The following comments are submitted on behalf of the Stormwater Testing and Evaluation for Products and Practices (STEPP) program, which is an initiative led by the National Municipal Stormwater Alliance (NMSA) to establish a national performance testing verification program for proprietary products and public domain practices in the stormwater sector.  NMSA represents organizations in 24 states (including Virginia) that focus on the needs and interests of Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) programs. 

Comments:

The guidance states that “the Code of Virginia permits the use of proprietary BMPs when another state, regional or national certification program has verified and certified the BMPs nutrient or sediment removal effectiveness.”  STEPP appreciates and supports Virginia’s recognition of national programs focused on the performance of stormwater products and practices, with STEPP being the sole example.  However, while STEPP supports Virginia’s requirements for performance verification, STEPP does not support Virginia’s requirements for performance certification.  This is for two reasons. 

First, STEPP – being the only national performance program in development in the stormwater sector – does not now, nor will ever provide a certification of performance.  STEPP will only provide a verification of performance based upon our approach to provide a platform for consistent, robust and transparent performance testing.  STEPP works under the premise that verified performance testing results will be used by states and jurisdictions to certify the use of stormwater products and practices in their programs based upon the verified performance testing results in the context of their state performance standards.  Virginia is in error when suggesting that a national program (STEPP) will provide a certification for use.  The language should be corrected to read “national verification program”.   

Second, Virginia should develop a process to review verified performance test results generated by state, regional or national verification programs and provide certifications for product/practice use based upon this process.  It is not appropriate to defer to other states for certification as the performance standards for stormwater products and practices differs by state, and sometimes by jurisdiction as well.  By allowing use of stormwater products and practices in Virginia based upon the context of performance standards in other states, Virginia may be allowing for products and practices to be used in the Commonwealth that do not perform at a level that is consistent with the performance standards established by Virginia DEQ.  If Virginia continues to defer to other certification programs (as opposed to their own certification program), DEQ should develop a detailed technical justification that illustrates how the use of these certification programs is appropriate in the context of the Commonwealth. 

The STEPP program is currently working with states who are performing technical analyses to determine if and how testing verification results generated in other locations and programs can be applied to their own programs.  STEPP would welcome the opportunity to work with VA DEQ in a similar capacity.  It is the view of the STEPP program that the validity of performance testing verification results should not be limited to the context of a single location.  To support this view, STEPP is currently engaged in an effort to better understand how verified performance test results can be ported across climates and regions in a manner that is technically sound. Regardless of the outcomes of this effort by STEPP to understand the portability of verified performance test results, it is the responsibility of states and/or jurisdictions to determine if the verification results are acceptable to their programs before certifying the use of these products and practices within their programs.