Salt Lake County, Utah

The EPA, under the Clean Water Act, requires MS4’s to perform certain activities (e.g. inspections, maintenance) and to document those activities. If you do not do both, you could face large fines from the State and EPA.

Just ask Salt Lake County, Utah, how serious the EPA is regarding documentation. They were hit with a $280,000 fine. Russ Wall, Director of Public Works, said most of the deficiencies identified by the State and EPA were related to record-keeping.

“We had been complying, but we hadn’t been documenting everything we were doing, so there was no proof of what we had been doing.”

After the County was assessed the fine, they took a hard look at their inspection process. Their crews did a great job visiting each inspection site on a regular basis, but, despite their best efforts, they could not keep up with the paperwork associated with documenting the activities.

“From the first time I saw the demo of UtiliSync, I immediately understood the value it would provide to me and my inspection crews,” remembers Greg Baptist, Stormwater Construction Supervisor for the County. “We have made several improvements to our workflow to stay in compliance and avoid future fines. One of the most significant improvements we have made was to implement the use of the UtiliSync software.”

Mr. Baptist says the County has benefited from using UtiliSync in several ways:

  • Our process is 2 to 4 times faster. No more paper. It is all completed electronically in the field
  • We are confident a record of every inspection is being distributed to the appropriate parties and archived for audit purposes
  • The work satisfaction of our inspectors has increased. They see this as an investment in making their job easier
  • To conclude, Mr. Baptist says, “We are pleased with how UtiliSync has helped us do our jobs better and I gladly recommend it to anyone who has an MS4 program or similar to oversee.”