Excerpt from the article:
The City of Salinas, with a population of more than 150,000 in the agricultural heartland of California, has revamped the way it manages stormwater, implementing an efficient, data-driven program. In the process, it has become a leader in demonstrating compliance with NPDES regulations.
The City was driven by two main challenges. First, managing silos of information, including inspection records and other studies that needed to be provided to regulatory authorities annually, was inefficient. Traditionally, city staff spent months each year producing annual reports over 2,800 pages long—an extremely time consuming and expensive task. The reports themselves were dense compilations of lists, tables, and check boxes but, ultimately, were not very useful to inform decisions or convey regulatory compliance. The City wanted a more efficient way to collect and track and report to its regulatory authority.
