Stormwater & Drainage

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Stormwater Construction Projects:

Information on the Garfield/Harrison Stormwater project can be found on the Let's Talk Loveland site.

Did you know that you can prevent water pollution?

All water that flows into a stormdrain inlet discharges into a local waterway untreated. Pollution prevention starts in the home. You can make a difference by picking up dog waste after your dog and applying fertilizer to you lawn sparingly. Collecting leaves and putting them in your yard cart or taking them to the Recycle Center will keep them out of the storm drains and help prevent street flooding. Washing your car at the carwash or on the lawn will prevent soapy, dirty water from flowing into the street and eventually into the storm drain.

You can prevent water pollution and you can help keep our streams and rivers clean!

Staff Contacts

Stormwater Drainage Concerns: Kevin Gingery, 970-962-2771
Stormwater Concerns: Eric Lessard, 970-962-2773
Stormwater Development: Suzette Schaff, 970-962-2531
City of Loveland MS4 Permit: Kelly Leedy, 970-962-2775
Stormwater Manager: Chris Carlson, 970-962-2774
Illicit discharge hotline: 970-962-2761
General requests or concerns: stormwater@cityofloveland.org

Master Drainage Plan

In 1986, the City of Loveland Master Drainage Plan was developed, and in 1987 the Stormwater Utility was established following several years of study by City Councils, citizen groups, City staff, and consultants. The plan outlined improvements to the existing system and established criteria that developers must follow for new developments. Between 1986 and 2001, slightly over $8 million was spent on improvements with $26.7 million in 2001 dollars left to complete. In order to accelerate storm drainage projects, fees increased 25 percent on January 1, 2002. Remaining stormwater capital improvements will take at least another 34 years to complete based on existing funding. The projects include building of regional detention ponds, increasing the size of existing storm sewers, constructing new storm sewers and channels and solving flooding problems following heavy rainstorms.

Master Plan Prioritization Plan

The Master Plan Prioritization Plan is broken down into major capital projects over $500k and minor capital projects under $500k for budgeting purposes.

Prioritization Plan - Decision Making Matrix

The major capital projects were separated out from the minor capital projects to form two matrices. The decision making matrix consists of categories that provide a comparison of all the projects. The categories in the matrix including flooding, media coverage and citizen complaints, damages, risk of life, maintenance problems, water quality and cost. Each category was ranked based on the opinion of the entire stormwater staff. Then each category was weighed based on its relative importance in three weighing scales (1-15; 1-10; and 1-5). Based on this comprehensive evaluation, all the projects are ranked based on highest score. The final ranking of all the projects was based on the 1 to 10 scale which was determined to be a good middle range ranking system to the other two scales.

This prioritization plan can then be used for planning and budgeting for the next 10 years. The major capital projects will be interchanged with the minor capital projects as timing and funding become available. Coordination with Public Works Engineering on road projects will also be an important factor in determining the timing of each project as many of the stormwater projects are along major roadways within the City. All costs are preliminary, and most of them come from the original 1986 master plan. Costs may need to be more refined, if they land in the top five ranking, in order to prepare a better number for budgetary purposes. The decision making matrix will be re-evaluated every year based on new data and input.

Development Drainage Reports

Development Drainage Reports

The City of Loveland's Stormwater Engineering division now provides online access to Development Drainage Reports. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view reports. Email us if you have questions or need additional information at Stormwater@cityofloveland.org.

Having trouble accessing reports?

The online version of Open Text is only supported by Internet Explorer. if you are using IE10, please use the compatibility setting. To do this, go to Tools, Compatibility Settings, and add "Loveland.co.us" to the list of sites to view in compatibility mode.

MS4 Permit

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has designated the City of Loveland a Phase II Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Community, requiring the City to apply for a Stormwater General Permit. Under this Permit, the City of Loveland must implement programs designed to reduce the amount of pollutants entering streams, lakes, and rivers as a result of runoff from residential, commercial and industrial areas. Because the EPA delegated the permitting to the State of Colorado, Loveland’s Permit Application and any associated reporting is submitted to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Water Quality Control Division.

As an operator of a Phase II Regulated Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4), the City of Loveland is required by the State of Colorado to submit a general permit to discharge Stormwater and to implement the programs listed for each of the following six stormwater management programs or minimum control measures.

