The map, to be developed by Ecopia AI (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), aims to help the Jacksonville Department of Public Works more accurately assess pervious and impervious space on private properties. This data will enable the city to easily determine landowner obligations under its impervious area charge (IAC) program, as well as seamlessly update those charges in response to changes made by landowners. The new mapping initiative responds to the results of a 2019 audit of the IAC assessment process, which determined that the previous, manual approach to quantifying fees resulted in sluggish and inconsistent application.  

“With this data informing our stormwater mapping workflows, the City of Jacksonville will ensure stormwater utility fee billing is as accurate and efficiently calculated as possible for 2023 and beyond,” Steve Long, Director of Public Works for the City of Jacksonville, said in a release.

Jacksonville in 24 Trillion Pixels

Jacksonville is among thousands of communities that assess IACs to property owners. While these fees are often a key funding source for local stormwater management activities, the size and complexity of the data required to apply them accurately presents a logistical challenge. In recent years, a growing availability of satellite, aerial, drone-enabled, and street-view images as well as technological advances in AI and GIS systems have made developing large-scale, digital maps an increasingly viable solution to this challenge for municipal stormwater managers, said Ecopia Senior Director of Public Sector and International Development Brandon Palin.

“In the last decade, we’ve seen the geospatial and AI landscapes both evolve drastically,” Palin said. “More and more organizations are leveraging the power of geospatial data and mapping as the availability of GIS tools has expanded.”

The map development process begins by sourcing an array of images representing the region. Ecopia relies on a network of partners to collect these images. Partners include such large geospatial players as Esri (Redlands, California) and European Space Imaging (Munich).

Developers then apply an AI algorithm that considers each image pixel by pixel — in the Jacksonville case, approximately 24 trillion of them in total, Palin said. The algorithm uses examples from other images to determine whether each pixel, which represents just over 7.5 cm² (1.2 in.²) of real-world space, features pervious or impervious coverage.

The algorithm can accurately distinguish between more than 20 types of land cover. This includes being able to discriminate between paved and unpaved roads and driveways, as well as between swimming pools and open water. The algorithm uses these results to render both two- and three-dimensional maps, which automatically self-update when fed newly acquired images from ongoing monitoring campaigns.

Although Jacksonville’s map caters narrowly to facilitating the IAC assessment process, Palin described that the same technology also can address other large-scale stormwater management issues. An August 2022 partnership with the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Services, for example, produced a map that now helps stormwater managers identify optimal locations for runoff outlets and vegetation in street medians. An AI-generated map of Peterborough, Ontario, estimates the likelihood that a specific point will experience surface flooding based on different climate-change scenarios.

“Our maps ultimately provide an accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date digital representation of the real world, and are a source of truth for solving some of the world’s most complex challenges,” Palin said.

The Rise of Digital Twins

This type of high-resolution, real-time, digital representation, intended to accurately mimic current conditions in a physical location, is known as a digital twin.

During a technical session on stormwater technology at WEFTEC 2021, EcoLucid (Boston) CEO Marcus Quigley claimed that imaging technology underpinning digital twins will prove capable of mapping every point on Earth at 5-cm² (0.8-in.²) resolution by 2025. This prediction is already proving true ahead of schedule, according to Palin.

“The imagery that we use as an input is being produced faster and at higher resolutions,” Palin said. “We envision these capabilities to continue improving and driving innovation in the industry, leading to more advanced features such as indoor mapping, augmented reality, and other layers of information that comprise a true digital twin of the physical world.”

However, just as important as the technology’s sophistication is its accessibility, Palin said. Only a few years ago, applications for digital-twin technology came at a price only affordable by a small handful of cities. A 2019 report from ABI Research (Oyster Bay, New York) predicted that more than 500 cities around the world will actively utilize these types of digital twins to aid in decision making by 2025, and that the costs for developing them will steadily decrease as imaging and modeling technologies advance.

“With the emergence of more efficient processing, we are seeing an increase in data equity across the world,” Palin said. “Decision-making powered by highly accurate geospatial data is now advancing communities that historically would have lacked such information, and we expect this trend to increase with the continuous innovations in AI.”

Top image courtesy of Ecopia AI

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Justin Jacques is editor of Stormwater Report and a staff member of the Water Environment Federation (WEF). In addition to writing for WEF’s online publications, he also contributes to Water Environment & Technology magazine. Contact him at jjacques@wef.org.

The post Jacksonville Takes AI Approach to Stormwater Fee Assessment appeared first on Stormwater Report.

Serving as the foundation for the Stormwater Policy Forum, NMSA and the WEF Stormwater Institute released a fact sheet detailing specific legislative needs and priorities to help guide the success of the U.S. stormwater sector. The document, 2022 Recommendations to Improve the Stormwater Program in the U.S., lauds the recent passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which authorized an unprecedented level of funding for stormwater programs. However, it also outlines a host of additional ways that the sector can benefit from federal investment and legislation.

