David Y. Ige

HONOLULU – The Water Environment Federation (WEF) awarded the State of Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) Highways Division, Oahu District with a Gold Level in Program Management and Silver Level in Innovation as part of the organization’s National Municipal Stormwater and Green Infrastructure Awards Program. The awards celebrate administrators of municipal separate storm sewer systems that perform beyond regulatory requirements.

“We are honored to have received recognition for our Highways Oahu District Storm Water Management Program at the National Municipal Stormwater and Green Infrastructure awards,” said Hawaii Department of Transportation Director Jade Butay. “Our team is dedicated to reducing pollutants in storm water for the health and sustainability of our ocean and freshwater ecosystems.”

WEF is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization of 35,000 individual members and 75 affiliated Member Associations representing water quality professionals around the world. Hawaii’s Member Association is better known as the Hawaii Water Environment Association. As a global water sector leader, WEF’s mission is to connect water professionals; enrich the expertise of water professionals; increase the awareness of the impact of and value of water; and provide a platform for water sector innovation.

Judged by the WEF Stormwater Institute, awards are separated into two classifications based on the populations of the communities they serve:

• Phase I: Encompasses medium or large cities with more than 100,000 customers.
• Phase II: Encompasses smaller storm sewer systems outside of heavily populated urban areas.

Winners recognized in each phase are also awarded silver or gold certificates based on their level performance in program management or innovation. HDOT’s Storm Water Management Program received recognition as a Phase I winner due to excellence demonstrated in both areas of program management and innovation. For more information on the National Municipal Stormwater and Green Infrastructure Awards Program and a list of the 2018 award winners, please visit https://wefstormwaterinstitute.org/programs/ms4awards/

About the Storm Water Management Program

The State of Hawaii Department of Transportation, Highways Division, Oahu District (HDOT Highways) is responsible for the implementation of the Storm Water Management Program. This initiative is undertaken to comply with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit for HDOT Highways’ municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4). HDOT Highways’ MS4 qualifies as a large municipal separate storm sewer system since it services a population greater than 250,000 and is therefore subject to permitting requirements under the NPDES Program for storm water discharges. The program is designed to reduce, to the maximum extent practicable, the amount of storm water containing pollutants from entering and ultimately discharging from the MS4 into the streams, rivers and ocean that we all enjoy. For more information, visit www.stormwaterhawaii.com and www.trashfreehawaii.com