Parts of Dawson County declared urban areas of Atlanta are not in compliance with the states storm water management program, county officials said.

The chair received a letter in March 2014, and our state government let us know we were not in compliance with our NPS permitting, and we need to apply for a MS4 permit, Dawson County Director of Administration David McKee said at Thursdays board of commissioners work session.

Urban areas are covered under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System governed by EPA regulations. EPA is the Environmental Protection Agency.

The urban areas are located along Georgia 400 corridor.

It covers 5,000 people, and 120 county roads need to be inventoried, McKee said. No state roads or board of education roads are covered under this. They are covered under

other programs.

The goal of the program is to improve water quality.

An MS4 permit calls for a separate municipal storm water system, and the county must create a storm water management program to be in complacence with EPA guidelines.

We got a consultant to draft a program procedures document, McKee said. It was submitted to the EPD for review.

Fines for being out of compliance are $50,000 per day. It is unclear if the county has been charged any fines.

An MS 4 permit (means) we have to regulate the water that falls from the sky and to attempt

to make water cleaner as it runs through a storm water management program, McKee said. One good thing about this is it will help us find problems and correct them.

McKee referred to a manhole that failed in May 2014 near the Best Western Motel and Dunkin Donuts.

At that time, the area received seven inches of rain in less than eight hours.

McKee is being assisted in his effort by Robbie Irvin.

Irvin is the countys storm water/plan review manager. His responsibilities include reviewing erosion control plans and to implement necessary standards of control that will protect the water quality and limit the impact of development on stream flows. Irvin also performs

pre- and post-construction site inspections to ensure compliance with development regulations.

Dawson County expects $90 million in new commercial construction near the Premium Outlet Mall during the next 18 - 24 months.

I expect youll see some construction activity starting in March, Commission Chair Mike Berg said during a Jan. 27 state of the county address.