The Freshwater Challenge calls on governments to fast-track remediation efforts targeting the Earth’s impaired rivers, lakes, and wetlands through the remainder of this decade. By 2030, Freshwater Challenge participants aim to restore at least 300,000 km (186,000 mi) of polluted rivers and 350 million ha (865 million ac) of degraded wetlands worldwide. The initiative compels leaders in each participating country to develop clear, realistic, and time-bound action plans to restore freshwater resources within their borders.

The Freshwater Challenge complements similar UN-backed environmental pledges with a 2030 deadline, each part of a broader campaign called the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Previously agreed-upon goals include taking major steps to halt human contributions to biodiversity loss and restoring at least 1 billion ha (2.4 billion ac) of impaired land habitats.

“Healthy rivers, lakes, and wetlands underpin our societies and economies, yet they are routinely undervalued and overlooked,” said United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Inger Andersen in a release following the UN Water Conference in New York. “While countries have pledged to restore one billion hectares of land, the Freshwater Challenge is a critical first step in bringing a much-needed focus on freshwater ecosystems.”

Collaboration on Restoration

Under Freshwater Challenge terms, representatives of participating countries will revisit domestic policies to facilitate the design and implementation of large-scale freshwater restoration efforts. Working alongside regional and local jurisdictions, nonprofit groups, indigenous peoples, and other stakeholders, representatives will prioritize bodies of freshwater for expedited restoration efforts and ensure that proper funding mechanisms support these efforts.

Participating nations will reconvene later this year to report their findings and create a worldwide implementation plan. This plan, which will define specific restoration targets for each country, is due for release in March 2024, according to UNEP.

The Freshwater Challenge was proposed jointly by a coalition of six countries: Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Gabon, Mexico, and Zambia. During the UN Water Conference, representatives from Canada, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, and the U.S. provided statements in support of the resolution. International coordinating partners behind the Freshwater Challenge include UNEP, the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (Gland, Switzerland), the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (Gland, Switzerland), the World Wildlife Fund (Washington, D.C.), The Nature Conservancy (Arlington, Virginia), Wetlands International (Wageningen, The Netherlands), and AB InBev (Leuven, Belgium).

“Protecting and restoring wetlands is a critical global priority — for the water we need, to tackle climate change and buffer extreme events, and to halt and reverse biodiversity loss,” said Musonda Mumba, Secretary-General for the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, in a release. “The Freshwater Challenge will help catalyze broad-based action and give effect to our common global goals.”

Visit the UN website to watch the announcement of the Freshwater Challenge during the UN Water Conference.

A Worldwide Freshwater Crisis

The Freshwater Challenge aims to address a worrisome, worldwide trend of deterioration in freshwater bodies that has become especially pronounced within the last 50 years.

The World Wildlife Fund estimates that rampant pollution, intensified by the effects of climate change, has led freshwater ecosystems to experience loss of biodiversity about twice as quickly as have terrestrial and marine biomes. Today, the world’s lakes, rivers, and wetlands contain just under one-fifth of the healthy freshwater vertebrate communities they harbored in 1970.

“The clearest sign of the damage we have done — and are still doing — to our rivers, lakes, and wetlands is the staggering 83% collapse in freshwater species populations since 1970,” said Stuart Orr, Freshwater Lead for World Wildlife Fund International, in a release. “The Freshwater Challenge puts the right goals and frameworks in place to turn this around — benefitting not only nature but also people across the world.”

Wetlands have perhaps been hit the hardest. These vital ecosystems cover only about 6% of the Earth’s land surface yet provide a habitat for approximately 40% of the planet’s wildlife species, according to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Wetlands significantly enhance resilience against coastal flooding and the effects of climate change, sequestering carbon up to 55 times faster than tropical rainforests and making coastal communities less susceptible to sea-level rise. Since 1970, about 35% of the world’s wetlands have been lost — disappearing about three times faster than forests.

Rivers, too, are facing a health crisis. Susceptible to widespread nutrient pollution that has worsened with climate change as well as plastic pollution, industrial waste discharges, the spread of invasive species, and other threats, the UN considers rivers and lakes the “most degraded ecosystems in the world.” Further, the effects of dams, reservoirs, and other engineered structures have greatly impaired natural river functions — a 2019 study by a team of 34 international researchers, for example, found that only one-third of the world’s largest rivers remain free-flowing.

