The Chemung County Stormwater Coalition was formed in 2003 to begin to understand and address the pending Phase II SPDES General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s).  Eleven of our municipalities (one City, four Villages, and eight Towns) within Chemung County had been designated as MS4s.  This equated to approximately ¾ of our municipalities within the County being designated MS4s.  In addition to these traditional MS4s, the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport, the Chemung County Highway Department, and the Chemung County Solid Waste Transfer Station were also designated as non-traditional MS4s.

The Chemung County Stormwater Coalition, at that time, consisted of the MS4s in Chemung County, the Chemung County Soil & Water Conservation District, County and Regional Planning, Cornell Cooperative Extension, NYSDEC, and NYSDOT.  In 2008, the Coalition expanded to include all of the municipalities within Chemung County, as well as the members of the Chemung County Water Quality Strategy Committee.  From the initial planning efforts of the Coalition, the following points were concluded regarding the MS4 permit.

• Substantial time, effort, and expense would be needed from each MS4 to achieve permit compliance
• The MS4 compliance requirements would be especially daunting for some of the smaller, more rural MS4s
• Duplication of efforts (and expenses) by the different MS4s would most likely result, if each MS4 addressed the permit requirements independently

The Coalition decided that it would be in the best interests of the County and each MS4, if a consistent, County-wide program was developed to address the MS4 permit requirements for each MS4.  It was envisioned that a Stormwater Team would be created to assist MS4 municipalities to address, in a consistent County-wide fashion, the requirements of the SPDES General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) for each of the MS4 municipalities within the County.   

In 2008, a funding mechanism for the Stormwater Team was established, involving an Intermunicipal Agreement between each municipality within the County, Chemung County, and the Chemung County Soil & Water Conservation District.  Per that agreement, the Chemung County Soil & Water Conservation District took the lead in the development of the Chemung County Stormwater Team.  In 2008, a building expansion was completed at the District office, to provide office space for the Stormwater Team.  By 2009, staffing for the Chemung County Stormwater Team was complete.  The members of the Stormwater Team are District employees.  The Stormwater Team consists of the following positions. 

• Professional Engineer, licensed in New York State
• Stormwater Technician, CPESC and CPSWQ 
• Stormwater Outreach Educator
  

The Chemung County Stormwater Team is supervised and managed by the Chemung County Stormwater Board of Directors.  The Stormwater Board of Directors is a 5-member board appointed by the Chemung County Legislature (upon the recommendation of the Chemung County Stormwater Coalition in consultation with participating municipalities).