Let’s start off with a nod to Thomas Jefferson High School and Federal Way Public Schools.

You may have heard that TJ was named by Newsweek one of the nation’s top 1,500 high schools (there are over 15,500 high schools in America). I’ve had one daughter graduate from TJ and two currently there, and my impression has been top notch. Dr. Mark Marshall and his staff run an excellent school that challenges kids with outstanding programs like International Baccalaureate (shout out to the IB director Carol Lee), high expectations and (this is a big one) transparent and consistently applied rules.

But this isn’t just TJ’s award. Federal Way Public Schools does a tremendous job in the face of huge fiscal and socioeconomic challenges. This national ranking is an important recognition of how well the district is doing in providing academic choices for Federal Way families, and spending the tax money we provide in an effective fashion.

Having got that off my chest, it’s easy to transition to another excellent Federal Way program: The city’s Surface Water Management utility, or SWM (pronounced “swim”).

The utility is responsible for ensuring that our surface water quality is healthy, and constructs and maintains the infrastructure that prevents flooding.

If the utility does its job, no one notices it. If it fails, then there’s heck to pay. According to new SWM manager William Appleton, the utility is currently facing one of the biggest challenges in its history. Under the Clean Water Act, Federal Way is now required to get what is known as a National Pollutant Discharge and Eliminations System (NPDES) permit. As part of the federal law’s effort to keep our streams and wetlands (and Puget Sound) clean, big cities were required to get permits a decade or more ago. Now, medium and small cities have to do so.

Qualifying for the permit, however, is no easy deal. The city has to beef up its efforts to prevent illegal discharges of polluted water, increase its public outreach efforts, monitor water quality, and report on every requirement in triplicate. The new requirements don’t come with a big federal or state check for new staff to handle the increased workload, of course — so that means Appleton and his staff are figuring how best to balance existing needs with the new mandate.

I should note that ignoring the NPDES permit requirements really isn’t an option. Not only does the state take that sort of thing seriously, but the Clean Water Act has a provision that allows so-called third parties to file lawsuits against anyone thought to be violating the act. The penalties are stiff, and there are lawyers in Washington state that keep track of who is doing their job and who isn’t.

Appleton looks to be the right guy to guide SWM and the city through the new requirements. Initially, he has focused on getting the city’s surface water management regulations up to date by replacing the outdated set of regulations with the latest King County Surface Water Manual. This is a critical step for the city to take to comply with the permit. The proposal passed out of the council’s Land Use and Transportation Committee last Monday is headed to the council for approval.

A second critical step is for SWM to map its stormwater system. According to Appleton, when the city incorporated in 1990, it inherited an old patchwork stormwater system that has never fully been mapped. Not only does NPDES require the city to know its pipes and culverts, but Appleton wants to avoid facing a stormwater disaster caused by an old pipe no one knew existed.

This effort will take a lot of staff time and money. Some capital projects will likely be delayed, while SWM focuses on the pipe mapping. This all sounds like good management to Thinking Locally, though I hope the new focus is balanced with continued commitment to the stream and wetland conservation that the utility has long supported.

It may be hard to compare the public appeal of a stormwater utility to our public schools. It’s a lot easier to get excited about the future of our community’s kids than, say, the turbidity of Hylebos Creek during a 100-year storm event. But both agencies are critical to the type of community we live in, and both are doing excellent jobs in the face of staggering challenges.