“The historic stormwater infrastructure funding programs authorized last year as part of the IIJA represent a major step forward to ensure U.S. communities are adequately protected from flooding, emerging contaminants, and the effects of climate change,” said Steve Dye, WEF Legislative Director. “The time is now to build on this momentum through congressional funding for these newly authorized programs.  Funding is needed to ensure that the new programs help communities address their current stormwater infrastructure needs as efficiently and equitably as possible, as well as work proactively to better address tomorrow’s stormwater challenges.”

Fund Recently Authorized Stormwater Provisions

Although the IIJA prescribed more than $700 million for stormwater program funding in addition to significant, stormwater-eligible enhancements to the EPA Clean Water State Revolving Fund programs, the U.S. Congress must now appropriate funds during the Fiscal Year 2023 budgeting process to support these commitments. Among the agreed-upon stormwater provisions that now require appropriations are

• $280 million annually for the EPA Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grants program, subsidizing projects that address combined sewer overflows, sanitary sewer overflows, and municipal stormwater infrastructure;
• $25 million annually for a new Alternative Source Water Pilot program, which will include funding for stormwater capture projects;
• $25 million annually for resilience and sustainability grants;
• $10 million annually for municipal stormwater planning and implementation grants;
• $50 million for the EPA Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program, which provides long-term, low-cost loans to support large-scale water projects;
• $5 million to establish five stormwater technology “Centers of Excellence,” which would perform research to formulate new infrastructure designs and maximize the value of investments in stormwater control; and
• $5 million to update the EPA Clean Watershed Needs Survey, which assesses the U.S. stormwater sector’s financial requirements to ensure adequate levels of service and protection.

Develop New Stormwater Funding Opportunities

Although financial provisions in the IIJA introduce and bolster several grant programs to support stormwater investments, data shows that stormwater organizations of all sizes require more stable, ongoing sources of funding. For example, WEF’s 2020 MS4 Needs Assessment Survey found that only 25% of regulated stormwater communities have a dedicated revenue source such as a stormwater utility.

Report authors describe a collection of ideas for new funding mechanisms to promote the stormwater sector’s growth and long-term financial resilience. These include

• establishing a Stormwater Construction Grant program that would eventually mature into a loan-based Stormwater State Revolving Fund program, following the model of Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Fund programs;
• enhancing efforts to promote, fund, and incentivize the formation of local stormwater utilities; and
• revising the Clean Water Act Section 319 program to expand eligibility for stormwater projects.

Support Atlas 14 Updates

Virtually all segments of the U.S. stormwater sector — from utilities and watershed managers to infrastructure engineers and climate change modelers — depend on credible, research-backed estimations of how the effects of climate change might affect precipitation frequency in their specific region. Since 2004, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has worked to provide this critical information through its Atlas 14 program. However, lacking consistent funding for ongoing study or a regular update schedule, many stormwater professionals operate under widely different estimations of future precipitation in their respective regions, undermining resilience planning efforts.

Some regions have not received an update to their Atlas 14 precipitation frequency estimates in more than a decade. Five states in the northwest U.S. — Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana — still have yet to receive even initial precipitation frequency estimates from the Atlas 14 study.

2022 Recommendations to Improve the Stormwater Program in the U.S. calls for NOAA to receive adequate funding and staffing resources to maximize the Atlas 14 study’s usefulness. In particular, stormwater professionals require a predictable Atlas 14 update schedule as well as revised design storms that take into account the latest climate change projections from the research community as they evolve. Consistent, standardized precipitation frequency estimates from an authoritative, federal source will ensure that stormwater infrastructure investments are planned as efficiently as possible, the authors write.

Focus on Source Control

The number of potential contaminants transported in runoff is expanding at a rate that stormwater infrastructure technology cannot match. For that reason, the most effective way for stormwater professionals to address such threats as per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), microplastics, and tire-wear derivates is to prevent these contaminants from enteringrunoff, fact sheet authors describe.

The recommendations document also calls on EPA to establish a new, permanent pollutant source control program within the U.S. EPA Office of Wastewater Management. The new department should work to advance strategies like product substitution, green chemistry, and the discontinuation of certain chemicals known to pose environmental threats when they enter the environment. EPA is uniquely poised to address source control, authors write, drawing on an example of the agency’s work in restricting entire classes of organophosphate-based pesticides in recent years.

Read the full fact sheet, 2022 Recommendations to Improve the Stormwater Program in the U.S., at the WEF Stormwater Institute website.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Justin Jacques is editor of Stormwater Report and a staff member of the Water Environment Federation (WEF). In addition to writing for WEF’s online publications, he also contributes to Water Environment & Technology magazine. Contact him at jjacques@wef.org.

The post Funding, Source Control Top 2022 List of Stormwater Legislative Priorities appeared first on Stormwater Report.

However, beginning on April 1, 2022, recipients may apply remaining SLFRF funds to a wider diversity of projects and programs, the Treasury recently announced. Under new criteria, state and local governments may soon use SLFRF funds on several types of previously ineligible stormwater infrastructure investments.

