Stormwater Inspections and Management

Independent eyes on the stormwater systems you are responsible for

Stormwater facilities are easy to forget until a permit renewal, a property transaction or a flooded parking area brings them back into view. Inspec inspects existing stormwater infrastructure, monitors erosion and sediment controls during construction, and helps owners document what they have and what it needs. We are consulting engineers, not a contractor, so the findings and recommendations you receive are not tied to selling you the work that follows.

We work with building owners, facility managers, property managers and design teams from our offices in Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

Inspection of existing stormwater facilities

Most sites carry more stormwater infrastructure than the owner realises, and much of it degrades quietly. A site inspection looks at the components that control where water goes and how clean it is when it leaves:

• Detention and retention ponds, including embankments, side slopes, forebays and emergency spillways
• Outlet control structures, weirs, orifices and trash racks that clog and change how the pond performs
• Sediment accumulation that has reduced storage volume below what the design assumed
• Underground detention chambers, manholes, inlets and piping
• Hydrodynamic separators, oil-water separators and filter or media units
• Bioswales, rain gardens, infiltration basins and vegetated conveyance
• Permeable pavement surfaces that have blinded over with fines
• Erosion, scour and undermining at inlets, outlets and discharge points

We record conditions in the field and issue a written report with photographs, observations and prioritised recommendations you can hand to a maintenance contractor or carry into a capital plan.

Construction-phase erosion and sediment control monitoring

During construction, erosion and sediment controls are only as good as the last inspection. Inspec can perform site visits at the intervals your permit and plan require, documenting the condition of perimeter controls, inlet protection, stabilised entrances, stockpiles, dewatering practices and disturbed-area stabilisation.

Our reports note deficiencies, the corrective action needed and whether previously noted items have been addressed, so the project record shows a consistent history rather than a series of unconnected visits. That record matters if a regulator asks questions or a downstream neighbour raises a complaint.

Stormwater management planning

Inspection tells you the condition of the system today. Management planning tells you what to do about it. We help owners build a practical picture of their stormwater assets: what is on the site, who is responsible for it, what maintenance each element needs, and which items should be budgeted this year rather than deferred.

Where a facility no longer performs as intended — a pond that will not draw down, an outlet that has been modified, storage lost to sediment — we investigate the cause before anyone specifies a remedy. If corrective grading, piping or structure work is warranted, our civil design services team can prepare the documents and observe the work.

Where stormwater meets the pavement and the building

Standing water rarely stays a drainage issue for long. Ponding on asphalt and concrete accelerates deterioration, and our pavement engineering and consulting work often begins with a drainage observation. Water held against a foundation, a plaza or a below-grade wall becomes an enclosure problem, which is where below-grade waterproofing assessment comes in. Because Inspec covers both civil and building enclosure disciplines, a site visit does not stop at the property line of one specialty.

Getting started

Tell us what triggered the question — a permit condition, a maintenance agreement, a due diligence deadline, or water somewhere it should not be. We will confirm what a site visit would cover and what the report will give you. Contact Inspec to arrange a stormwater inspection in Chicago, Milwaukee or Minneapolis.