Clean Water Town Hall: Greening our Public Investments

^{December 2014}

Rainwater becomes polluted runoff as it washes over the built environment picking up chemicals, bacteria, trash and sediment.  Polluted runoff is a major factor pushing many of our state’s waterways – including the Chesapeake Bay - to the brink of death. That is why the federal Clean Water Act requires jurisdictions to protect and restore rivers and streams[DC1] by reducing and eliminating polluted runoff -- and why property owners pay a Water Quality Protection Charge, a.k.a. ‘stormwater fees’ to fund this longtime federal mandate.   

The bigger your house and driveway, the bigger your fee, which is directly linked to the square footage on your property that is preventing rainwater from filtering naturally through the soil. 

While under political attack as a ‘rain tax’, these stormwater fees finance critical infrastructure.  Stormwater fees pay for programs that stem the flow of stormwater.  This is critical to maintaining our roads, bridges and sewer lines in good working order, since these comprise our business-critical infrastructure that is regularly damaged by the raging floods caused or worsened by urban polluted runoff.   Creating locally-controlled funds of hundreds of millions of dollars, the fees are an enormous opportunity to set our counties and cities on the path to real sustainability. That is why the Sierra Club’s State Water Team recently organized Clean Water Town Halls – entitled Leaving the Gray Behind: Clean Water, Green Jobs & Climate Resilience - in close collaboration with the Prince George’s and Montgomery County groups held earlier this month.  “It is essential that the public understands the importance of the program as well as the excellent public benefits that result from investing these funds in smart green best practices,” said Linda Schade, who helped organized the Town Halls.  

Clean Water Act requirements are implemented through MS-4 permits (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) that set customized five-year goals for each county or large municipality.  Both Town Halls emphasized the green solutions and positive benefits resulting from a green infrastructure approach to runoff reduction. 

Highlights from Montgomery County Town Hall:

• Standing room only!  Roughly 120 clean water champions attended.
• Noting that Montgomery’s MS-4 permit is due to renew in February, 2015, Steve Shofar, Division Chief of the County’s Stormwater Management, reported that there may be a delay of up to four years before the higher requirements of a renewed permit will kick in.  Given that the county has nearly completed its work from the current permit, that delay is a lost opportunity that can be laid on the doorstep of the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE), which enforces the Clean Water Act in our state.  However, residents can still take action on their own properties and in their own communities through the RainScapes and Green Streets programs (described below).  Sierra Club members are asked to please call or write to County Executive Leggett to request that Montgomery County commit to an all-green stormwater retrofit program that relies on practices like trees and rain gardens, as Prince George’s County has already done.
• Addressing the perceived cost barrier to going green, former County advisor Danila Sheveiko presented studies demonstrating the business case for taxpayer investment in green infrastructure solutions such as green roofs, rain gardens, forest conservation, and real-world example where the shift from gray to green has already resulted in benefits to the economy and the environment.
• MariaRosa Watson of Latino Environmental Awareness and Direction (LEAD)  shared inspiring stories of involving diverse youth in nature programs and Kit Gage of Friends of Sligo Creek shared the story of her community’s successful effort to mount a green streets project in the Sligo Creek neighborhood, Sligo Park Hills.

Thanks to the following groups for participating by providing an information table: Rainscapes Program, Audubon Naturalist Society, Anacostia Watershed Society, Neighbors of Northwest Branch, Anacostia; Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake; Stormwater Partners Network; 350MoCo (fossil fuel divestment) and the Montgomery County Civic Federation.