Repair and Reuse

Under original SLFRF guidance, eligibility for water infrastructure projects aligned with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund programs. These criteria included capital costs for an array of both green and gray stormwater infrastructure, but excluded many types of maintenance activities and neglected projects focusing on addressing runoff quantity in favor of those targeting runoff quality.

Language introduced in new guidelines specifically widens SLFRF eligibility for stormwater projects to include such activities as culvert repair and storm sewer replacement, as well as any necessary roadwork that may accompany those projects. These expansions, according to the rule’s updated language, aim to promote both climate change preparedness and environmental justice, as culverts often play critical roles for water management in rural and unsewered communities.

Reuse is also a focus of the updates. New provisions support projects that enable the capture and recycling of stormwater, wastewater, or subsurface drainage water. Specifically, SLFRF funds will soon support new wastewater effluent distribution systems or upgrades to existing systems, recharge transmission lines, groundwater injection wells, as well as building-scale systems that reuse locally produced wastewater and condensate.

Perhaps most significantly, the updated rule also removes requirements for stormwater infrastructure projects to address water quality if their primary purpose is to address flooding.  

Despite the rule’s new flexibility, projects funded using SLFRF funds must still meet the Treasury’s criteria for a “necessary” investment. All funded projects must be vital to achieve or maintain an adequate minimum level of service for the area it occupies; demonstrate cost-effectiveness compared to other alternatives; and remain financially and ecologically sustainable over its estimated lifespan, rule language stipulates.

North Carolina Seizes the Moment

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) already has plans in place to take advantage of the new flexibility.  

Jon Risgaard, who leads State Revolving Fund program administration for DEQ, spoke during a February 10 webcast about the state regulator’s intent to earmark a portion of North Carolina’s SLFRF award for a new, exclusive fund to support stormwater management infrastructure at the local and regional levels.

“The total appropriations to the department through the State Fiscal Recovery Fund is nearly $1.7 billion,” Risgaard said. “This creates a tremendous opportunity for our department and the recipients of these funds.”

DEQ already has allocated more than $18 million toward 11 high-priority, state-identified stormwater projects since receiving ARPA funds last year. Beginning later this year, it plans to invite North Carolina municipalities to apply for a portion of an additional $82 million to support stormwater infrastructure under the new guidelines, Risgaard described. The department will award up to $15 million per project, or up to $30 million for regional projects, according to preliminary guidelines published by DEQ.

DEQ is working with the North Carolina State Water Infrastructure Authority to develop a rating system that will help the department identify potential projects that both meet SLFRF requirements and present the most urgent needs. Risgaard said DEQ plans to develop their rating system by this July, ahead of accepting applications beginning in September and awarding funds in early 2023.

The focus, Risgaard explained, is on balancing due diligence to ensure the quality of funded projects with the urgency of dispersing funds quickly. The federal government requires states to invest all SLFRF funding by December 2026.

“We have a very short timeframe considering the time it often takes for these large-scale capital construction projects to move from award to design to construction,” he said.

Learn more about the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program at the U.S. Department of the Treasury website.

Top image courtesy of Architect of the U.S. Capitol

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Justin Jacques is editor of Stormwater Report and a staff member of the Water Environment Federation (WEF). In addition to writing for WEF’s online publications, he also contributes to Water Environment & Technology magazine. Contact him at jjacques@wef.org.

The post COVID-19 Relief Fund Flexibility Creates Stormwater Opportunities appeared first on Stormwater Report.

Of the 17 categories included in the report card, which covers such sectors as aviation, energy, and transit, 11 types of infrastructure received a grade of ‘D+’ or lower. During a March 3 webcast announcing this year’s grades, Nevada Department of Transportation Director Kristina Swallow noted that the growing prevalence of high-profile flooding events across the U.S. has spurred new awareness of stormwater-management challenges.

“With the evolving pressures of climate change and severe storms put on our water treatment and distribution networks, it was time to talk about stormwater infrastructure specifically,” Swallow said.

In Need of Investment

ASCE’s D+ for stormwater infrastructure results from decades of chronic underinvestment, according to a report about the grading process. The report describes that the financial responsibility for funding and maintaining stormwater systems often is unclear and few existing funding streams are dedicated solely to stormwater.

Unlike drinking water and wastewater systems — which received grades of C- and D+, respectively — stormwater currently has no federal state revolving funds to subsidize projects. Additionally, because most U.S. communities have not established dedicated funding sources for stormwater, capital for stormwater projects often must come from general municipal funds and compete with any number of other spending priorities.

“Nearly 600,000 miles of streams and rivers are considered impaired, yet more than 70% of communities do not have a dedicated funding source such as a stormwater utility to address these needs,” said Rebecca Shelton, Deputy Director of the Gwinnett County (Georgia) Department of Water Resources, during the webcast.

However, evidence suggests that attention to stormwater funding needs is slowly growing. More than 40 states now contain at least one community with a dedicated stormwater utility. Among communities with regulated municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s), approximately 19% had established a stormwater utility or implemented a stormwater fee in 2013. That number had risen to about 26% by 2018.

