Rebecca Hammer's Blog: Curbing Pollution

EPA Water Pollution Controls in Nation’s Capital Are Off to a Good Start — Tell Them to Finish the Job

2010-05-05T14:25:07Z

Two weeks ago, on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, EPA released a draft stormwater permit for Washington, DC that gives us hope about the future of the District’s waters. This region has some of the dirtiest urban rivers in the country, especially the Anacostia River, which is severely polluted by sediment, nutrients, pathogens, toxins, and trash. Every time it rains, water runs off of impervious surfaces in the District and dumps all of those pollutants into our waterways.

That’s why it’s crucial for EPA to issue a strong permit that will control how much stormwater pollution runs into DC’s rivers and streams. When we first saw the permit draft, we were excited to see certain provisions in there, especially the requirements for “green infrastructure” or “low impact development” controls throughout the District. Not only does green infrastructure clean up our waters, but it also creates jobs and livable, walkable neighborhoods that are good for businesses and our health. That’s the kind of innovative, smart water practice that communities across the country need to be focused on.

The draft permit is a good start. But we’re not sure that it has the teeth it needs to ensure that the District will take adequate steps to solve its water pollution problems. After reading it closely, we’ve identified some areas in which the draft permit needs to be strengthened in order to effectively protect and restore DC’s waters, including:

Specific requirements, including numbers and deadlines. Stormwater permits require the permittee – here, the District – to create plans describing how it will reduce stormwater pollution. The draft DC permit contains few specific requirements for what the District must include in those plans. Instead of giving the District the chance to set weak targets for itself, EPA should include specific pollution reduction goals in the permit and set deadlines for DC to meet those goals.
A requirement to meet water quality standards. Under the Clean Water Act, states set “water quality standards” for each of their water bodies. That means that the state first designates what it wants each river, stream, or lake to be used for – such as recreation, water supply, or aquatic life – and then sets pollutant limits to protect those designated uses. The draft DC permit gives the District a “free pass” on meeting local water quality standards, as long as it meets the other permit terms. That’s just not good enough. The permit should contain a separate provision specifically requiring DC to fulfill its legal obligations on water quality standards.
Better opportunities for public participation. As previously mentioned, stormwater permits require permittees to “fill in the blanks” as to the specifics of their stormwater management strategies in plans that they themselves write. These plans are every bit as important as the permit itself. Especially because the draft DC permit is vague about what the plans must include, it’s critical that the public be able to review and comment on the plans – an opportunity that the draft permit does not currently provide.

A good permit from EPA will help bring about meaningful, measurable strategies to curb stormwater runoff pollution in the District. As currently written, the draft permit does not quite make the grade. While EPA should be encouraged to keep the draft permit’s requirements to plant trees, build green roofs, and manage runoff from the District’s impervious surfaces, it must also be urged to make the important changes mentioned above.

Tell EPA that you want a strong stormwater permit that will clean up the waterways in our nation’s capital. DC needs a permit that reflects the serious commitment of EPA and the District to creating healthy communities and growing our economy.

DC Poised to Clean Up its Rivers, Bay with Smarter Water Practices

2010-04-22T16:24:53Z

On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day – an occasion that gave way to historic environmental progress like the creation of the Clean Water Act – we’re excited about news that a new initiative will help control water pollution in our nation’s capital, with impacts that will reach the entire Chesapeake Bay.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has just released a draft of a new stormwater permit for Washington, DC, incorporating smarter water practices that hold promise for making great strides toward cleaning up the District’s rivers and waterways. EPA is billing the permit as the “next generation” of stormwater controls, and it could set a model for the rest of the country to follow.

It may not sound like it, but stormwater permits are actually extremely important to clean up our nation’s waters because they help control the pollution that stormwater runoff carries through a sewer systems and into waterways. This new permit looks like a big improvement over previous stormwater controls, issued in 2004, because it requires the District to take several new progressive steps that help keep polluted stormwater out of our rivers and streams, including investments in so-called “green infrastructure” techniques on land that make a real difference for our water.

