to add detail or specific inspection items that a City/
County would like to track as part of their program.
Post-construction infiltration rate verification for bioretention or permeable
pavement facilities may not be required. These checklist items are included as
placeholders, but should be adjusted according to local City/County requirements.
Step 4: The Summary of Corrective Actions at the end of each checklist is intended to
provide a comprehensive list of action items that are needed following the inspection.
This table can be tailored to track additional information and enforcement actions.
Tailoring the Checklists
Due to the variety of software that is used in Western Washington, a set of
electronic checklists were not developed as part of this project; however, this
factsheet provides some considerations for implementing electronic checklists:
Examples of useful GIS functionality include:
Implementing Electronic Checklists
Combining inspections from multiple inspectors into one centralized database
Auto-populating record tracking information (e.g., Project Name, Project/Permit
Number, Project Location, Property Owner Information, Contractor Information)
Enabling attachments for photos and reference materials to records in the inspection
database
Using the Summary of Corrective Actions checkbox “Are corrective actions needed?”
as a status tracker for outstanding items
Creating a shareable web-accessible map to track all active sites in one place and
display site status in real time
Standardizing data collection through drop-downs and checkboxes to save time on
data QA/QC back in the office
Many municipalities already use geographic information system (GIS) software to
manage various elements of their stormwater drainage systems. GIS software can
also be used to implement electronic checklists and inspection tracking. One example
is ESRI, which offers two applications (Collector and Survey123) that can be used for
online or offline field data collection.
Stormwater Management Manual for Western Washington (or local equivalent):
https://ecology.wa.gov/Regulations-Permits/Guidance-technical-assistance/Stormwater-permittee-
guidance-resources/Stormwater-manuals
Certified Erosion and Sediment Control Lead (CESCL) Training Materials
Statewide LID Training Program Materials:
www.wastormwatercenter.org/lidswtrainingprogram
Municipal Construction Stormwater Site Inspection Toolkit Training Materials
http://www.wastormwatercenter.org/stormwater-construction-site-inspection-resources
Additional Resources
Other specialized survey or questionnaire-focused mobile applications or
other asset management software is available with varying cost-structures and
functionalities. Enhanced electronic functionality that is available from certain
technology providers may include:
Using custom scripting edits to implement branching or skip logic to focus only
on BMPs or issues relevant to a certain site. For example, if only bioretention
is present, permeable pavement inspection items can be excluded and
automatically set as “not applicable”
Providing collapsible “pop-up” or extra background information for complex
checklist items, specific/detailed requirements, etc.
Providing notes and corrective action fields associated with each question
Auto-generating summary information
Exporting customized report sheets with embedded photos to summarize key
site observations
Importing reference information from an external spreadsheet or pre-existing
database to streamline project information data entry (e.g., Project Name,
Project/Permit Number, Project Location, Property Owner Information,
Contractor Information)
Connecting asset management records with GIS data
Implementing Electronic Checklists