From the Maryland Department of the Environment

(Baltimore, Maryland) April 21, 2010 - Grants Will Reduce Nutrient Pollution in the Bay and Improve Drinking Water

The Maryland Board of Public Works approved $2.35 million in grants to reduce pollution and improve water quality by upgrading wastewater treatment plants and collection systems.

These projects significantly reduce nitrogen pollution and put people to work across the state.

–Governor Martin O’Malley

Projects approved include the following: Williamsport Inflow and Infiltration Reduction Project in Washington County, Havre de Grace Infiltration and Inflow Reduction in Harford County, and Cumberland Combined Sewer Overflow Elimination on Evitts Creek in Allegany County

Media Contact:  Kim Lamphier or Jay Apperson at 410-537-3003

admin Chesapeake Bay Chesapeake Bay, CSO, infiltration, nitrogen pollution, nutrient reduction, wastewater treatment, water quality

Update: The Pennsylvania Manual Revision Committee (now renamed Pennsylvania Stormwater Technical Workgroup) met formally for the third time on Thursday, April 8, 2010 at the PADEP Lab in Harrisburg, including approximately 30 attendees.  Dr.Rob Traver, director of the VUSP chaired the meeting, as he has done in the past, with PADEP SE Region stormwater chief, Domenic Rocco, acting as chief note taker. Although PADEP regional office staff were well represented, PADEP Central Office/Headquarters staff are not participating.  The Workgroup has been divided into nine sub-groups focusing on major technical/substantive issues in the existing Stormwater BMP Manual.

Previous meetings had been devoted largely to organizational/administrative issues of the group  - how to make decisions, Workgroup eligibility criteria, formation of a Leadership Board or board of directors, etc..  After a quick vote of confirmation by the Workgroup members, Sub-Groups launched into their progress reports.  Although some Subgroups had not been able to meet and make much progress, several Subgroup reports were both substantively detailed and powerful.  From Infiltration to Water Quality to Methods to Control Guidelines, sub-group reports included impressive data gathering from other states, other sources, typically expanding on existing Manual content. Some highlights:

There was an especially detailed report from Infiltration (Russ Losco, soil scientist) on better soil testing methods, demonstrating that an enormous amount of progress in thinking/understanding has occurred since similar discussions/arguments occurred in the Rachel Carson Bldg yrs ago when the current Manual was being prepared.

Michele Adams talk about Methods Subgroup discussions, reflecting once again the progress in stormwater “science,” including use of continuous simulation modeling, focus on smaller storms, and the like.

Frank Browne and Shirley Clark talked about complexities which the Water Quality Subgroup is wrestling with, again an impressive discussion which suggests a need for making Manual guidance more sophisticated, more complex.  A major issue affecting Manual revisions here seems to be PADEPs revisions to Chapter 102 which, for good or bad, are providing some sort of “anchor” for stormwater management in Pennsylvania municipalities.

There’s much more to add.  Subgroups were directed to review the existing Manual and provide any editorial changes by the end of May.  By the end of June, Subgroups should provide a scope of work which provides an outline for the changes to the technical provisions of the Manual.  Although the Subgroups continue to meet on a monthly basis, the next workgroup meeting will be on July 14 at Villanova University.  Of course, the huge challenge facing the Workgroup will be moving from development of critically good ideas into readable Manual form which is so time consuming and challenging for a volunteer effort…

admin BMP Manual Revision BMPs, Chapter 102, control guidelines, infiltration, PA BMP Manual, PA DEP, soil testing methods, water quality

Dr. Robert Traver, Director of the Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership (VUSP) and Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Villanova University recently sent out an update on the activities of the VUSP that we thought we would share. Dr . Traver writes:

Hello all!  It has been a wild ride this year, and my apologies for taking so long to update everyone.   This is to let you know our most recent year end report is available on the VUSP website.

PaSWM - Well the symposium exceeded our wildest dreams.  We received great reviews, and the attendance was only slightly off from the past - approximately 300.  I forgot how energy it takes, but it is simply a great event and thanks for your participation.  We had great speakers and great participants!

Stormwater Control Measure Research -I think overall the work is going well.  Our latest research update is available from the VUSP website.  Our only challenge is to focus on a subset of what is possible.  As of last count, we have MANY rain gardens, multiple porous surfaces, two green roofs, an infiltration trench, a historic seepage pit, a dry and wet detention pond, rain barrels, a SWW and are building a bio swale.  I wish we had the resources to study them all!