In DC, 38.6% of the land area can be characterized as impervious, meaning water can’t pass through it. This means that falling rain doesn’t find its way back into the ground the way it would in a natural setting. Instead, rain hits the city surfaces – parking lots, buildings, roads – and runs off. Think about the street outside your house: Is there trash in the gutters? Oil on the street? Dirt? I’m guessing yes. When it rains, stormwater runoff carries all that stuff into storm drains and ultimately into rivers and other waterways.

In fact, stormwater is the only growing source of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. It’s a large source of the pollutants that cause “dead zones” in the Bay. And it’s a major reason why 34 miles of rivers and streams in and around DC do not support swimming or aquatic life.

Fortunately, we know what to do about it. We have solutions. And that’s where this new stormwater permit comes in.

The draft permit for DC’s separate sewer system, released this morning, has three provisions that are some of the strongest and most progressive stormwater protections in the Bay watershed:

A requirement that the District undertake a certain number of “green infrastructure” projects. The best (and most cost-effective) way to deal with stormwater is to mimic what happens in nature, by putting that water back into the ground where it falls, rather than funneling it into drains and pipes. This is achieved through “green infrastructure” measures like rain gardens, green roofs, tree cover, permeable pavement, rain barrels, or anything else that keeps rainwater from running off into our sewers. Not only is this a very effective way to deal with stormwater pollution, but increasing vegetation and green space improves air quality, reduces energy costs, and increases property values. The new permit will require DC to use these green infrastructure practices, such as planting 4,150 new trees every year and installing 350,000 square feet of green roofs on District properties.
Enforceable limits on pollutants entering the District’s waterways. Under the Clean Water Act, maximum daily pollutant limits are set for each polluted body of water. Stormwater permits require the permittee (in this case, the District) to make a plan describing how it will meet that daily limit for each pollutant. Under the old permit, the District was required to have a plan, but it was not legally obligated to implement it. The new permit requires DC to set specific dates by which it will meet pollution limits and describe how its chosen methods will ensure the targets are met. Moreover, the elements of DC’s plan will become enforceable terms of the permit after approval by EPA.
New stormwater standards for new development and redevelopment in the District. The new permit will require developers, regardless of whether they are building on a green space or redeveloping existing construction, to include stormwater management techniques that control the majority of stormwater on-site, instead of allowing it to enter our waterways. For every 24 hours of rain, developers will have to make sure their properties retain 1.2 inches of rainfall. That number was chosen because all but the very biggest storms in DC will generate that amount of rain or less.

These kinds of smart water practices are exactly what NRDC and other leading experts have been encouraging communities nationwide to turn to in order to clean up our waterways. These three provisions alone represent immense progress away from the tank-and-pipe systems of the past that are failing us today, and as the Washington Post is saying, they signify “a major shift in thinking for a city covered in glass, concrete and shingles.” We hope that local government officials will support the inclusion of these provisions in the final permit.

And while the new permit is a step in the right direction, there’s at least one way we think EPA can make it even stronger to solidify the District’s position as a model for the rest of the country:

More certainty in the permit’s public participation requirements. The MS4 permit written by EPA sets various targets that the District of Columbia is expected to meet. The District then writes plans detailing how the District will hit those targets. Those plans are every bit as important as the permit itself. The draft permit implies that the public will be given notice of the plans and the opportunity to comment on them. But an implication is not good enough. The permit must be crystal clear that the District of Columbia is mandated to solicit and consider public comment on its stormwater management plans.

Overall, DC’s proposed new water pollution controls and investment in smarter water practices seem to be a big step forward. Moreover, this progress is particularly significant because of where it’s happening. In every other state in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the state government drafts the stormwater permit and submits it to EPA for approval. However, for the District of Columbia, EPA writes the permit directly. This means DC’s new stormwater permit could set a precedent for the kinds of requirements the agency will be looking for when other states submit their own plans. We look forward to examining the draft permit in greater detail over the coming weeks, and to working with EPA to make DC a leader in smart clean water practices for 21st century pollution control in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and nationwide.

This blog was co-written by NRDC Water Program Fellow Cori Lombard.

New Green Infrastructure Means Clean Water with Added Benefits

2009-12-04T14:31:13Z

When I first started learning about a practice called “green infrastructure” during my first weeks at NRDC, I found that a certain word kept popping up to describe it: multi-beneficial. I was amazed by the range of positive effects provided by this stormwater runoff management method beyond, well, the effective management of stormwater.