Backed by WEF Data

Much of the data underpinning ASCE’s stormwater grade originated from the Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Virginia) Stormwater Institute’s 2020 MS4 Needs Assessment Survey. The survey, which gathered information from more than 800 MS4 permittees, estimates an annual funding gap of approximately $8.5 billion for stormwater infrastructure.

“This is a large gap considering that the survey report indicates that municipal governments will spend annually between $18 billion and $24 billion on their stormwater programs and infrastructure investments nationwide,” said Fernando Pasquel, National Director of Stormwater and Watershed Management for Arcadis (Arlington, Virginia) and one of the survey’s administrators. “What is clear is that there is a need for federal and local investment in stormwater infrastructure.”

Other sources of data behind the report card’s grade include reports and studies from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; the Water Research Foundation (Denver); the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (Washington, D.C.); and more.

Roadmap for Resilience

Although the report card illustrates significant stormwater investment needs, it also recommends specific ways federal funding can help create a stormwater-management network equipped to accommodate changing weather patterns and increased flooding.

Among other solutions, the report card authors suggest

• developing a new federal-level stormwater funding program akin to existing state revolving fund programs,
• establishing a grant program to support training for “green-collar jobs” in the stormwater sector,
• extending eligibility for existing water-infrastructure grant programs to stormwater infrastructure,
• promoting the establishment of new stormwater utilities, and
• updating standards for stormwater infrastructure in response to evolving climate change projections.

“We must ensure America’s infrastructure is resilient to flooding, hurricanes, fires, and sea-level rise through new approaches, materials, and technologies,” Swallow said. “Building more resilient communities will require holistic and forward-thinking planning and require cross-jurisdictional cooperation.”

Explore the full 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure at the ASCE website.

Top image courtesy of LucyKaef/Pixabay

The post Stormwater Receives a ‘D’ in First-Ever ASCE Report Card Appearance appeared first on Stormwater Report.

Hampton’s EIB will enable stormwater professionals to construct three major green infrastructure projects valued at about $12 million, according to a December release from the city.

“This environmental impact bond demonstrates our commitment to seek out innovation in financing, as well as innovation in implementing projects that make our city more livable and more beautiful while reducing flooding and pollution,” said Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck during a December 4 virtual press conference. “The pilot projects funded by this bond represent environmentally sensitive approaches to slowing and storing water. They also create neighborhood assets with multiple public benefits designed to enhance our quality of life.”

De-Risking Green Infrastructure

Many investors see green infrastructure as risky because of its case-by-case effectiveness and the difficulty of assigning financial values to its many co-benefits, such as reduced urban noise, cleaner air, and increased biodiversity. EIBs, a financing concept introduced by social investment firm Quantified Ventures (Washington, D.C.) in 2016, makes the prospect of investing in green infrastructure more attractive by tying financial returns directly to measurable outcomes.

The process begins when a public utility or other environmental service provider issues a bond for a potential infrastructure project. Along with the bond, the utility sets measurable, performance-based targets — for example, a specific amount of stormwater detained in a particular radius or fewer air-and-water contaminants — as well as a timeframe for achieving them.

Investors purchase the bond, providing up-front capital for new infrastructure projects. After a predetermined period, an independent party assesses whether the project successfully met its targets. If so, the investors receive a bonus payout in addition to recouping their original investment. If not, they pay the utility an additional fee to help offset its losses.

The model intends to provide extra incentives for investors interested in enhancing community welfare while providing utilities the financial flexibility to make green infrastructure more desirable, Quantified Ventures describes on its website.

“We applaud Hampton’s leadership, creativity, and dedication to building a more resilient city in issuing this EIB,” said Eric Letsinger, Quantified Ventures CEO. “Their commitment to community equity and involvement is second to none.”

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF; Annapolis, Maryland) and Quantified Ventures worked alongside the Hampton municipal government to develop the EIB, supported by the Kresge Foundation (Troy, Michigan) and an anonymous CBF donor. Unlike previous EIBs structured by Quantified Ventures — alongside DC Water (Washington, D.C.) in 2016 and Atlanta, Georgia, in 2019 — investor outcomes will not scale with the projects’ performance.

Flood-Proofing Hampton

The bond was sold on the open market by underwriters Morgan-Stanley and Wells Fargo. According to the bond’s terms, the three large green infrastructure projects funded by the investment will add at least 32.5 million liters (8.6 million gallons) of local stormwater storage capacity to the Newmarket Creek watershed upon completion.

Newmarket Creek winds in a twisting path through the center of Hampton, bordering the city’s central business district, several dense residential neighborhoods, and a nearby U.S. Air Force base. Recently, severe weather and rising sea levels have increased the river’s tendency to flood, prompting officials to explore new ways to enhance the city’s resilience. The city has been working with Quantified Ventures and CBF to design and fund new flood-mitigation projects in Newmarket Creek since 2018.

