By Danila Sheveiko
A major step forward in implementing the federal Clean Water Act for Montgomery County is facing delays at the state level. Issued by Maryland Department of the Environment on behalf of EPA, the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System permit has to be renewed and revised by February 15th but, according to government sources, the deadline will not be met.
An enforcement mechanism, commonly known as the MS-4, has to be revised every five years and governs everything that flows through storm drains into the County’s rivers and streams with the primary goal of restoring and maintaining chemical, physical, and biological integrity. Stormwater is the MS-4’s focus – the largest contributor to the degraded state of water bodies in Montgomery County – as it becomes polluted runoff when it rains on impervious surfaces and picks up contaminants such as lawn chemicals, pet waste, car oil, sewage, sediment, and trash. In turn, development and sprawl convert more forests and farms into impervious surfaces like roofs, concrete, and pavement that generate more stormwater.
Fortunately, technologies exist to combat polluted runoff by using nature to improve our local streams and meet regulatory mandates in a cost-effective way. Instead of using conventional concrete and steel, non-structural vegetated devices like green roofs, bioswales and rain gardens can be used to intercept, slow and treat the stormwater. The MS-4 requires Montgomery County to use this suite of low impact development technologies – known regionally as Environmental Site Design – to treat impervious surfaces with the ambitious goal of trout darting and children playing in our streams at some point in the hopefully not-too-distant future.
While these technologies do exist, the task at hand is herculean in scope, as modifying the County’s regulatory mechanisms and changing the culture of big developers are no small feats. The paradigm shift in stormwater management from concrete and rebar to Black-Eyed Susans and engineered soil has taken years of County staff time and taxpayer funds in the hundreds of million. Department of Environmental Protection, the county agency responsible for MS-4 compliance, is seeing their hard work behind the scenes begin to pay off – the culture shift is gaining momentum, and the County is numerically close to meeting the permit’s five year deadline of February 15th.
Unfortunately, there is also bad news: MDE is falling behind on approving permit applications, so Montgomery’s permit renewal is stuck in bureaucratic limbo, and it will take a swell of grassroots organizing and political will to move the process along.
An opportunity to advance the shift from grey to green stormwater infrastructure will be discussed at Leave the Grey Behind: Clean Water, Green Jobs, and Climate Resilience, a Clean Water Town Hall sponsored by Maryland and Montgomery County Sierra Club (and partners) on December 9th at 7pm, Silver Spring Civic Center Building. Snacks, beverages and information tables on rain gardens, watershed groups and others will be on hand from 6:30 onwards. RSVP here. Please SHARE THIS LINK ON FACEBOOK to help spread the word.
Also note the Clean Water Town Hall in Prince George's County on December 4th in Landover which will tackle the same terrian (RSVP for that event here).