Report Pollution

For petroleum spills or wastewater releases, contact the Florida State Watch Office at 1-800-320-0519, submit a pollution notice on the Department of Environmental Protection's website, and call the City of Melbourne at 321-608-7341.

Call or text the Stormwater Hotline at 321-608-7341 if you see someone blowing grass clippings/trash/yard debris into the roadway, curb, or storm drain, or if you see someone pouring an unknown substance into a storm drain. You can also call this number to ask questions about what the city is doing and to learn how you can help the Indian River Lagoon. 

Please do not call the Stormwater Hotline to report structural problems in the roadway. If you need to report a pothole, broken inlet, or other similar concern, please call the Streets Division at 321-608-5300.

The History of Cleaning Up America’s Water

On June 22, 1969, Ohio’s Cuyahoga River caught fire for approximately the 13th time due a spark flying off of a train and striking the heavily polluted waters below. Local industry was blamed for the petroleum-saturated waters. This environmental disaster helped spur the environmental movement of the 1960s and resulted in the amendment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948, morphing it into the Clean Water Act of 1972.

Within the Clean Water Act were the following key points:

  • Established the basic structure for regulating pollutant discharges into the waters of the United States.
  • Gave EPA the authority to implement pollution control programs, such as setting wastewater standards for industry.
  • Maintained existing requirements to set water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters.
  • Made it unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained under its provisions.
  • Funded the construction of sewage treatment plants under the construction grants program.
  • Recognized the need for planning to address the critical problems posed by nonpoint source pollution.

National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)

The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program established a permit program to control water pollution by regulating the discharge of pollutants into the waters of the United States. Initially, NPDES focused on point source pollution, which is pollution that originates from a defined source (think of a factory dumping waste). It is said that this addition resulted in two-thirds of the nation’s waters becoming safe for fishing and swimming from the previous one-third.  

NPDES & MS4s (Melbourne is an MS4)

While NPDES helped clean up the nation’s water, it was apparent that more effort was needed. In 1987, the Water Quality Act was passed, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) required states to regulate stormwater runoff and create nonpoint source management programs. This meant that states now had to manage nonpoint source pollutants — pollutants carried by stormwater over impervious areas like streets, parking lots, buildings, construction sites, homes and other areas that do not allow precipitation to be absorbed. States, like Florida, had to issue permits to municipal separate sewer system (MS4s, of which Melbourne is one) in order for that municipality to discharge stormwater into waters of the state. To receive the permit, MS4s have to have a stormwater management program that includes six minimum control measures to help reduce stormwater pollution.

The six minimum control measures that Melbourne and all other MS4s must implement are:

  • Public Education and Outreach
    • Provide information what the public can do to help reduce pollutant load to water bodies of the City and State.
    • Conduct outreach activities.
  • Public Participation and Involvement
    • Provide avenues for residents to take action, make decisions and have a say on what is happening in their City.
  • Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination
    • Develop and implement a program to detect and eliminate illicit discharge to the stormwater sewer system.
  • Construction Site Stormwater Runoff Control
    • Develop and implement a program to reduce pollutants from stormwater runoff from construction activities that result in land disturbance of greater or equal to one-half acre or more.
    • The City regulates construction sites that disturb land of greater to one-half acre.
  • Post Construction Site Stormwater Runoff Control
    • Develop and implement a program that maintains predevelopment conditions.
    • Develop and implement a program to minimize the impacts of development on water quality.
  • Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping
    • Develop and implement a plan that reduces the amount and type of pollutants that collect on roads, parking lots and open spaces, storage areas, vehicle maintenance areas and all City maintained areas

Stormwater Locally

Stormwater runoff has been identified as the number-one source of pollution in the Indian River Lagoon. Stormwater runoff is rain that washes off driveways, parking lots, roads, yards, rooftops, and other hard surfaces. Stormwater picks up pollutants, such as nutrients from fertilizers and grass clippings, chemicals, bacteria, sediment, and trash, then washes these things into ditches and storm drains that ultimately lead into the Indian River Lagoon.

A stormwater system is different from a sanitary sewer system. A stormwater system is for conveyance of stormwater runoff. A sanitary sewer system is for the conveyance and treatment of effluent or human waste. In the City of Melbourne, these are two separate systems; making Melbourne a Municipal Separate Sewer System or MS4.

Commercial and residential projects constructed since the late-1980s typically have a stormwater treatment component. However, many developments within the City of Melbourne were constructed before stormwater treatment features were mandated in new construction. Therefore, not all stormwater receives treatment.  

What the City is Doing

The City of Melbourne is actively working to add in stormwater treatment features to residential and commercial areas that were developed without them. The City also implements the six minimum control measures listed above. The City regulates discharges into the stormwater system and conducts education and outreach activities to enlist citizens in the effort to reduce and prevent pollution in the Indian River Lagoon.  If you want to help or share an idea, call the Stormwater Hotline at 321-608-7341.

What You Can Do

Learn how you can help prevent stormwater pollution.