As I’ve blogged about before, using green infrastructure techniques – such as green roofs, rain gardens, and porous pavement – decreases stormwater runoff and water pollution by capturing rain where it falls. This practice helps clean up our waterways and our beaches, reducing the disease-causing pathogens that get dumped into the water and making it safer to swim.

Remarkably, these techniques also do all sorts of other neat things at the same time: they create green spaces and opportunities for urban recreation, prevent people from dying of heat-related illnesses, save heating and cooling energy costs, generate green landscaping and construction jobs, cleanse pollutants from city air, reduce levels of urban crime and violence… The list goes on and on. On the other hand, the traditional stormwater management strategy of building gutters and underground pipes provides almost none of these side benefits.

For everybody who’s a fan of multi-beneficial green infrastructure, yesterday was an exciting day. Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.), and Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Oh.) just introduced a bill that will help spread the use of green infrastructure in communities across America. This bill does three things to promote green infrastructure approaches:

It establishes “Centers of Excellence” for green infrastructure: a small group of research institutions across the country that will get federal support for their research into innovative green infrastructure tactics. These centers will serve the very important function of coordinating information, so that any community that wants to implement green infrastructure can have the data it needs to get started.
The bill also establishes a green infrastructure program at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It’s crucial that EPA start to incorporate green infrastructure into all of its permitting and enforcement programs so that regulated entities have incentives to take the leap to these new and sometimes unfamiliar techniques.
Last but not least, the bill creates a grant program that will give communities around the nation – especially low-income communities and ones with raw sewage-discharging combined sewer systems – the resources they need to undertake their own green infrastructure projects. These projects will make the grant recipient counties, cities, and towns into better places to live for all their residents.

The sponsors of the bill gave it the title “Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act of 2009.” But they could just as accurately have named it the “Green Infrastructure for Clean Water, Clean Air, Flood Prevention, Abundant Water Supplies, Green Jobs, Cost Savings, Better Health and Reduced Crime Act of 2009.” Green infrastructure has all of those positive effects (and more), and it should get credit for being the amazing multi-beneficial approach that it is.

Managing Stormwater and Making People Nicer: All in a Day’s Work for Green Infrastructure

2009-10-16T21:07:03Z

Ever think that it's a waste for all the fresh water falling as rain to be swept immediately away to the ocean and other water bodies, becoming polluted and unusable along the way - all while parts of the country struggle with drought? Well, in California - where they are in their third dry year - the state legislature is of like mind. They recently passed a bill that will try to change the way California communities think about stormwater, encouraging them to consider it as a resource rather than as waste.

As described in the Los Angeles Times, this new law - the Stormwater Resource Planning Act - allows California municipalities to use funds for projects "that reduce or reuse stormwater, recharge the groundwater supply, create green spaces and enhance wildlife habitats."

Hopefully, the projects that get funded will use green infrastructure and low-impact development (LID) techniques to make those goals a reality. Green infrastructure and LID are development practices that address the stormwater problem "at the source" by restoring some of the natural hydrologic functions of areas that have been developed.

In practice, using these techniques often means creating vegetated areas like parks and rain gardens, installing "green roofs" on buildings, or using permeable pavement in parking lots and roads. All of these practices capture and treat stormwater at the location where it's created, before it has the opportunity to get swept away into sewers and far from the urban dwellers who need it. Instead, it seeps through the soil into aquifers for people to use, getting naturally filtered and cleansed as it goes. Or, it can be kept in rain barrels and cisterns on-site for people to reuse right away.

NRDC is a big proponent of green infrastructure and LID approaches. Our Rooftops to Rivers report sang the praises of green stormwater management strategies back in 2006, and just this past summer NRDC recommended LID as a solution for thirsty California cities.

Why do we like this approach so much? In addition to treating stormwater naturally and effectively and providing a source of extra water for communities in need, green infrastructure and LID techniques provide a ton of other environmental benefits, like improved air quality, a decrease in the urban heat island effect, and better urban aesthetics. Plus, a new study shows that looking at natural environments - like the ones created in cities when green infrastructure is used - makes people nicer!

With benefits like that, let's hope that other states around the country also recognize green infrastructure as a great way to manage stormwater - and become a happier place to live at the same time.