Stormwater Control Measure (SCM) Owner? Know Your Responsibilities.

Your SCM needs regular care to keep working properly. If you don’t maintain it, here’s what can happen: 

• Costly Repairs: Skipping routine maintenance can lead to bigger problems and bigger repair bills down the road. 
  
  
• Flooding or Pollution: A neglected SCM can fail, leading to localized flooding or allowing pollutants to enter nearby waterways. 
  
  
• Notices or Fines: Long-term maintenance of all SCMs is required by the City and County. Failure to comply could result in official notices or fines. 

• Check it regularly. Regular maintenance inspections help you catch small problems early, before they turn into big, expensive repairs. 
  
  
• Work with your landscaper. If you hire one, ask them to include SCM inspections in their routine work.  
  
  
• Certified annual inspection reports are generally required if your SCM was built after 2007. You must submit a yearly inspection report completed by a licensed engineer, landscape architect, or other qualified professional using the correct SCM inspection template if it is regulated by the Post-Construction Stormwater Ordinance. 

• List of SCM contractors and inspectors(XLSX, 34KB) (Note: These are shared for your reference only and are not endorsed by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services.) 
• SCM Inspection Templates 

• Storm Water Services staff may inspect your SCM. In addition to required inspections, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services also conducts periodic inspections of these systems, regardless of when they were built. Staff will contact the SCM owner if maintenance or repairs are needed.  

These two-page quick guides describe how each SCM works and describes property owner maintenance tasks. 

• Bioretention Cell (Rain Garden) Maintenance Guide(PDF, 1MB) 
  
  
• Dry Detention Maintenance Guide(PDF, 2MB) 
  
  
• Permeable Pavement Maintenance Guide(PDF, 1MB) 
  
  
• Rainwater Harvesting Maintenance Guide(PDF, 1MB) 
  
  
• Sand Filter Maintenance Guide(PDF, 2MB) 
  
  
• Stormwater Wetland Maintenance Guide(PDF, 3MB) 
  
  
• Wet Pond Maintenance Guide(PDF, 1MB) 

• Charlotte Explorer – If your SCM is located within the City of Charlotte, you can use this interactive map to find helpful information. 

• Go to Charlotte Explorer 
• Select Quick Search to search by address or parcel. 
• Select Layers and click the small triangle icon next to Storm Water. 
• Click the small eye icon to view these helpful data layers: 

• BMPs 
• SCM Inspector Areas 

• SCM Design Manual 
  
  
• SCM Inspection Templates  
  
  
• Declaration of Transfer of Inspection Maintenance Responsibilities(PDF, 218KB)

• SCM Contractor List Form

• Stormwater Regulations