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STEPP Public Reviews

STEPP verifications include public review opportunities. Current reviews are provided to the right.

To provide transparency, the STEPP verification process includes a public review.  The specifics of this information are provided in the STEPP Public Review Overview Document.  Public review comments must  be provided using the STEPP Public Review Comment Form.  Failure to follow the directions in the STEPP Public Review Overview Document will result in automatic exclusion of submitted comments.  STEPP Public Reviews are intended to be as inclusive as possible and all efforts are made to broadcast information about active reviews based upon a database of interested stakeholders.  If you wish to be added to this database, please use the form on this page or email Seth Brown, STEPP Director, at seth.brown@nationalstormwateralliance.org.

Public Review Overview

The STEPP Public Review Process is to allow interested parties to provide comments on technical and procedural aspects of performance testing campaigns.  STEPP reserves the right to dismiss comments that are off topic (i.e., outside of technical and procedural aspects of testing campaigns) and/or are not provided in good faith.

STEPP Public Reviews

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Current Reviews

  • The StormTrap TrashTrap Trash Capture Device Lab Test Evaluation Report (LTER) is now available for public review.
    • The document is available for download here.
    • This review was initiated on May 12, 2025.
    • The deadline for the public review is midnight, June 3, 2025.  Comments provided after this date/time will be excluded.
    • Comments must be submitted as outlined in the STEPP Public Review Overview Document.  Access to this document is provided on this page (see information to the left).

STEPP Updates

The STEPP program is dynamic. Check back for updates freqently.

The current status of ongoing verifications in STEPP program as of February 19, 2025 are listed to the right.

 

Current Verifications

  • StormTrap TrashTrap - Application accepted, QAPP reviewed and approved, Lab Testing Evaluation Report available for public review 
  • EnviroPod LittaTrap - Application accepted, QAPP pending 
  • Oldcastle Infrastructure Nutrient Separating Baffle Box - Application accepted, QAPP being reviewed

STEPP is now OPEN FOR BUSINESS

STEPP is now receiving applications for verifications of trash capture technologies and hydrodynamic separators.

The STEPP program has officially launched and is now taking applications for trash capture technologies as well as hydrodynamic separator (HDS) technologies.    

STEPP Verifications

STEPP verifications are those verifications for which STEPP provides full evaluation, oversight and third-party review services.  This process is a review of the verification application followed by a third-party review of the quality assurance project plan (QAPP) and a public review and third-party review of the lab testing report after testing is complete to ensure that testing was performed in accordance with ASTM standards. 

Lab Concurrence Verifications

Lab concurrence verifications is an effort by STEPP to review the verification documents based upon previous lab-based testing verification programs.  Concurrence verifications by STEPP are limited to those previous verifications that used testing standards and protocols consistent with ASTM standards and STEPP policies and procedures.   

More Information and Get Things Started

Please see STEPP documents (see links to the right) for detailed information.  To initiate a verification, download the STEPP Lab Testing Verification Application or the STEPP Lab Testing Hydrodynamic Separator Concurrence Verification Application document, fill out and email to Seth Brown, STEPP Director, at seth.brown@nationalstormwateralliance.org.   

 

 

STEPP Program Documents

About

The stormwater sector is dynamically working to meet increasing and evolving regulatory requirements to address both water quality and quantity issues as well as drive social and economic benefits. Further, shifting precipitation patterns are generating excessive demands on an already aging and ill-maintained infrastructure sector. The needs are significant in the sector and expected to expand in the future as urbanization continues to grow, climate change continues to increase demands on stormwater conveyance and treatment systems, and stormwater infrastructure becomes increasingly older. As needs and overall funding increases in the stormwater sector, the performance of stormwater infrastructure will become all the more significant

A national-level program to provide a robust, credible and objective performance evaluation of stormwater treatment and management infrastructure can help to ensure that investments made now and in the future are meeting the needs of the objective to provide clean water for the nation. Previous efforts to establish and sustain regional or multi-state testing and verification frameworks failed for a variety of factors, but the over-arching dynamic behind this is that these efforts occurred at a time when the stormwater sector was in relative infancy. Recent events suggest that stormwater is evolving and maturing, making this a potentially new and better time to re-think the possibility of a national testing and verification program in the stormwater sector.

History & Background

The Water Environment Federation (WEF) initiated STEPP in 2012 in response to the proposed demise of the U.S. EPA Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) program. An ad hoc meeting on the need for a national testing/verification program in the stormwater sector occurred at WEFTEC 2012 drawing a significant level of participants and interest. Based upon this interest and the discussions at this meeting, WEF agreed to lead an investigation into the topic. A Steering Committee of interested parties with varying backgrounds worked to develop a feasibility analysis and report in 2014. The main results of this effort included the resolution that a national testing/verification program is feasible and that this type of program is needed. Subsequently, WEF received funding from EPA to develop a framework for the construct of this type of program, which is detailed in a 2016 report published by the Water Research Foundation (WRF). This document lays out the starting framework for the STEPP program.

While the initial efforts focused on due diligence, proposed program framework, and gathering support from industry and the public sector, the next phase in the development of this program focused on acceleration of program development. To bring the STEPP initiative to the next level, a strategic shift in leadership has occurred in 2020 that moves the STEPP initiative from WEF to the National Municipal Stormwater Alliance (NMSA) as the basis of NMSA’s Center of Excellence for Stormwater Testing and Evaluation for Products and Practices. This migration brings the initiative into closer alignment with eventual stormwater infrastructure end users – municipal governments and other MS4 permittees with stormwater programs. Since this transition occurred, the STEPP Leadership Group was formed and funding to accelerate the program to launch was successfully raised.

