Municipalities in Virginia are finding themselves with more and more stormwater management facilities every day. However, many of the first stormwater management facilities were designed and constructed decades ago. All of these facilities have aged, but many have not aged well. Many of these facilities have not had anybody on-site since their original construction and are now in need of critical repair in order to restore them to their full water quality and/or quality benefit, or to even just restore them to any benefit at all.

Addressing corrective maintenance at these facilities one at a time as funds are available is important, but there are many inefficiencies associated with this approach as each individual maintenance project will typically have set startup, overhead, and administrative costs. Bundling maintenance activities together and even by type can lead to more favorable unit rates.

Additionally, maintenance staff and/or funds are rarely available fast enough to keep up with overall declining conditions. Municipalities can benefit from knowing the full extent of maintenance needed and more importantly, an overall cost estimate to restore all of the facilities that they (or their citizens) are responsible for. Developing this information allows municipalities to plan for long-term maintenance activities and to set achievable goals.

This presentation will outline a method to conduct rapid assessments of typical stormwater management facilities and a method to prepare simple maintenance cost estimates that can be used as a tool for long-term budget planning in order to restore some of our original stormwater management facilities to their intended benefit for all downstream Virginians.