Formed to focus on agriculture, the Licking County (Ohio) Water and Soil Conservation District has branched out to oversee construction sites.
A recent decision by the county is in step with a trend to more closely monitor runoff mitigation on construction projects. In early 2015, the district plans to hire a new environmental technician to monitor National Pollution Discharge Elimination System requirements for controlling stormwater runoff from construction sites. The new technician will visit construction sites and review plans for those urban sites.
"We used our existing technician and we overextended him, to be perfectly honest," said the outgoing chairman of the county district’s board of supervisors. The new focus on overseeing urban development fits into the district's mission of ensuring that stormwater runoff does not degrade county waterways, according to a former county administrator.
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