The City Council finds, determines and declares that the streams, rivers, ponds, waterways, groundwater, and functionally related natural and manmade stormwater control facilities constitute a stormwater control facility.

The City Council finds, determines and declares that the public stormwater control facility including its administration, which provides for the collection, treatment, storage and disposal of stormwater, provides benefits and services to all developed property within the incorporated City limits. Such benefits may include, but are not limited to: the provision of adequate systems of collection, conveyance, detention, treatment and release of stormwater; the reduction of hazards to property and life resulting from stormwater runoff; improvements in general health and welfare through reduction of undesirable stormwater conditions; and improvements to the water quality of the stormwater and its receiving waters. Ecology’s decision to include the City in the NPDES Phase II municipal stormwater general permit program now requires the City of Pullman to implement local water quality protection activities and programs to reduce and control the potential to pollute surface waters and groundwaters by storm drainage originating on both public and private properties.

The City Council finds, determines and declares that development of lands alter both the amount of stormwater runoff and the amount of pollution contained in such runoff and that the variation in these two factors constitutes a fair way to determine the burdens imposed upon the system and the benefits of the services received by the customer from the pollution management and regulatory services and facilities provided by a utility for storm drainage and surface water management, and the customer’s charges for management of such burdens and provision of such services and facilities.

The City Council finds, determines and declares that the amount of impervious surface, land use, and rainfall will determine the volume of runoff and the general level of pollution from a property, which has been well established in both engineering practice and water quality studies by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Washington Department of Ecology, the United States Geological Survey, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and others. While the relationships established by the above studies are adequate to assign charges, the City Storm Drainage and Surface Water Management Utility may perform local studies and based upon the results of these, may adjust rates and charges in the future to more accurately reflect the burdens imposed by customer classes within the City.

The City Council finds, determines and declares that to fund the costs of storm drainage and surface water management in the City, it is appropriate to adopt service charges for stormwater users, with rates varying according to the services furnished, the burdens imposed or benefits received; and the character, use and stormwater runoff characteristics of the land. (Ord. 09-2 §2, 2009).