During a rainfall event, water flows from your event site, through storm drains, directly to lakes without any treatment. Stormwater can pick up pollutants such as oil, trash, and spilled food left behind from vendors and guests of your event.
As an event coordinator, your organization can be liable for any stormwater violations. These violations could result in substantial monetary fines and cleanup costs. The cost to clean up pollutants once they are in a stormline or lake can be several thousand dollars.
To help your event comply with the federal, state, and local stormwater regulations, we have outlined some Best Management Practices (BMPs) for you and your vendors to follow. It is your responsibility to inform all vendors and participants at your event of proper stormwater management practices.
The objective in stormwater protection is that only rainwater enter the storm drain. Best management practices (BMPs) are specific steps taken to prevent stormwater pollution at your event. All employees and vendors shall review this information sheet as a training tool, and make every effort to keep pollutants from going down the storm drain by putting the following BMPs into practice. In the City of Orlando, event planners have the unique opportunity to hold activities in close proximity to our more than 100 local lakes. Please join us in protecting some of our most beautiful natural resources.
Contracts and Leases
- If you have contracts with vendors participating in your event or companies hired to help with cleanup, include language requiring them to be educated and responsible for proper stormwater management. Put this language in any contract into which you enter.
Waste Management and Disposal
- Be sure adequate receptacles are provided for use by vendors and guests to prevent litter.
- All waste receptacles (dumpsters) must be sturdy, leak-tight, and equipped with lids or covers. Keep all outdoor receptacles closed unless adding or removing wastes.
- Do not wash out any receptacles outdoors unless wastewater is collected or discharged to sanitary sewer.
- Be sure containers are emptied as needed to prevent overflow. It is also important they are emptied at the end of each day.
- Never place liquids in an outdoor waste receptacle.
Portable Toilets
- Be sure they are serviced frequently to prevent any overflows or leaks.
- Require your vendor to stake down the portable toilets to prevent them from blowing over in high winds or from being tipped over. Do not place portable toilets next to or over a storm drain.
Grease Management
- Ensure that each vendor has a spill cleanup kit (i.e., absorbent material, broom, dustpan, trash bags, etc.) on hand at all times. Clean up spills immediately.
- Protect the ground under and significantly beyond your deep fryer using a tarp. Prevent any grease residue from being deposited on paved surfaces.
- Properly dispose of all grease into an approved collection bin.
Pressure Washing
- Use dry cleanup methods to collect litter and absorb any liquid wastes prior to any pressure washing. These include using absorbents (e.g. “Oil-Dri,” kitty litter, rags, sand, etc.), sweeping, and scraping off dried debris.
- If you are not using any detergents or chemicals and are only cleaning surfaces of ambient dirt or dust, then this wash water can be directed to landscape or contained onsite and allowed to evaporate. However, if there is any food residue or oils on areas that are going to be washed, this method is NOT acceptable.
- Prior to pressure washing, identify where all storm drains are located. Storm drains may be located in the gutter at the end of a block or in landscaping hidden from view. Wash water must not be discharged onto paved surfaces or allowed to enter storm drains.
- Determine where water will pool for collection.
- Use the following types of equipment to protect storm drains and to contain and collect wash water: vacuum pumps, booms / berms, portable containment areas, weighted storm drain covers, inflatable plumber’s plugs, oil/water separators, holding tanks, portable sump pumps, hoses, and absorbents. Using wet vacs in areas near storm drains, and ditches is the recommended BMP.
- Once water is collected, dispose of it properly. Collected wash water may be disposed of into a sanitary sewer drain at the job site or at the contractor’s place of business. (FIRST ask for permission from property owner. DO NOT dispose of wastewater to a septic system.)
Wastewater Management
- Provide disposal containers for your vendors to prevent having this water discharged to the environment.
- Keep these disposal containers out of sight of the guests to prevent them from using containers as trashcans
For more information on stormwater pollution prevention, or to report an illicit discharge, contact the City of Orlando Stormwater Hotline at 407.246.2370 or visit orlando.gov/stormwater.