Stormwater answers to one thing: the MS4 permit
Water has a dozen drivers. Stormwater has basically one: the MS4 permit.
The state expects you to know where every outfall and catch basin is. Inspect on a schedule, write down what you found, and hand the records over once a year. Most small programs do all that with a folder of photos on somebody's phone, a Word template, and a map nobody trusts.
Ziptility is asset-management and GIS software for small water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities. A storm system fits it well because the map is mostly fixed: you map the network once, mostly, then keep it, and every inspection adds to the record. When the annual submission comes due, what it needs is already sitting there. Here is what it does for a storm system, and where it fits honestly.
What software do small MS4 utilities use to run stormwater?
Most of the small ones use almost nothing built for them.
The big stormwater compliance tools are aimed at regulators and large cities. They are usually a paperwork program bolted onto a separate ArcGIS map: two systems, two bills, data re-keyed between them. The small Phase II MS4 with three people gets left with a free federal portal and a Word doc.
Ziptility is the other option: one app where the stormwater system actually lives. You map your outfalls and catch basins. Your crew inspects them in the field and the records pile up where you can filter and export them. It is the same app your water and sewer assets already sit in. Stormwater is not a separate system you stand up and pay for on its own. This is a fit, not a feature race. It is built for the operator whose pain is "I have no map, no system, and three people." Not for the one whose main job is auto-generating a state report (more on that boundary below). Map the network with GIS mapping and keep the records your permit asks for with compliance.
Do I need GIS experience to map my stormwater system?
No. You walk the system and drop a point.
There is no ArcGIS license to buy and no second mapping system to keep in sync. You run it yourself with the crew you already have. The fee is by service connection, not per seat, so the whole crew gets the app on a phone rather than one license on the office desktop.
A stormwater network is a good fit for this because the map is mostly fixed. A drinking-water system churns with new connections and meters every month. A storm system does not. The outfalls, catch basins, storm pipes, and ditches are where they are. So you map it once, mostly, then keep it instead of constantly chasing growth. Your assets start as gray dots from whatever you already have. Every time someone is out on an inspection, they fill one in with a photo and a few notes. Mapping is detailed on our GIS mapping page. This page is the door for stormwater operators.
How do I track outfalls and catch basins?
You make each one an asset on the map, and the work rides on the asset.
Drop the outfall where it discharges to the creek or the pond. Drop the catch basins and inlets, the storm pipes between them, the roadside ditches, and your detention and retention basins. Tap any one and you see its whole record.
Then the inspection writes the history for you. An operator does an outfall check (dry-weather flow, color, smell, and debris) and logs it right there on the outfall. He does a catch-basin inspection and cleaning, and that logs on the basin. He did not stop to do data entry. He did the inspection, and the record updated itself. The photo attaches to the right asset, with the date and who did it. It syncs when the phone gets back in range, even if he was standing somewhere with no signal. That offline-with-photos piece is the part operators tell us changed their day. A stormwater crew skews to photos-and-move, not tasks-and-tickets, because that is the actual shape of the work. The inspection workflow rides on our work orders page.
What is an MS4 permit, and how does the software help?
An MS4 permit (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) makes your storm drains a regulated system under the Clean Water Act.
In plain terms, four things: know where every asset is, inspect on a schedule, document what you find, and hand the records to the state. The exact cadence and format vary by state and system size.
The software helps by making those records a byproduct of running the system, not a separate paperwork project. You do the inspections in the app all year. When the annual submission comes due, you filter by date and inspection type and export it, instead of digging through a phone full of photos. To be clear about scope: Ziptility is the system of record and the field-inspection layer that feeds your annual report and your state e-reporting. It is not the report generator itself. The MS4 detail lives on our compliance page and in our MS4 mapping guide for small utilities, not here.
Can one app handle water, sewer, and stormwater together?
Yes, and that is the main reason small operators pick it.
Most small utilities run more than one system already. Stormwater usually gets bolted onto a different tool or skipped entirely. As one of our customers put it: "I don't want two different systems, one for sewer." Stormwater is the same map and the same app your water and sewer assets live in. Not an add-on module.
That matters because a storm system is a different shape of work, not a smaller version of a water utility. There is no customer-service load: no billing, no meters, no boil-water calls. The whole call-in half of a water utility's day does not exist. The field time goes to inspect-and-document, not to resolving a ticket. We built the app to flex to that shape rather than forcing storm work through a meter-and-billing tool. The usage data for a stormwater system is just going to look different, because it is a different product for them. The same "different product" idea drives for water utilities and for wastewater utilities. One app, water and sewer and storm, one record.
Pricing is one flat annual fee, billed by service connection. Not per seat, not per module. You own your data and can export it to standard files anytime. The same record is also the start of an asset management plan. To see real numbers for a system your size, book a demo or check pricing.
Questions operators ask
What software do small MS4s use for stormwater compliance?
Most small programs use a free state portal and a Word template, because the big compliance tools are built for regulators and large cities. Ziptility is the small-utility option: one app that holds your drainage map and your inspection records, the same app your water and sewer assets are already in.
Do I need GIS experience to map my stormwater system?
No. You walk the system and drop a point with a photo. There is no ArcGIS license to buy and no second mapping system to keep in sync; you run it yourself with the crew you already have. The flat fee is by service connection so the whole crew can use it.
How do I track outfalls and catch basins?
You make each one an asset on the map, then your crew's inspections log onto it. Every outfall check, catch-basin cleaning, and photo writes to that asset's record automatically, even offline, so the map becomes a living record instead of a picture.
Can one app handle water, sewer, and stormwater together?
Yes. Stormwater is the same map and app as your water and sewer assets, not a separate module or a separate bill. One customer chose it for exactly that reason: "I don't want two different systems, one for sewer."
How much does stormwater compliance software cost?
One flat annual fee, billed by service connection, not per seat and not per module. You own your data and can export it to standard files anytime. We are happy to show real numbers on a demo.