Washington Phase II
MS4 compliance software for Washington Phase II permittees.
NPDESTracker is browser-based MS4 compliance software for cities, counties, and other small MS4s under the Phase II Municipal Stormwater Permits issued by the Washington State Department of Ecology. The Western Washington Phase II annual report template is implemented from the permit's Appendix 3. Inspections, IDDE response, follow-up work, and a GIS-aware record set run alongside your existing ArcGIS deployment.
The demo is a free, read-only tour of the fictional City of Madrona, a Western Washington Phase II tenant. Nothing can be created, edited, saved, or sent. No signup.
01 · Which Washington permit
Western and Eastern Washington are two permits. Here is what the product implements.
Ecology issues separate Phase II permits for Western and Eastern Washington, both on the 2024–2029 cycle, plus a Phase I permit for the largest jurisdictions. NPDESTracker's annual report template is built from the Western permit. The scope below is the product's, stated plainly so a coordinator can check it against the permit.
Western Washington Phase II Municipal Stormwater Permit
Effective August 1, 2024. Expires July 31, 2029.
The annual report template in NPDESTracker follows this permit's Appendix 3, "Annual Report Questions for Cities, Towns and Counties." A Western Washington workspace is configured from it during setup.
Ecology's permit pageEastern Washington Phase II Municipal Stormwater Permit
Effective August 1, 2024. Expires July 31, 2029.
An Eastern Washington workspace uses the Western template today. There is no separate Eastern question set in the product yet; where the Eastern permit's wording differs, confirm it against Ecology's Eastern permit page before relying on a question.
Ecology's permit pagePhase I Municipal Stormwater Permit
Effective August 1, 2024. Expires July 31, 2029.
Phase I permittees (the largest cities and counties, and the ports and WSDOT under their own permits) are outside the implemented template. The product does not carry a Phase I annual report today.
Ecology's permit pagePermit terms are as stated on Ecology's permit pages at the time of writing. Ecology states that annual reports for a calendar year are due by March 31 of the following year; confirm the current deadline and submission mechanics with Ecology, since permit conditions can change between terms. NPDESTracker is not officially endorsed by Ecology or by EPA.
02 · Annual reporting
The Appendix 3 questions, each answer linked to its records.
The reporting year in NPDESTracker follows the Western Washington Phase II permit's Appendix 3 annual report questions. Each question says what it needs: a number, a narrative, a linked inspection or incident, or an attached document. Counts come from the inspections, IDDE incidents, BMP records, and enforcement actions logged through the year, not from free-text fields reconciled in a spreadsheet at the deadline.
A supervisor's readiness view shows which questions are satisfied and which are still outstanding before anyone certifies. Manual overrides leave an audit-log entry: user, timestamp, original value, new value, reason.
See how reporting works, or read the MS4 annual report checklist for Western Washington Phase II permittees.
03 · Program elements
One workspace across the six minimum control measures.
Each module maps to a minimum control measure, so the record you make in the field is the record the annual report counts.
Public Education and Outreach
Documented events, audiences reached, and materials distributed.
Public Involvement and Participation
Public meetings, comment periods, and volunteer programs with attendance and minutes.
Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination
Complaint intake, dry-weather screening, source tracing, and enforcement on a single thread per outfall.
Construction Site Runoff Control
Active-disturbance inspections, deficiency follow-up, and enforcement records aligned to your construction inspection cadence.
Post-Construction Stormwater Management
Live BMP inventory, annual inspections, and maintenance records for structural BMPs.
Pollution Prevention and Good Housekeeping
Municipal facility inspections, spill response, fleet operations, and staff training tied to MS4 obligations.
A look at the workspace
See how a sample MS4 workspace connects sites, inspections, tasks, contacts, enforcement drafts, GIS context, and reporting evidence.
04 · Inspections
Inspections that fit the field, not the office.
A responsive, connected inspection workflow for phone, tablet, or desktop browser. Loading and saving require connectivity. Device-dependent photo and geolocation behavior should be verified during an evaluation. Site context and cadence flags stay connected to the inspection record, and a deficiency can become a notice with the inspection's photos enclosed.
See how inspections work, or read about stormwater inspection cadence and audit defensibility.
05 · GIS-aware throughout
Designed to coexist with your existing ArcGIS deployment.
Many Washington Phase II permittees already run ArcGIS Online or Enterprise as their primary GIS. NPDESTracker lives alongside that rather than replacing it. Sites, outfalls, BMPs, and incidents sit on a map, color-coded by status, with the coordinates your GIS team already maintains.
Standard GIS file formats (GeoJSON, shapefile) import. CSV exports cover the supported operational records, with broader spatial-format export support handled during onboarding and support requests. The full interoperability story is on the GIS workspace page.
06 · Pricing for Washington cities
Published annual plans and written quotes.
Written annual quotes, purchase orders, and scoped onboarding are available. Your agency determines its purchasing and approval requirements. Prices are plus applicable taxes.
Small MS4 Essentials: $1,499 / year
For a small program that needs the six MCMs, inspections, and the annual report in one place. Details on the pricing page.
Inspection Starter: $3,499 / year
For a focused inspection program. Details on the pricing page.
Inspection Team: $9,499 / year
For multi-inspector teams. Details on the pricing page.
Gold · Full MS4 Platform: From $18,000 / year
For full MS4 programs: the whole program, follow-up work, and annual reporting in one workspace. Quoted around the actual program. Details on the pricing page.
Before an annual plan
The free demo is a read-only tour of Dashboard, My Work, Coordinator, Inspections, Sites, Outfalls, Contacts, Organizations, Tasks, Map, and read-only Setup on fictional data; Programs, Annual Reporting, and Messages & Notices are locked there and each says why. A private demonstration walks through the Western Washington Phase II workflows on your own program before you choose an annual plan.
Ecology sources
Read the permit, not the pitch.
These are the documents the template is built from and the pages Ecology keeps current. They open on Ecology's own sites.
- Ecology: Municipal stormwater general permits (index)
- Ecology: Western Washington Phase II Municipal Stormwater Permit
- Ecology: Eastern Washington Phase II Municipal Stormwater Permit
- Ecology: Phase I Municipal Stormwater Permit
- Western Washington Phase II permit, 2024–2029 (PDF)
- Appendix 3, Annual Report Questions for Cities, Towns and Counties (PDF)
Further reading
Practical guides for Phase II MS4 work.
- BlogMS4 annual report checklist for Western Washington Phase II permittees
- BlogHandling illicit discharges from complaint to closure: a working playbook for MS4 coordinators
- BlogTracking post-construction BMPs without losing them: a working guide for MS4 programs
- BlogStormwater inspection cadence: monthly, quarterly, annual, and why it matters for your audit
- BlogHow to make an MS4 program audit-ready (without rewriting your spreadsheets)
- ProductAnnual reporting: how each answer links to its records
- ProductConfigurable workflows for your permit
- PermitAll permit references
- GuideUnderstanding MS4 compliance: a plain-language overview
Built around the Washington Phase II permit.
Request a written quote for your program, or open the read-only demo first and see the Appendix 3 reporting year on fictional data.