PADEPs Draft General Permit for MS4 Municipalities has received much press, here and elsewhere.  The Pennsylvania Campaign for Clean Water, comprised of over 100 state and national environmental organizations, has spent considerable time evaluating the Draft Permit and has formulated detailed comments to help PADEP make the General Permit even better.

We highly recommend that you look it over, and, if you agree, let Clean Water Action know that you’d like to sign on (contact Clean Water Action’s Bob Wendelgass, Campaign Chair, or Anne Misak at 215-545-5250.)

ACT NOW: Final comments are due by July 6, 2009.

admin From the Editors, NPDES / MS4 clean water, MS4

Attention Conservation Districts: Self Evaluation and Tally sheets now available on the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts’ website.   This Self-Assessment Tool is designed to help the District take an internal look at four essential aspects of a conservation district team that must be created and maintained in order for a district to excel.  They are:

1) effective board functioning;

2) effective interpersonal functioning;

3) effective political relationships; and

4) effective client/community/partner relationships.

How Green is your golf course? The Pennsylvania Environmental Council released a new handbook to help golf courses throughout the state restore wetlands, manage stormwater, and make courses more enjoyable.  Read the full article here and download your free copy at www.pecpa.org/gchandbook

Keeping a LID on Runoff: Low-impact development mimics nature’s handling of water. Janis Keating’s article in The Journal for Surface Water Quality Professionals explains how site design and BMP’s can improve the quality of your development.

Recent heavy rains and flooding washed out many gravel driveways and private roads. Click here for tips about repairing and preventing damage, from the Westmoreland Conservation District.

Upcoming Events

Throughout July, the EPA’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System is hosting training courses on Managing Wet Weather with Green Infrastructure.  Visit their website for details about dates and locations.  Click here for other workshops and meetings held by the NPDES.

REMINDER: The NACD’s 2009 summer legislative conference will take place July 19-21, 2009 in Washington D.C. Click here for more details including registration, hotel information, a draft agenda, and more. Register today!

admin Weekly News conservation district, green infrastructure, LID, NPDES, stormwater runoff, wet weather

PADEP has concluded 2 of its 3 public information meetings and hearings on the proposed Draft MS4 General Permit with final session to be held on June 23 at the Southcentral Regional Office in Harrisburg.  The June 18 session in Norristown was well attended, though only a handful of folks offered testimony at the hearing portion of the session (which we attended).   A hearing record will be made available; PADEP staff are posting the powerpoint presentations on the PADEP website.

Major points included:

• Most of the municipalities present were worried that they were going to be forced into applying for Individual Permits, rather than their current General Permits.
• PADEP is hard-pressed to outline how much more onerous the Individual Permit process is going to be (time requirements, etc.), not knowing how many municipalities will opt for Individual Permits.
• Municipalities that have proactively adopted expanded comprehensive stormwater ordinances are being forced to adopt the new PADEP Model Ordinance, which in some cases is different from/less rigorous than their ordinances.  Their only alternative seems to be to opt for an Individual Permit, which seems somewhat punitive.
• TMDL requirements seem to lack needed technical linkage to water quality problems and objectives (it gets lot more complicated than that)
• The entire schedule set out for the Draft General Permit for this Fall and next spring seems very likely to get delayed!

The majority of the questions and comments at the Norristown session seemed to be administrative and procedural in nature, rather than technical and substantive.  We made the point that the new Model Ordinance requires volume control for up to the 2-year storm (consistent with the BMP Manual and a major advancement), yet still requires that any Act 167 Plan (if existing) with release rate requirements for peak rates be enforced - such release rate requirements, especially for smaller storms, simply make no sense when volume control is being required as well.

Final written comments on the Draft General Permit are to PADEP due by July 6, 2009.  Pay attention - this is critical if you are an MS4 municipality.

admin From the Editors, NPDES / MS4 Act 167, MS4, ordinances, PA BMP Manual, stormwater, TMDL

The Buck and Doe Run Watershed Partnership in Chester County has created a watershed education pamphlet titled “Welcome To Your Watershed” for interested residents in the watersheds. The pamphlet details the watershed boundaries, suggests different, simple conservation practices, additional education resource agencies, and cultural/historical attractions in the region.  More information.

Read how one elementary school is combating Philadelphia’s stormwater “overflow” problem  in Changing Skyline: Attacking Asphalt by Inga Saffron of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Upcoming Events

July 20th-24th, 2009: 13th Annual Delaware Estuary Watershe Teacher Workshop. This week-long workshop is designed to give participants a greater understanding of the wide variety of issues within the watershed and the interconnections between human actions and the river’s ecosystem. Begin the week at the upper portions of the estuary and literally travel down to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, ending with an overnight in the historical beach town of Lewes, DE.  See brochure for more information and registration form.

REMINDER From the Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership website:

CALL FOR STORMWATER BMP PROJECTS hosted by The Stormwater BMP Recognition Program. The Philadelphia Water Department Office of Watershed (PWD) initiated the Stormwater BMP Recognition Program in 2006 to recognize innovative stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) in the southeastern region of Pennsylvania. This year the PWD is partnering with the Temple - Villanova Sustainable Stormwater Initiative (T-VSSI) and they are awarding the best projects. See the Call for Projects and Criteria here.

Submit a BMP Project: To become eligible for the Stormwater BMP Recognition Program award, submit your BMP project before July 31, 2009 by clicking on this link:  BMP Project Submission Form.  By submitting a project you agree to it being published, whether or not selected for an award, in the T-VSSI database, an online database of notable stormwater BMPs in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

admin Weekly News BMPs, Delaware River Basin, rainwater collection, stormwater, stormwater best management practices, watershed protection

We’ve hearing from a few of you, as below. Thanks for being in touch!

Hi, I’m a homeowner in Chester County, PA, and in our development (which dates back to the 1950s) we have some stormwater flooding problems. About 3x a year, our property floods during storms because there is only one drain on our street, and it’s right in front of our house. Even though we’re vigilant about keeping it clear of debris, this one inlet can’t keep up in heavy storms. My question is: how would I go about determining whether the stormwater drainage facilities in our development are adequate or not? What are the relevant standards that govern things like number of drains per 1,000 linear feet, or volume of water capacity per minute? Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Comment: There could be multiple reasons for this flooding (which sounds like a chronic problem).  Maybe inadequate design from the start?  Maybe creeping imperviousness on the lots that drain to your inlet that has increased runoff?  It’s hard to define simple standards for inlets and other stormwater system elements where a variety of important design factors (such as drainage area, imperviousness, slope, and other factors) vary and aren’t known to us.  If you have a homeowners association, you might request action there - or contact your municipality.

• One type of action (which you imply) would be to increase inlet (i.e., discharge) capacity at the existing inlet (or increase the number of inlets). The problem with this, even if you could make it happen, is that it simply moves the flooding flow further downstream.
• Another approach might be to try to slow/contain/infiltrate/evapotranspirate some portion of this flooding, if that is practical for you. Installing a rain garden to intercept some flow, reduce volumes, and even enhance the landscape (and your own home) might be an option…
• Of course the ideal solution would be to get owners upgradient to reduce/intercept their runoff before it leaves their own yards…

admin From the Editors evapotranspiration, flood control, imperviousness, infiltration, intercept, rain barrels, stormwater runoff