Top image courtesy of U.S. Department of State

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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 Largest-Ever Freshwater Restoration Campaign Launched at UN Water Conference appeared first on Stormwater Report.

As part of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act signed into law on Dec. 29, 2022, legislators provided $10.1 billion in funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — nearly $600 million more than they received for the previous fiscal year. Much of that additional funding will enable EPA to carry out new programs authorized in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Among these provisions, the IIJA tasks EPA with designating between three and five Centers of Excellence for Stormwater Infrastructure Technologies (CESITs). While the latest round of appropriations did not fund every stormwater program authorized in the IIJA, the new influx will enable EPA to begin the process of identifying CESIT candidates.

The Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Virginia), in cooperation with the National Municipal Stormwater Alliance (NMSA; Alexandria, Virginia), had frequently called for the establishment of centers of excellence for stormwater in its annual Stormwater Policy Recommendations to Congress document. 

“On behalf of WEF and NMSA, we thank Congress for creating and funding the new CESIT program,” said Walt Marlowe, WEF Executive Director. “We will now work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and stakeholders to ensure that the CESITs and other federal stormwater resources help communities address their stormwater management needs.”

Excellence in Infrastructure Innovation

The $3 million allocation to the CESIT initiative, although short of the $5 million provisioned in the IIJA for the 2023 fiscal year, will support a forthcoming EPA grant program focused on identifying universities and nonprofit organizations to serve as CESITs.

According to IIJA language, successful CESIT applicants will “have demonstrated excellence in researching and developing new and emerging stormwater technologies.” For nonprofit organizations, water management must be a core focus of their stated missions. The measure also directs EPA to select CESITs that represent a range of different geographical regions and contexts.

Once selected, CESITs will work alongside each other as well as with governments, utilities, and other universities and nonprofit groups to coordinate specific types of research into stormwater infrastructure. These include, for example, new ways to prevent combined sewer overflows (CSOs), improvement of runoff water quality, identifying alternative approaches to funding and financing, and highlighting opportunities to align stormwater management priorities with those of other environmental, social, or economic programs.

A key CESIT function will be to analyze, assess, and benchmark the efficacy of new types of stormwater infrastructure against other alternatives. Findings from these ongoing inquiries will be publicly available online in a platform to be cooperatively developed and managed by the CESITs. Additionally, they will make recommendations to the federal government about future investments in the U.S. stormwater sector and provide technical assistance on optimizing stormwater infrastructure to governments and utilities who request it, IIJA language stipulates.

“The stormwater sector is extremely data-poor, especially regarding the performance of new and emerging technologies,” said Seth Brown, Executive Director of the National Municipal Stormwater Alliance. “These centers have the potential to bridge the gap between research and application in our sector through support of technology-focused initiatives.”

Winners and Losers in FY2023

In addition to funding the CESIT program, the appropriations package for fiscal year 2023 also provides financial support for various other stormwater efforts authorized in the IIJA. Several IIJA programs, however, did not receive appropriations for the coming year.

EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program, which provides long-term, low-cost loans to help subsidize regional water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure projects, received $68 million in appropriations. This amount significantly exceeds the $50 million in annual funding allocated to the program through the IIJA.

EPA’s new Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grants program, although earmarked by the IIJA for $280 million in appropriations for 2023, will receive $50 million in startup funding. The new program will award grants to infrastructure projects targeting CSOs as well as runoff capture and use.

Other IIJA-backed stormwater programs did not receive funding for fiscal year 2023, such as:

• a new competitive grant program that would support water, wastewater, and stormwater reuse projects, approved in the IIJA to receive $25 million per year;
• a resilience and sustainability-focused grant program, also stipulated in the IIJA to receive $25 million per year, which is no longer applicable to stormwater projects; and
• a $10 million-per-year grant program to support municipal stormwater infrastructure planning and implementation, which went unfunded.

WEF and NMSA will continue to advocate for these and other programs that aim to advance the U.S. stormwater sector in hopes that they will receive funding during the fiscal year 2024 appropriations process. To participate, register to attend the 2023 National Water Policy Fly-In, which will take place April 25-26 in Washington, D.C. During this annual event, co-hosted by WEF, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (Washington, D.C.), the WateReuse Association (Alexandria, Virginia), and the Water Research Foundation (Alexandria, Virginia), water professionals meet with legislative staff to discuss water-sector policy priorities.

Top image courtesy of Francine Sreca/Pixabay

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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 Appropriations Set Stage for Stormwater Centers of Excellence appeared first on Stormwater Report.

