Lenexa stormwater facts

• Annual average rainfall is 37 inches per year.
• Main surface water pollutants are sediment, fecal coliform bacteria and phosphorus.
• Storm drains maintained: more than 15,000 inlets
• Miles of city-maintained streams: 26 miles
• Stormwater Division employees: 15 full-time and seasonal employees

Stormwater
What is Rain to Recreation?
Lenexa’s innovative stormwater management program, Rain to Recreation, aims to reduce flooding and protect water while preserving natural habitat and providing educational and recreational opportunities for its residents. This award-winning program is nationally recognized as a leader for its practices that focus on stormwater protection, restoration and education.

What is a watershed?
A watershed is an area of land that drains to a common body of water, such as a nearby creek, stream, river or lake. Watersheds vary considerably in size. For example, when it rains, all the water from a small watershed may travel to a local creek. That creek will flow into a larger stream, like Mill Creek, which in turn collects water from an even larger watershed. Mill Creek flows into the Kansas River, which then deposits water into the Missouri River.

What is stormwater and why should I worry about it?
Runoff from rainstorms is called stormwater. It becomes polluted by flowing over surfaces, such as streets, lawns and parking lots, where it picks up pollutants such as oil, fertilizer and trash. This water then flows directly to streams, rivers and lakes without treatment.

What is a stormdrain?
Stormdrains are the metal grates found on urban and suburban streets, often at corners and on the sides of curbs and gutters. They help prevent flooding by draining rainwater and melted snow off of streets and other paved surfaces.

Are sewers and stormdrains the same thing?
No. The water that goes down a sink or toilet in your home or business flows through a sewer system to a wastewater treatment plant where it is treated and cleaned. Water that flows down a driveway or street and into a gutter, flows through a stormdrain and directly to a natural body of water, untreated.

Do stormdrains get cleaned out?
The city is responsible for ensuring that the more than 15,000 stormdrain inlets and hundreds of miles of conveyance pipes citywide are clear of obstructions that might cause water to back up and cause flooding. Stormdrains and inlets are cleaned on a periodic basis across the community as conditions and seasons dictate. To report flooding from a stormdrain, please contact the Municipal Services Department at 913.477.7880

Yard clippings leaves are natural, so they don't cause any problems when I blow them into a drain or leave them by the stream, right?
Grass, leaves and yard clippings can clog stormdrains and pipes. Disposing of yard waste on stream banks is unsightly, unsanitary and unsafe for humans and wildlife. Grass and leaves repeatedly swept or washed into the stormdrains can become a breeding ground for rodents and insects and can clog drains, causing localized flooding. Plant matter washed into streams or other bodies of water deprives aquatic life of oxygen as well.

If I notice a foreign substance in a stormdrain inlet, what should I do?
If you notice a foreign substance flowing into a stormdrain inlet or see someone pouring something into a storm sewer, please call the Municipal Services Department, 913.477.7880, to report the location. Common signs of pollutants are strange odors, colors in the water or an odd sheen on the surface.

Dumping trash, chemicals, yard waste and other substances is against the law and is a violation of Lenexa’s municipal code that prohibits dumping onto roadways or into the stormdrain system.

Funding
What is the Storm Systems Development Charge?
Lenexa’s Storm Systems Development Charge (SSD) is a stormwater utility fee that functions like a wastewater or drinking water utility fee. It is a stand-alone service unit within the city government that generates revenues responsible for funding the operation, construction and maintenance of stormwater infrastructure to prevent flooding and protect water quality. The SSD Charge is a one-time fee collected at the time of construction.

How is the SSD Charge determined?
The fee is based on the amount of stormwater a particular parcel passes to the stormwater system, termed an Equivalent Dwelling Unit, or EDU. An EDU in Lenexa is 2,750 square feet, the average amount of impervious surface (such as driveways and rooftops) associated with a single-family home in Lenexa. For commercial and multi-family units, the city calculates total impervious area and divides it by 2,750 square feet to arrive at the total number of EDUs. Therefore, the more runoff a building contributes, the greater the fee.

If a property is not near a body of water, why is it charged?
All businesses and homeowners in a watershed have an effect on the quantity and quality of the stormwater runoff, despite how far you are from a stream or lake. All Lenexa residents have equal responsibility to support stormwater programs and infrastructure, based on a calculated contribution, the EDU.

Is growth and new development the cause of all of these problems?
New development approved and built in Lenexa since 2004 have had to meet strict regulations on the quality and quantity of stormwater runoff. New development is required to contain and treat their polluted stormwater runoff, but in older neighborhoods, there are no easy or cost-effective ways to clean this runoff prior to entering the lakes. Many of our current problems are caused by stormwater runoff from development occurring before 2004. Today's cost to remove, replace and upgrade old pipes and drainage systems exceeds the cost to build new systems.