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King County Surface Water Design Manual
The Manual, Supporting Documents, Drawings, and References

Pursuant to King County Council adoption of Ordinances 15051, 15052, 15053 (otherwise known as the Critical Areas Ordinance, Stormwater Ordinance, and Clearing and Grading Ordinance), the Department of Natural Resources and Parks adopted public rules for revising the King County Surface Water Design Manual (SWDM) and the Stormwater Pollution Prevention Manual (SPPM). Adopted in accordance with King County Code, Chapter 2.98, Rules of County Agencies, these public rules became effective on January 24, 2005.

The entire 2005 SWDM is available online as several separate downloads. The main body of the manual consists of 6 chapters available with the Table of Contents and the Definitions section as a 7 MB Adobe pdf document. This document includes the errata. The summary of changes, Reference Section, AutoCAD drawings, and other supporting documents are also available for download from this website.

2005 SWDM Main Body

To receive the 2005 SWDM as a printed unit, you may purchase it for $145 plus tax from the King County Water and Land Resources Division by calling 206-296-6519 or by going to the cashier's desk of the King County Department of Development and Environmental Services. The proceeds from manual sales are used to cover printing and user support costs.

The printed Manual does not include the errata which can be downloaded here.

2005 SWDM Errata

The Stormwater Pollution Prevention Manual is available for purchase from the King County Water and Land Resources Division for $20 plus tax. The Stormwater Pollution Prevention Manual is also available for download at SPPM.

The KCRTS program has not been changed, so your existing copy can still be used for facility design. We have done a minor update to the program to fix Windows XP Service Pack II incompatibility problems that is available to download from this website. If you do not have the program, a copy may be purchased from the King County Water and Land Resources Division by calling 206-296-6519.

You may also check this website for the latest information on training courses. For questions regarding purchase of the new manual, please contact Imelda Ngonevolalath at 206-296-1945 or email Imelda Ngonevolalath; for questions regarding design manual training or content, please contact Steve Foley at 206-296-1973 or email Steve Foley.

View Summary of Changes

View Stormwater Code KCC 9.04

View Clearing and Grading Code KCC 16.82


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This Page Contains Links To:

To report problems with our Web or FTP server, send a message to the Web Master.


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2005 Design Manual Appendices:

Appendix A - Maintenance Requirements for Flow Control, Conveyance, and WQ Facilities

Appendix B - Master Drainage Plan Objective, Criteria and Components, and Review Process

Appendix C - Small Project Drainage Requirements

Appendix D - Erosion and Sediment Control Standards


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2005 Design Manual References:

1- KCC 9.04 - Surface Water Runoff Policy

2- Adopted Critical Drainage Areas

3- Other Adopted Area Specific Drainage Requirements

4- Other Drainage Related Regulations and Guidelines

5- Wetland Hydrology Protection Guidelines

6- Hydrologic/Hydraulic Design Methods

7- Engineering Plan Support

8- Forms and Worksheets

9- Interim Changes to Requirements


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2005 Design Manual Small Project Design Tools:

Pre-engineered Stormwater Facilities Documentation Guide

Pre-engineered Small Stormwater/Water Quality Facility Sizes

Use of Stormwater for Fire Protection Document


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2005 Surface Water Design Manual Index:

2005 King County Design Manual Index is available for download. The download consists of a 16 mb PDF file of the 2005 King County Design Manual. The file produces a searchable document under Acrobat 5.0 or later; however,the document is not readable nor printable and is only offered as an indexing tool to the user. The unreadable electronic version allows King County to recover a portion of the manual's printing and technical support costs by selling only hard copy versions of the manual.


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2005 Design Manual Drawings:

Standard drawings from the 2005 King County Design Manual can be downloaded individually in AutoCAD DWG format. Additionally the AutoCAD DWG drawings can be downloaded as a single 9.0 Mbyte file or chapters can be downloaded individually. Soon PDF format drawings will be available to download.

Select an individual drawing from the drop down list:




Select a group of drawings to download and extract:

Standard Drawings in AutoCAD DWG format
Large ZIP file of all chapters
OR
Download ZIP files of individual chapters:
1FIG_DWG.ZIP
(9 MB)

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1998 Design Manual Drawings and Reference Materials:

Standard drawings from the 1998 King County Design Manual can be downloaded in 3 formats. Consultants can download drawings individually in EPS (Encapsulated Post Script) format or view or print the same drawing in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. Corresponding AutoCAD DXF drawings can be downloaded as a single 10.0 Mbyte file or chapters can be downloaded individually. DXF files were created using graphic conversion utilities. The conversion resulted in some movement of text callouts. However, the DXF files are fully editable in AutoCAD.

Select an individual drawing from the drop down list:




Select a group of drawings to download and extract:

All 1998 Design Manual Standard Drawings and Detached Appendices in encapsulated postscript (EPS) format.
ZIP files.
Large download. To download individual drawings use pull-down menu above.
1FIG_EPS.ZIP
(10.9 MB)
Standard Drawings in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format
Self-extracting file.
Large download. To download individual drawings use pull-down menu above.
1FIG_PDF.ZIP
(4.5 MB)
Standard Drawings in AutoCAD DXF/DWG formats
Large ZIP file of all chapters
OR
Download ZIP files of individual chapters:
1FIG_DXF.ZIP
(10 MB)
Reference Worksheets and Forms
Self-extracting file containing forms and worksheets from the Reference Section. Includes:
  • Standard Plan Notes
  • TIR worksheet
  • Offsite Analysis Table
  • Facility Summary Sheet
  • M/D Agreement
  • Covenants and Easement standard language
SWDM_REF.ZIP
(471 KB)
Sample Confined Space Entry Sign
Image file of an example confined space entry sign. Underground stormwater structures must comply with OSHA confined space requirements. For more information, see the OSHA site.
CS_ENTRY.TIF
(47 1 KB)
Bond Quantities Worksheet
Link to DDES Site
Permanent Stormwater Pond Sign Specifications
Updated April 2003 to reflect updated KC Graphical Standards
l-info-boardpond.pdf (70 KB)

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Design Manual Supporting Documents:

1998 Summary of Changes

King County Stormwater Pollution Prevention Manual

King County Integrated Pond Booklet

Ducks and Geese Sign


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1998 Design Manual Appendices:

Appendix A - Maintenance Requirements for Privately Maintained Drainage Facilities

Appendix B - Master Drainage Plan Objective, Criteria and Components, and Review Process

Appendix C - Small Site Drainage Requirements

Appendix D - Erosion and Sediment Control Standards


The text from the 1998 SWDM is not available on-line. The manual is available for reference at the King County regional libraries, the University of Washington Engineering Library, and at several County departments. For information on purchasing a copy of the 1998 SWDM, visit, see the Water and Land Resources Publication Index (under DESIGN MANUAL).



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