The reports, announced in November during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 27^th Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, respond to a call from President Biden earlier this year to identify opportunities to expand the use of nature-based solutions across the federal government and beyond. They include the Nature-Based Solutions Roadmap, which presents a five-point plan to better facilitate the use of nature-based solutions via federal spending protocols, as well as the Nature-Based Solutions Resource Guide, which provides examples of ways federal agencies have used nature-based solutions to achieve various goals. Both reports were authored by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, in collaboration with federal agencies.

“There is often an assumption that tackling the climate crisis requires only technological solutions or that ‘innovation’ means ‘technology,’” authors of the Nature-Based Solutions Roadmap write. “This report presents compelling evidence that nature-based solutions are innovative, and that they are highly complementary to necessary technological solutions. Nature-based solutions and technology can be powerful allies. Indeed, the climate crisis demands that we deploy all available, proven, science- and evidence-based solutions.”

Roadmap Toward Resilience

According to the Nature-Based Solutions Roadmap, researchers estimate that properly designed and maintained nature-based solutions have the potential to provide more than one-third of the climate change mitigation needed to stabilize warming in the U.S. to below 2° C (3.6° F) by 2100 and would do so at a lower cost than conventional approaches. Unlocking the full potential of nature-based solutions, according to the report, will require a combination of policy, funding, and research, as well as growing the nature-based workforce and highlighting successful demonstration projects.

Despite their varied functions and focuses, authors broadly advise federal agencies to update internal policies as well as external guidance to create additional flexibility for nature-based solutions. This is particularly important in the case of permitting processes, agency review methods, and project cost-share requirements, all of which may exclude nature-based solutions as acceptable options to achieve a specified goal. The White House Office of Management and Budget, for example, is currently reviewing its guidance on benefit-cost analyses to help federal agencies more accurately quantify the value of nature-based solutions in regulatory decisions, the guide describes.

By extending eligibility for nature-based solutions into new and existing grant and incentive programs, report authors describe that federal agencies can enable states, municipalities, and nonprofit groups to view nature-based solutions as a more desirable option. Some federal agencies are also pioneering public innovation challenges as well as innovative financing models to spur adoption of nature-based solutions within the private sector, authors write.

Many agencies maintain large amounts of federally owned land, which creates an opportunity to demonstrate the possibilities of what nature-based solutions can achieve for other landowners. According to the roadmap, construction standards for federal facilities should specifically require the use of nature-based solutions wherever possible. Agencies should also lead efforts to perform research on best practices for measuring and verifying the long-term performance of nature-based solutions on federal property in order to build private-sector confidence that these projects are effective. The U.S. Department of Defense, which owns approximately 11 million ha (27 million ac) of land, is currently developing policies to prioritize nature-based solutions on U.S. military installations as well as implement long-term performance monitoring strategies, for example.

Read the full, 44-page Nature-Based Solutions Roadmap for more details on the U.S. federal government’s strategy.

Demonstrating Natural Potential

The Nature-Based Solutions Resource Guide contains several examples of how federal projects have mobilized nature to improve stormwater management and discourage flooding. In addition to profiles of 30 government-led, nature-based solutions by various offices and agencies, the guide also compiles more than 175 links to resources, tools, guidance, and technical assistance from federal sources on ways to make the most of natural landscapes and green infrastructure.

In New Orleans, for example, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided a grant that funded the construction of an innovative “stormwater park” in a neighborhood located entirely below sea level. Known as the Mirabeau Water Garden, the park features expansive bioretention measures that capture, measure, and store stormwater while also addressing chronic land subsidence issues. The project, estimated to reduce damages from a 10-year storm event by as much as 40%, reduces flood damages by a value equal to at least twice the amount of capital invested by FEMA while also improving the quality of life of neighborhood residents, according to the guide.

For a decade, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has managed a unique innovation challenge targeting college students. The annual Campus RainWorks Challenge tasks teams of students to design green infrastructure interventions that aim to solve stormwater management challenges on their specific college campuses in the form of either small-scale demonstration projects or far-reaching master plans. According to the guide, more than 800 teams originating from more than 270 U.S. colleges and universities have taken on the Campus RainWorks Challenge to date, resulting in a growing collection of nature-based stormwater projects while providing valuable real-world experience to the burgeoning green infrastructure workforce.

Get more examples of federal efforts to champion nature-based solutions in the 43-page Nature-Based Solutions Resource Guide.             