Fundamental Principles of STEPP

The STEPP program is based upon a number of fundamental principles that have been developed through thoughtful deliberation. These principles are that STEPP will:

  • Provide a framework to test/verify the performance of public domain as well as proprietary products and SCMs in the stormwater sector;
  • Leverage successful existing state testing and verification programs – the Washington TAPE and the New Jersey CAT/DEP, specifically;
  • Focus on performance verification for stormwater products and practices, but not certify performance;
  • Include stakeholders and input from a variety of backgrounds in the ongoing evolution of the program;
  • Work to gain the support of state regulators as well as municipal permit holders;
  • Provide a “café plan” approach, which includes options for both lab-testing and field-testing verification options; and
  • Work to reduce the time and costs associated with testing verification services as well as broadening the reaching of acceptance and utilization of STEPP verified data.

Vision of STEPP

The vision of the Stormwater Testing and Evaluation for Products and Practices (STEPP) program is to provide national-level testing and verification program for both proprietary manufactured treatment devices (MTDs) as well as public domain practices, including green stormwater infrastructure.

By leading the development of performance testing procedures and standards, providing technical review and oversight of testing/evaluation performed using these standards, and developing and disseminating contextual information on the results of these evaluations to state regulators and local NPDES (MS4, etc.) permit holders, the STEPP program seeks to raise the level of performance for stormwater programs overall.

Role of STEPP in the Context of Verification and Certification

The terms “verification” and “certification” are used throughout this document, and they may seem interchangeable, but there are significant differences between these terms. The European Union Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) program defines “verification” as, “the process of independently validating performance claims put forward by the owner of the technology”. This same entity defines “certification” as a process that, “confirms whether products meet specified standards normally established by independent organizations.”

The EU ETV definitions are applicable for the STEPP program as STEPP will coordinate the development of robust performance testing standards and provide a system to verify testing performed using these standards. However, STEPP will not certify products or practices, as this is left to states, jurisdictions and other entities who establish regulatory performance standards for regulated stormwater programs.

Outputs of verification services, in the form of Verification Letters, will clearly state what level of treatment to which the product of practice is verified. For instance, if a product or practice has been shown to effectively reduce 80% of TSS under specified flows and particle size distributions (PSDs), the Verification Letter will state that this technology is “STEPP Verified to 80% TSS Removal”. State or jurisdictions are free to utilize this verification information to interpret as they wish in the context of their own performance standards.

A fundamental principle of the STEPP program is that all stormwater infrastructure should be evaluated in a consistent, credible and robust manner to better understand the performance of stormwater control measures regardless of if they are proprietary in nature or a public-domain practice. Stemming from this principle, STEPP will provide testing and verification services to any and all SCMs. Currently, STEPP is limited to testing trash/debris capture technologies, which is a category of proprietary SCMs. Future and ongoing efforts will broaden the scope of STEPP to include additional proprietary products as well as public domain practices.

The STEPP program exclusively relies on ASTM standards as the technical basis for performance testing of SCMs. The basis for this reliance is due to the broad reach of acceptance of ASTM standards across the U.S. and beyond. Additionally, ASTM standards are used regularly by engineers and scientists in public works departments and within stormwater programs to enumerate methods for construction, assessments, and other technical activities led by stormwater professionals. ASTM E64 Committee on Stormwater Control Measures is the primary body within ASTM that is the technical bridge to STEPP, however other ASTM committees are pertinent in the context of STEPP, such as C27.70 Subcommittee on Precast Concrete Products for Stormwater Management and E60 Committee on Sustainability.

Moving
Forward

STEPP is evolving through a multi-phase pathway and there has been significant progress made. Highlights of this progress include:

Catalyzing the established E64, a new ASTM committee focused wholly on stormwater infrastructure.

Facilitating the completion of ASTM field testing standards.

Making significant progress in developing ASTM lab testing standards for HDS and filters.

Engaging directly with all 50 states and multiple EPA offices to promote the STEPP program.

Illustrating the overwhelming support for STEPP from states and MS4s through sector survey.

Building upon the momentum gained after the initial launch in April 2024 focused on verification of trash capture technologies, the STEPP program is expanding lab-based testing verification services in 2025 to include hydrodynamic separators and filter systems. STEPP is also concurrently focused on the development of field-based testing verification services and is working cooperatively with the Washington Department of Ecology to harmonize these programs.

These standards will enable the expansion of STEPP verification services to support the evaluation of stormwater technologies targeting TSS removal in urban runoff. We will be continuing the development of field-testing standards within ASTM E64 as well as developing internal policies to facilitate verification services based upon field performance testing.

Contact Us

To inquire on how you or your organization can provide support for STEPP, please contact NMSA Executive Director, Seth Brown, via email at

STEPP Form

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If you have any question, please contact Seth Brown, Executive Director of NMSA at:

8001 Forbes Places, Suite 211 Springfield, VA 22151

The National Municipal Stormwater Alliance (NMSA) is a 501(c)(3) devoted to supporting Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) programs across the country. NMSA is the only national organization that is solely focused on the MS4 sector.

© 2024 National Municipal Stormwater Alliance. All Rights Reserved.

8001 Forbes Places, Suite 211 Springfield, VA 22151

The National Municipal Stormwater Alliance (NMSA) is a 501(c)(3) devoted to supporting Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) programs across the country. NMSA is the only national organization that is solely focused on the MS4 sector.

© 2024 National Municipal Stormwater Alliance. All Rights Reserved.

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