According to the city, projects funded by the EIB include:

• The Big Bethel Blueway, which will install bioretention cells, weirs, and large amounts of new vegetation along an existing Newmarket Creek drainage channel, aiming to reduce upstream and downstream flooding. After the bond’s initial term, the city intends to further develop the Blueway into a recreation trail with additional green infrastructure elements, according to project documents.
• Increasing the height of North Armistead Avenue, a major Hampton thoroughfare and evacuation route, and installing plants and other green infrastructure along the median and shoulders of the road.
• Transforming an existing detention pond adjacent to North Armistead Avenue into Lake Hampton, a purpose-built “stormwater park” that involves higher dams and weirs in addition to a network of smaller detention ponds and manmade wetlands.

Visit Quantified Ventures for more information about EIBs.

The post Virginia Environmental Impact Bond Funds Major Green Infrastructure Projects appeared first on Stormwater Report.

Among the greatest challenges for stormwater management organizations is their need to finance new infrastructure to comply with Clean Water Act requirements while also keeping service fees on ratepayers reasonable. Lacking a robust understanding of their community’s financial capability, or their ability to pay stormwater fees and other utility related bills without causing undue financial hardship, many stormwater agencies struggle to develop realistic, long-term programming plans. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking input on an update to its Financial Capability Assessment (FCA) for the Clean Water Act, a methodology that helps water, wastewater, and stormwater agencies incorporate their specific community’s financial realities into infrastructure planning. This will be the first major FCA update since 1997.

“EPA is working to ensure that all Americans – regardless of their zip code – have clean water for drinking and recreation,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water David Ross in a September statement. “With this action, the agency is supporting water utilities to help them better serve disadvantaged communities that have financial challenges.”

Emphasis on Equity and Flexibility

Existing FCA guidance includes several calculations that guide rate-setting and infrastructure-scheduling negotiations between utilities and regulators, most of which center on a community’s median household income. However, many water sector groups including the Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Virginia) have long voiced concerns that median household income alone does not necessarily provide an accurate picture of a community’s financial capability.

To improve considerations for a community’s least-wealthy residents, EPA is proposing two separate FCA approaches for the 2020 update. Each water, wastewater, or stormwater utility would be able to choose their preferred approach, using the resulting financial data to negotiate realistic Clean Water Act requirements with regulators.

The first strategy would draw heavily on the methodology behind the agency’s 1997 FCA, but would incorporate a wider array of financial indicators into its calculations. Among these factors, according to EPA’s request for comments, are the budgets of the poorest 20% of ratepayers, average levels of debt, and the availability of customer-assistance programs. Much of this location-specific data are publicly accessible via results of the U.S. census and other sources, making the resulting FCA calculations easy to implement both for water organizations and regulators, EPA described.

A second option would involve developing a more dynamic FCA model, which would consider the effects of rate increases or new stormwater fees on utility customers over time. In addition to using median household income, this model would also consider financial effects on the poorest 20% of ratepayers and other equity-focused metrics. While the approach would offer more detailed, long-term information than the first option, EPA said, communities that choose the second option would have to conduct the analysis themselves since the model would require data not available to the public.

Expert Advice

EPA’s proposed FCA update draws heavily on input from water-sector organizations including WEF, the American Water Works Association (AWWA; Denver, Colorado), and the National Association of Clean Water Administrators (NACWA; Washington, D.C.). In April 2019, the three organizations jointly submitted a report to EPA calling for a renewed focus on assessing water service affordability in Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act programs.

Among other recommendations, the 2019 report called for new FCA methodologies that consider the full range of water-related fees a household must pay – drinking water, wastewater, and increasingly stormwater. It also highlighted the need to tailor infrastructure requirements to utility revenue and customer bills rather than raise service costs to comply with oftentimes unrealistic infrastructure requirements. Throughout the report, the organizations urged EPA to consider a wider range of financial data such as lowest-quintile income, the federal poverty level, and long-term cashflow forecasting, all of which are incorporated into the proposed 2020 FCA update.

The water sector organizations are still reviewing the specifics of EPA’s proposal, a September WEF release described, but experts are optimistic that the update will help promote equity, make Clean Water Act regulations more attainable, and minimize financial burdens on ratepayers.

“This newly proposed Financial Capability Assessment will allow communities to better evaluate what they can afford to pay for water infrastructure and compliance with the Clean Water Act,” said WEF President Jackie Jarrell. “WEF looks forward to working with EPA and other stakeholders to ensure the final FCA can be implemented consistently and in a way that allows communities to utilize its intended flexibility, especially as they are battling the coronavirus pandemic.”

EPA is accepting public comments on its proposed 2020 FCA update until Oct. 19.

The post EPA Seeks Feedback on Major Update to Financial Capability Assessment appeared first on Stormwater Report.

According to the latest estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), bolstering stormwater infrastructure to effective levels will require nearly $70 billion during the next 20 years. However, EPA reports that only about 1,600 out of more than 7,500 U.S. Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permittees have a dedicated stormwater funding source in place, such as a stormwater tax or stormwater utility fee.

