The state has made changes in the ways municipalities must manage stromwater runoff.
By:Carl Reader
WEST AMWELL Stormwater management experts recently provided a glimpse of the future of flood control, including state-required changes in the way towns manage stormwater runoff.
Liz Semple of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Watershed Management talked about the planned changes at an April 25 meeting of the Working Group of the Central Delaware Tributaries held at the West Amwell Municipal Building.
"This is a pretty significant new program," Ms. Semple said of the changes the DEP expects to implement later this year.
"This is the first time the DEP will give permits for runoff," she said.
Ms. Semple described the new requirements as part of the federal Clean Water Act and said it will be implemented by the state. She said the DEP would work with municipalities on how to implement the changes.
The program will have two tiers, Tier A and Tier B. More developed municipalities will fall under Tier A rules and less developed municipalities under Tier B rules, she said. Lambertville, Stockton and West Amwell are listed as Tier B municipalities.
Developments in Tier A communities require DEP permits, and Tier B will need them for new developments.
The DEP has designated 429 municipalities as Tier A and 137 municipalities as Tier B.
Highways and public complexes also will have to come into compliance with DEP stormwater management regulations.
"It’s going to be a huge thing," Ms. Semple said.
The DEP also will require Tier A municipalities to regulate a large number of stormwater management issues, including improper waste disposal, fertilizer and pesticide runoff control, illicit connections to stormwater runoff systems, pet waste, litter, lawn maintenance and municipal maintenance yard operations.
Tier A municipalities will have to keep watch over floating solid wastes, stormwater grates and trash cans all of which can contribute to pollution and degradation of groundwater. In addition, municipalities will have to pay attention to street sweeping, road erosion control and road de-icing as well as retrofitting existing stormwater controls.
There will be a phased-in approach, according to Ms. Semple.
"The towns will have to tell us what they can do when," she said.
Tier B municipalities will have to watch over new developments to manage runoff properly and make sure there is proper groundwater recharge. There will be new performance standards for groundwater recharge, according to Ms. Semple.
"They will have to figure out the best way to manage runoff," Ms. Semple said.
The requirements focus on a more natural way of handling runoff, according to Ms. Semple, rather than simply getting it off-site the quickest way possible, usually by retention basins and piping. The developers will have to meet new standards, Ms. Semple said, and the state will provide model ordinances for the municipalities to pass to meet those standards. The new standards will change land-use requirements, she added.
Also, there will be a water recharge standard for the first time. The quantity of water will have to remain the same pre- and post-development, and erosion control will be required. The developer will have to get away from simply piping the runoff from the site into streams and rivers since increased flow degrades those streams and rivers and causes floods and pollution, according to Ms. Semple. Developers also would need to use wetlands instead of retention basins.
It’s not just developers who will be affected, said Ms. Semple.
"Individual homeowners will have to take more responsibility for runoff," she said, pointing out lawns contribute greatly to runoff problems. Lawns don’t absorb water for recharge, fertilizers and pesticides pollute, and lawnmowers contribute heavily to air pollution, she added.
Developers often truck away the top soil to sell in bags, she said, and that also contributes to the problem by creating impermeable ground beneath sod laid down for lawns.
"It’s the ecology, stupid," said one of her slides.
Tracy Carluccio of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network also spoke at the meeting, presenting alternatives to current stormwater management practices that focus on water runoff as a lost resource instead of an asset.
The hydrologic cycle needs to be balanced as nature intended, she said.
"Natures balances the hydrology," she said. "Humans mess it up."
Present stormwater management causes flooding and pollution and reduces recharge of ground water, she said. It introduces a chemical soup into drains and dries up stream beds, which in turn reduces aquifers.
Retention basins are a big part of the problem, she said. They don’t control the volume of water, don’t get water back into the ground and don’t do anything about pollution. Phosphates and nitrates are the major chemical pollutants in this area, she said.
To solve the problem, she contended stormwater management must protect natural environments, restore others that have been lost and mimic how nature handles water runoff. She suggested narrower roads, no curbs and keeping forests intact along with restoring streams and stream-side vegetation as well as homeowners having smaller back yards with natural plantings.
She suggested infiltration basins instead of retention basins and infiltration trenches on steep slopes, all to get water back into the ground.
"It needs to be mandated," Ms. Carluccio said. "We need to have state legislation."
She said porous pavement does work, and those who said it doesn’t have been misinformed. Engineering is the key to porous pavement, she contended, and if it’s built properly, it’s no more expensive to build or maintain.
"We feel very strongly about this one," she said.
Innovative technologies also work, such as "green roofs" using vegetation on roofs to control stormwater runoff. Green roofs accomplish this through transevaporation, she said.
"In Europe, this technology has been in use for many years," Ms. Carluccio said. She added that in Germany it’s mandatory.
"Here, they consider you nutty," she said, if you consider green roofs, but she showed a photo of a 350-year-old green roof in Oslo, Norway.
"This is doable," she said.
Investing in green roofs is better than investing in pipes that pollute streams, she added.
"Nature’s already got it figured out," Ms. Carluccio said. "We just have to look at how it’s doing it."