319  - We are continuing to focus on the Pervious Concrete and Porous Asphalt (PCPA) Site, the Bio Infiltration Rain Garden, and the In filtration Trench.  We are looking harder at the soil nutrients, and temperature effects.  Dr John Komlos is using this data to look at how long can the soil remove P before it is exhausted.  The first estimate I think is over 20 years for the top several inches.  Dr. Andrea Welker has a problem… the pollutants moving through the PCPA are so low it is hard to measure (Now that is a problem I like!)  She is concentrating on the temperature, flow, and chlorides.  We are also studying the opposite end of the spectrum that being the Infiltration Trench which is real dirty.  The contrast of the sites plus the extreme nature of the IT allows for good comparisons.  Dr. John Komlos is piggy backing on these projects with a study looking at stormwater toxicity which we are hoping will be renewed and expanded (EPA Edison) .  A critical point is all this work would not be moving forward without the student support from the 319 program.

CiCeet - We are still working on a CiCeet grant from NOAA that is allowing us to compare the results of Bio Infiltration/Bioretention sites from Univ. of Maryland and NC State.  The results so far are dramatic.  When viewing the error band for peak flows the results are scattered (though all reduced) but we are amazed at the repeatability and narrow error bands when we simply look at Volume in and out.  I have to bite my tongue; we are even able to relate the performance to a reduction of the NRCS Curve number.  We have submitted a publication to ES&T, which we hope to receive comments on soon, and I put a few of the graphs in the yearend report.  This grant unfortunately dies out in Fall 2010, and we are hoping to continue this work through other sources.  Through this grant, Ryan Lee is working on a more physics based approach to simulating the hydraulics of a rain garden.  All of this work is founded on the continuing 319 data collection efforts.

319 & ET Dr Wadzuk is about finished redesign of the stormwater wetlands using a GGII grant. We hope construction starts soon!  It will be much more circuitous then before with a series of gates to extend the contact time.  I am curious how much better it will work then my original design using a sketch.  The field has advanced!  We build two new rain gardens and soon a bio  swale using an older GGII grant, and as of now we have 11 rain gardens on campus, and are hoping to have four of them instrumented (need four more students!).  Dr Wadzuk is leading the charge, on our ET grant, looking at Green Roofs, Bio Retention/infiltration and a mini stormwater wetland.  The first Thesis on the green roof ET will be out soon.

TVSSI- William Penn - We continue to partner with temple, and this time we are focusing on monitoring and the longevity or performance of Green Infrastructure systems.  We are looking at designing a simple measuring device for rain gardens to help municipality know how they are working.  Dr. Andrea Welker is looking to work with a student to visit many older or recent BMPS (SCMS) and check their status as an effort to educate the work force on ho w they do after construction!

ARRA -Rain barrels and Rain Gardens - Well we almost finished our Rain Barrels and Rain gardens ARRA project, we are at the 99% mark but halted by the snow.  I believe we installed 28 Barrels and 6 new rain gardens on campus.  Note this is not a research project, but one to reduce NPS pollution and to be a good neighbor ( and some employment).  I am tempted to throw in a pressure transducer in the barrels, but I think I will wait till I find an undergraduate to work on it for a course.  I see many potential projects on campus, but one step at a time.

EPA III Green Highways  — EPA Stormwater Regs - We have met and given sem inars at EPA III on Stormwater Green Infrastructure, and are looking at how  we can aid and get more involved with the green highways program (I have been contacted to conduct a free webinar through EPA on the subject in April).  We continue to see this as a great need, and many of our projects translate well.  I also presented testimony in DC to EPA regarding proposed national stormwater regulations.

Villanova Center for the Advancement of Sustainability in Engineering.  Well, one last thing.  The College of Engineering has created VCASE in order to bring together say Energy and Stormwater, etc.  The College has granted me a course release for VUSP and to create the VCASE.  So I am now Director Squared.  This organization will allow us to diversify and I hope bring more resources to our research.

Rob

Robert G. Traver, Ph.D., PE, D.WRE

Visit VUSP on the web.

admin General bioretention, BMPs, economic stimulus, federal stormwater regulations, green highways, green infrastructure, green roofs, infiltration, Nonpoint source pollution, pervious pavement, porous pavement, rain barrels, rain garden, stormwater legislation

As we noted in this post, Green Infrastructure is coming of age, and Philadelphia is at the forefront of utilizing innovative “greening” techniques. Be on the lookout for much more about these exciting efforts here on StormwaterPA in the coming months, including a series of videos that look at specific projects and sites.