A new report, “Evaluating Stormwater Infrastructure Funding and Financing,” explores the U.S. stormwater funding gap and recommends ways to address it. The report, authored by a team of experts in stormwater management and finance as well as representatives of local, state, and federal governments, calls for establishing new stormwater funding programs, expanding existing programs, and enhancing outreach about the importance of stormwater management.

Fernando Pasquel, Chair of the Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Virginia) Stormwater Institute Advisory Committee and a Senior Vice President at Arcadis (Arlington, Virginia), served as an expert consultant during the report’s composition.

“Stormwater infrastructure is as important to quality of life as wastewater and water infrastructure, roads or electricity,” Pasquel said. “Therefore, we, as a sector, must find better ways to fund stormwater programs and communicate the broader benefits of stormwater.”

Strengthening and Streamlining Stormwater Finance

Many of the report’s recommendations call for increased federal investment in existing water infrastructure funding programs as well as establishing new programs specifically intended to support stormwater infrastructure.

For example, authors recommend strengthening Clean Water State Revolving Loan Funds (CWSRFs) and the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program by creating new stormwater-focused provisions. For CWSRFs, this could include creating a new sub-program or expanding eligibility for the existing CWSRFs to include stormwater and flood management projects, the report describes. The WIFIA program could benefit from explicit information about stormwater project eligibility.

Other report recommendations focus on streamlining access to existing sources of stormwater funding. Because federal grant programs applicable to stormwater management projects are often managed by separate agencies, each with their own set of application requirements, many small, rural, and disadvantaged communities often lack the technical or financial resources necessary to take full advantage of federal funding, the authors write.

The report points to the Common App, currently accepted by nearly 900 U.S. colleges and universities, as a model for the federal grant application process. Distilling common requirements among all federal infrastructure grants into a single application would save both the applicant and the reviewer time and resources, according to the report.

Authors acknowledge that allocating new sources of funding for any program does not happen in a vacuum; it requires familiarity with the issues being addressed and buy-in from both elected officials and the constituents they represent. New, dedicated sources of local stormwater funding may involve additional taxes or ratepayer fees, the report describes, which are likely to face resistance unless utilities and municipalities have the tools to educate locals about growing threats and opportunities from stormwater. The report recommends funding educational programs targeted at illustrating the linkage between stormwater investments and economic development for local residents.

Public education approaches could involve providing funds to establish dedicated stormwater utilities or expand the scope of existing utilities into the stormwater sector. Much like drinking water and wastewater utilities, these organizations would undertake community outreach activities to demonstrate how investment in stormwater management directly benefits public health and safety, economic opportunity, and water quality. The report also recommends establishing an online compendium of case studies that detail innovative approaches to stormwater financing and their resulting co-benefits: The report features 20 such case studies applicable to a variety of climates and community sizes.

Anticipated By U.S. Congress

The report directly responds to America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA), passed by U.S. Congress in 2018. AWIA language (Section 4101) required EPA to create a Stormwater Finance Task Force, comprised of 13 members of EPA’s Environmental Financial Advisory Board as well as 20 invited consultants specializing in financing stormwater infrastructure and programs. AWIA charged the task force with conducting a study on current funding availability for stormwater infrastructure and recommending ways to improve it.

Establishing a Stormwater Finance Task Force was also a recommendation of the 2018 Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Virginia) Stormwater Institute Water Week Factsheets and the MS4 Needs Assessment Survey, the first national effort of its kind to identify common challenges among U.S. stormwater permittees. While formulating the report, the Stormwater Finance Task Force incorporated data from the survey as well as from eight other regional assessments of the stormwater funding gap.

After review from EPA, the report was submitted to U.S. Congress in April 2020.

Download the full report, “Evaluating Stormwater Infrastructure Funding and Financing,” from the EPA website.

The post New Report Underscores Funding Needs For U.S. Stormwater Sector appeared first on Stormwater Report.

Stormwater Currency, a group of stormwater project-financing experts from the Water Environment Federation (Alexandria, Va.), American Rivers (Washington, D.C.), and Corona Environmental Consulting (Louisville, Colo.), released a guide in September that details essential considerations for any municipality interested in starting a stormwater credit trading program. Click here to read the full guide.

Just as municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permittees and others subject to stormwater regulations seek out the cheapest and easiest ways to achieve compliance, regulatory agencies have a vested interest in making compliance simpler without sacrificing environmental benefits. In a growing number of U.S. cities, the stormwater credit trading (SCT) concept is gaining traction for its ability to provide greater flexibility for property developers while minimizing noncompliance issues for regulators.

But SCT is not a fit for every community, and because the concept is relatively new, many municipalities are unsure how to assess whether establishing an SCT program can result in benefits for their local water environment.

In September, stormwater-program financing experts from the Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.), American Rivers (Washington, D.C.), and Corona Environmental Consulting (Louisville, Colo.) released a new guide that acts as a “road map” toward establishing SCT programs.