Public Education & Outreach On Stormwater Impacts
Public Participation/Involvement
Illicit Discharge Detection & Elimination
Construction Site Stormwater Runoff Control
Post-Construction Stormwater Management
Pollution Prevention/Good Housekeeping for Municipal Operations

A Program Description Document (PDD) is available to the public for review and comment, please contact stormwater@cityofloveland.org to obtain a copy.

External link to the Public Works Program Coverage Map - Stormwater Outfall Map

Residents

Volunteer

Stormdrain Marker Installation

Help the City install stormdrain markers that discourage our community from dumping harmful materials into our stormdrain system which leads directly to the Big Thompson River, local creeks, and lakes! With the help of our local community, the City hopes to mark approximately 2,500 stormdrains within the next four years.

The City’s MS4 permit with the State of Colorado requires that the City involve the community within its stormwater quality program, and the Stormwater Marker Program is a great flexible volunteer opportunity to do this for children, students, retirees, Scout troops and everyone else.

1,461
Approximate Stormdrains
marked to date

1,039
Approximate Stormdrains
remaining

40
Community
Volunteers

How It Works

Volunteers will receive all the necessary supplies to participate.
Working alone or in small groups, volunteers simply walk neighborhoods, apply the helpful reminders, and cross the location off the map.
Once volunteers can no longer assist with the program or have completed their share of installations, the City’s GIS team will record which stormdrain inlets have been marked.
That’s it! Thanks for your support in keeping Loveland’s waterways clean.

Interested in serving your community?

Contact Kelly Leedy for more info: Kelly.Leedy@cityofloveland.org

Property Management

As a facility manager, property manager or homeowner’s association it may have been determined that you have one or more stormwater quality practices located on your property. As owners of such structures it is a requirement by the City that you or your representatives perform inspections and maintenance on said structures. How you maintain your property can have a large impact on the water and natural habitats of our creeks and streams.

The City of Loveland is required to ensure to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) per its Stormwater Discharge Permit that all PBMPs (Permanent Best Management Practices) that have been installed within the City are being properly maintained and functioning as intended.

Please email stormwater@cityofloveland.org if you need to obtain new copies of the documents.

Stormwater Utility Fee

All residents of Loveland benefit equally from the services provided by the Stormwater Utility Fee. Fee categories are divided into residential, commercial, industrial, and institutional properties. All fees collected are placed into one fund; the majority of the fund is utilized for capital improvement projects throughout the City, the balance is used to cover operation, maintenance and administration of the utility. The new Big Thompson River fee will be used to improve the river corridor, reducing the effects of the next major flood, for more details please visit lovgov.org/ABetterBigT

2024 Rates are as follows:

STORMWATER AND BIG THOMPSON RIVER FUNDS
Residential Lot Size (square feet) less than 4,000 sq. ft.	$ 11.04
4,000 - 5,999 sq. ft.	$ 13.76
6,000 - 7,999 sq. ft.	$ 19.87
8,000 - 9,999 sq. ft.	$ 24.87
10,000 sq. ft. and over	$ 27.60
Institutional (per acre)	$ 58.37
Commercial (per acre)	$ 150.75
Industrial (per acre)	$ 126.07

Adjustments to monthly fee:

A non-residential customer may request an adjustment to the regular fee by one of the following methods in order to allow for less impervious surface than the average for the class of use (Method A) or for on-site detention facilities (Method B). The two methods are not cumulative, and only the method resulting in the lower fee shall be used.

Method A: The fee shall be one-half of the regular fee, plus one-half of the regular fee multiplied by the percent of the impervious area multiplied by the class factor. The Commercial class factor is 1.11, the Industrial class factor is 1.174, and the Institutional class factor is 2.49.

Method B: The fee shall be one-half of the regular fee, plus one-half of the regular fee multiplied by the ratio of the stormwater runoff rate calculated to result after construction of the detention facilities to the stormwater runoff rate which would occur in the absence of detention facilities.

The fees imposed herein shall be billed in arrears.

Inspection of Storm Drainage Improvements:

DESCRIPTION	FEE
Single Family Unit	$225.00
Duplex Unit	$75.00
Multi-Family Unit	$40.00
All other Buildings	$225.00
Plus $50 per acre for lots over two (2) acres, per acre	$75.00

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