In the meantime, amongst the useful articles in the January/February issue of Stormwater is one of special interest to us: “Philadelphia: Going Green to Manage Stormwater” (Margaret Buranen).  This is a nice acknowledgement of the Philadelphia Water Department’s nationally prominent green infrastructure program to better manage stormwater and the extremely serious combined sewer Overflow (CSO) problem.

Philadelphia’s changes in stormwater strategy began a major shift in 1999, when the City’s Water Department formed an Office of Watersheds to integrate sustainable wet weather solutions.

Dr. Christopher Crockett, PE, Director of Planning and Research at the Office of Watersheds:

In 2006, another major step forward occurred when we updated our stormwater regulations to require the management of the first inch of stormwater runoff for all directly connected impervious areas for any new or redevelopment with 15,000 square feet or greater of earth disturbance in the city.

The new regulations mean that “stormwater management” is part of the zoning and building permit process at the earliest stages.  Developers have many incentives to include LID and other green techniques to manage stormwater in order to meet those (2006) regulations.

Two years ago, the City Water Department proposed making a major change in the way billing was performed at the Water Department, essentially moving in the direction of a stormwater utility where stormwater billings for all non-individual residences would be based on impervious cover (80 percent weighting) and total lot size (20 percent weighting), rather than simply using water metering as in the past (notoriously inaccurate - large water users can generate relatively modest stormwater and large stormwater generators can use sometimes virtually no water!).  The new program has done much to encourage developers to incorporate partial and full green LID elements in new project designs.  Water Department success has been significantly reinforced with partnerships, such as with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Philadelphia Green.

In 2005, Philadelphia Green and the PWD started work on a project to address stormwater problems at seven Philadelphia schools.  At S. Weir Mitchell Elementary School, children created a raised bed vegetable garden in a paved parking lot, which will not only absorb stormwater, but also reduce the heat island effect.  Vegetation, infiltration trenches, bioswales,and a rain garden replaced some of the school’s 3-acre impervious site.

Another joint stormwater project, in South Philly, will include the city’s first sidewalk infiltration planters, on South 13^th Street.  Modeled after street planters used in Portland, OR, they are designed to reduce overflows that led to basement flooding, a persistent problem in the area.  These planters, which measure 30 feet long by 7 feet wide and are 4 feet deep, will be filled with native plants suggested by members of the PHS.

Ms. Buranen’s Stormwater article includes a wealth of information on Philadelphia projects, and we urge you to take a look!  This is definitely a Pennsylvania stormwater success story! You can find the complete article here.

admin green infrastructure BMPs, buffers, clean water, green infrastructure, hydrology, infiltration, LID, rain garden, rainwater collection, stormwater best management practices, water quality

Delaware County, PA — There is far more to creating a quality residential development than grading a property and putting up homes. Conservation design looks at natural features, site constraints, and stormwater management — long before construction begins.

When Trilogy Investments bought one of the last remaining large parcels of property in Thornbury Township, they envisioned building 458 residential units on large lots throughout the tract–exactly what the township’s zoning allowed. When Trilogy’s President John Lynch saw that the township had other hopes and concerns–and was willing to be flexible in finding a solution that was beneficial to all–he realized it was a whole new game. The Cherry Creek cluster development became a model of conservation design that preserved woodlands, wetlands, and fields — and ended up holding 241 homes.

Says John Lynch:

I guess there’s a question of whether I’m doing this type of development for altruistic reasons or not. The answer is I’m not. First and foremost it’s a business. So normally when I  get involved in new projects, I look at them pretty analytically–what are my rights under law–and I then try to do better. When there are people on the other side of the table who share the goal of doing something better, so that there’s a win-win scenario, then it’s all green lights and I will pursue that with more vigor and more gusto than you can imagine…

The video is also available on the StormwaterPA YouTube Playlist and will be StormwaterPA.org with more project details soon. Check it Out and add it to your Site!

admin Low Impact Development buffers, clean water, environmental site design, flood control, infiltration, LID, non-structural BMPs, rain garden, rainwater collection, stormwater best management practices, stormwater runoff, water quality, watershed protection, wetlands