“While establishing and running a credit trading market is not without risk, cost, or complexity, a properly designed stormwater credit trading program can benefit property developers, improve urban water quality, foster community resilience, and better distribute the co-benefits of green infrastructure projects throughout a community,” the guide reads.

Establishing a new market 

Under SCT programs, property owners that manage their stormwater more effectively than minimum regulatory standards require or unregulated property owners that adopt stormwater control measures voluntarily can generate “credits” based on the volume of stormwater they manage. Neighboring developers and property owners can purchase these credits, which then count toward meeting their own stormwater management requirements. The SCT option frees up extra space for construction that would otherwise have to be used for stormwater management infrastructure, incentivizes property owners to perform above regulatory standards, and offers a more flexible way to achieve local water quality objectives, according to the guide.

The guide details how successful SCT programs require a strong regulatory foundation and sufficient local development activity to drive demand for credits. Many municipalities, for example, expressly restrict counting offsite stormwater management measures toward a site’s regulatory obligations – severely limiting the potential SCT benefits. The City of Chattanooga, Tenn., for example, has had an SCT program in effect for several years; however, according to the guide, not a single transaction has been made through the program because Tennessee state legislators modified the city’s MS4 permit requirements in a way that “severely limits the conditions under which a developer can take advantage of offsite compliance.”

Responsible leadership is also key to SCT program success. A growing market for stormwater credits must be managed by an impartial body that can ensure the proper maintenance of stormwater management projects and clarify how those projects translate into credits. Market organizers also must specify clear guidelines, developed according to local conditions, that dictate how credits are valued, the program’s physical boundaries, and how transactions are orchestrated, the guide describes.

Walking the walk in Michigan

Authors of the guide, operating under the tradename Stormwater Currency, are moving from theory to practice by designing an SCT program for Grand Rapids, Mich.

Forthcoming updates to Grand Rapids’ MS4 permit language will impose new retention-based channel protection requirements on new or redeveloped sites with at least 93 m² (1,000 ft²) of impervious space, creating new demand for programs that facilitate compliance. Although permittees are required to demonstrate that building on-site stormwater management infrastructure would be infeasible before they can purchase and apply stormwater credits, these conditions are flexible enough to create significant opportunities for an SCT program, the guide describes.

Because local regulations require that any off-site compliance measures be located within the same watershed as the property they benefit, Stormwater Currency identified three trading areas within the watershed to serve as a pilot. Part of the team’s analysis involved determining the distribution of soil types in the watershed, as well as other hydrogeological factors such as depth to groundwater, presence of contamination, and changes in land elevation.

Watch the video from Stormwater Currency below for more information on how instituting a SCT program can spur wider adoption of green infrastructure and greater gains for local water quality.

Read Stormwater Currency’s full guide, “Establishing a Stormwater Volume Credit Trading Program,” on the WEF website.

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If property developers fill wetlands and other natural landforms that accept stormwater runoff, provide habitat for wildlife, and control erosion, the result is often increased flooding and decreased biodiversity. On the other hand, development can stagnate if local environmental regulations are too burdensome, keeping cities from realizing their full economic potential.

Ahead of a $1.6 billion revitalization project in New York City’s Staten Island borough, the New York City Economic Development Corp. (EDC) is piloting an innovative strategy to simplify regulatory compliance and save developers money without compromising the benefits of the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary’s remaining wetlands.

Banking on impact mitigation

As the most densely populated city in the U.S. continues to grow ever more dense, the New York City metro area has lost about 85% of its coastal wetlands over the last century, the city government estimates. Much of the wetlands that remain sit along Staten Island’s largely undeveloped western shore in an area called Saw Mill Creek.

On the western shore of Staten Island in New York City, municipal agencies are trialing an innovative approach to balancing economic development with environmental stewardship. The city’s first wetland mitigation bank, established in January 2018, attaches a financial incentive to wetland restoration work while simplifying regulatory compliance for developers. Photo courtesy of New York City Economic Development Corp.

To preserve Saw Mill Creek’s wetlands while enabling developers to breathe new life into the island many New Yorkers know as “the forgotten borough,” EDC partnered with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to establish the city’s first wetland mitigation bank at Saw Mill Creek in early 2018.

Under the wetland mitigation bank model, public or private organizations that improve or preserve wetland habitats in the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary receive financial rewards in the form of credits. An independent regulator quantifies the number of credits generated by a certain level of wetland rehabilitation work. These credits can then be sold to developers whose construction plans would involve disturbing wetlands in the same watershed.

State and federal laws require waterfront developers to receive permits before they build structures in water. A common permit requirement is to demonstrate environmental impact mitigation, an often-lengthy process, which EDC estimates can cost developers upward of $2 million per acre in New York City. Developers can purchase credits to help satisfy their impact mitigation requirements at a typically lower cost and in a shorter timeframe than traditional alternatives.

Establishing a conservation marketplace

To demonstrate the model’s viability for Saw Mill Creek, EDC and its partners have been hard at work generating the first wetland mitigation credits by restoring wetlands in western Staten Island since January 2018.

According to an update on the project released by EDC in October, crews have dredged up more than 30,500 m³ (40,000 yd³) of debris and contaminated sediment. In addition to rehabilitating about 30 acres of impaired wetlands back to functional quality, the work also involved constructing about 24 acres of new wetlands, according to the EDC release.

In October, the New York City Economic Development Corp. provided an update on the Saw Mill Creek Wetland Mitigation Bank project. During the last 2 years, crews have removed more than 30,500 m3 (40,000 yd3) of debris and contaminated sediment from the Saw Mill Creek wetlands, restoring or creating approximately 54 acres of undeveloped land that improves water quality, enhances flood prevention, and provides habitat for wildlife. Photo courtesy of New York City Economic Development Corp.

Improving 54 acres of wetlands in total generated approximately 13 tradeable credits for the mitigation bank, each currently valued at a minimum reserve price of $1.5 million. Talks are already underway between EDC and developers in the watershed, which includes Staten Island, Manhattan, the Bronx, and portions of Brooklyn and Queens, to sell these new credits, reported Curbed New York.

EDC expects to use profits from credit sales to restore an additional 15 acres of wetlands, generating more credits until the pilot project concludes in August 2021. With each new stretch of wetland reclaimed, New York City is increasing its resilience against climate change and improving local water quality, described freshman U.S. Rep. Max Rose, who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, in a statement.

“The Saw Mill Creek Wetland project is proof that we can take care of the environment in a way that is good for business and that will protect us against future storms,” Rose said. “When we use every tool at our disposal to protect ourselves from future storms, that’s a win-win for Staten Island.”

Read more about the Saw Mill Creek Wetland Mitigation Bank project in the Autumn 2018 issue of World Water: Stormwater Management magazine.

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Still feeling the effects of heavy storms more than a decade after Hurricane Katrina leveled much of New Orleans, the Louisiana state government recently announced that it will receive a $1.2-billion grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to support flood-control projects statewide. Pixabay/labeled for reuse

More than a decade removed from Katrina, however, the region still experiences chronic flooding. Two major storm events in 2016, now known by locals as the Great Floods of 2016, damaged more than 145,000 homes and necessitated an estimated $10 billion in recovery work, according to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In response, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards last year took steps to develop a statewide flood-resilience planning effort known as the Louisiana Watershed Initiative. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced the state will receive $1.2 billion in federal funding to support work under the initiative.

“This news gets us one step closer to making the Louisiana Watershed Initiative’s mission a reality,” Edwards said in a release. “It creates an opportunity to address the root causes of flooding in our state, beginning with those areas devastated by the 2016 floods.”

A statewide plan for flood control

In order to receive the funding from HUD, the Louisiana state government must submit a detailed action plan by Feb. 3, 2020, proposing specific uses for the grant that focus on enhancing flood resilience in the state’s most vulnerable areas. The Louisiana Watershed Initiative posted a draft action plan on its website in late September.

In a statement, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards regarded the funding opportunity as a way “to develop a mutual understanding of risk, increased accountability for decision-making, and a stronger sense of long-term responsibility for Louisiana’s future.” In September, the Edwards administration released a draft action plan detailing how the grant will likely be allocated. Wikimedia Commons

The 91-page plan, open for public comment through Nov. 29, considers existing flood vulnerability in each of Louisiana’s 64 parishes, ways in which climate change might affect those vulnerabilities, and the costs of potential solutions.

“We are refining our action plan, which we began to draft months ago in anticipation of receiving this notice, to meet these parameters while continuing to gather information from stakeholders around the state on how these funds can best be used to reduce flood risk,” said Pat Forbes, executive director of the Louisiana Office of Community Development.

Of the $1.2 billion grant, the Louisiana Watershed Initiative expects to allocate $570 million toward local and regional-scale watershed resilience projects; $328 million toward state-level resilience efforts; and $145 million toward enhanced monitoring, mapping, and modeling capabilities. The remainder will support logistics, including non-federal cost share assistance, administrative costs, and the development of new policies, according to the draft plan.

Funding where it’s needed most

As a condition of the grant, Louisiana will be required to invest at least 50% of received funding in flood mitigation for 10 parishes that historically face the most severe damages from heavy storms. They include:

• Acadia;
• Ascension;
• East Baton Rouge;
• Lafayette;
• Livingston;
• Ouachita;
• Tammany;
• Tangipahoa;
• Vermilion; and
• Washington.

One place to start in these communities, according to the plan, is to establish watershed monitoring infrastructure that can provide real-time, high-quality hydrologic data to inform site-specific interventions. The data, along with greater collaboration between communities that share watersheds, can help support a statewide public education and outreach campaign and demand for green infrastructure.

The funding originates from HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Program, an initiative that focuses on building resilience in at-risk communities. As Louisiana prepares to receive its grant, similar efforts are underway in California, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia. All told, HUD will allocate nearly $7 billion during its latest round of Community Development Block grants to support flood-protection efforts.

Learn more about the Louisiana Watershed Initiative at its website.

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