Top image courtesy of U.S. National Archives

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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 White House Releases Plan to Scale Up Nature-Based Solutions Nationwide appeared first on Stormwater Report.

The controversy stems from CRW’s City Beautiful H2O stormwater program, which charges a fee to all mixed-used residential and non-residential property owners based on the amount of impervious area on the land they own. The State of Pennsylvania owns more than 40% of real estate in Harrisburg but is refusing to pay the fees they have been charged, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association (Wrightsville, Pennsylvania) Executive Director Ted Evgeniadis wrote in a January letter to the Pennsylvania Senate.

A History of Disagreement

The City Beautiful H2O program was created to help fund Harrisburg’s $315 million Long-Term Control Plan, a set of state-mandated investments to alleviate long-standing sewer overflow issues and repair aging stormwater infrastructure. According to the program’s website, CRW expected City Beautiful H2O to generate approximately $170 million toward fulfilling the requirements of the city’s Long-Term Control Plan.

However, since its properties were assessed impervious area charges when the program began in October 2020, Evgeniadis says the state never collected or paid its expected $32,246 in monthly fees. That does not mean, however, that the state has turned a blind eye to sewer overflow alleviation in Harrisburg.

“The state is not contributing any grants or paying any fees toward fixing the problem,” Evgeniadis wrote in an open testimony to the Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, “but the board of PENNVEST, the Pennsylvania state infrastructure investment authority controlled by the governor, has approved a total of $95 million in loans since 2020 to help Harrisburg CRW address the CSO issue.”

Although those loans cover approximately 30% of the funds necessary to satisfy the conditions of the city’s Long-Term Control Plan, Evgeniadis cautioned that they come with a catch.

“It should be noted that Harrisburg’s mostly lower-income residents will be burdened with having to pay back all of these state loans through potential increases in their water and sewer rates,” he wrote. “In the end, local city ratepayers will have to pay all of these state loans back, so it won’t cost the state anything in the end, although the state owns large portions of real estate in Harrisburg.”

Hearing Dissonance

The state argues that legally, City Beautiful H2O payments are not fees, but taxes, and therefore that CRW has no authority to assess taxes on their properties. But most tax-exempt Harrisburg property-owners – including churches, public schools, the federal government, various non-profits, and the City of Harrisburg itself – have paid their impervious area charges. CRW argues that if the charges were taxes, then tax-exempt organizations would not pay them.

“The state’s failure to acknowledge its role is confounding and without merit,” said CRW CEO Charlotte Katzenmoyer in a January 26 Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee hearing on the issue. “The state contends it has no obligation to pay its fees…unlike other water and sewer fees charged to their Harrisburg properties.”

Katzenmoyer strongly disputed the state’s claims in the hearing, bluntly telling the committee: “We disagree.”

“Taxes finance general government operations,” she added. “A fee is distinctly limited to the cost of the specific service and must be reasonably proportional to the charge. Most of our stormwater infrastructure in Harrisburg is over 80 years old, and most [of it] needs to be repaired or replaced. These fees were charged for specific stormwater projects.”

Pennsylvania government representatives also said that the municipal utility should not even charge state properties standard stormwater management fees, since these properties are already subject to strict stormwater controls under separate regulations. That is also the same reason Hawaii state officials gave when requesting an exemption from a similar stormwater fee program.

Citing multiple rulings in state case law on similar issues, Katzenmoyer argued that CRW had full legal rights to charge the state’s properties. She presented her testimony alongside Harrisburg resident and engineer Marc Kurowski and five other Pennsylvanian stormwater authorities facing state nonpayment.

“Interestingly – or ironically – the Commonwealth did not take issue with paying for stormwater-related expenses in the past when these costs were included in the sewer rates,” said Kurowski, currently working as a consultant for CRW. “It’s only now that the Commonwealth is refusing to pay.

The state did not provide any testimony. The Committee was largely sympathetic toward the testifiers; Senator Elder Vogel Jr. laughed out loud when he heard the state wasn’t paying stormwater fees at its more than 93,000-m² (1,000,000-ft²) Farm Show Complex and Expo Center, which has multiple sprawling, impervious parking lots.

Committee Chairman Senator Gene Yaw expressed concern for how underinvestment in stormwater infrastructure could amplify the effects of climate change, which is expected to bring more frequent and intense rainfall to Pennsylvania.

“The optics of this for the Commonwealth are horrible,” he added. “We need to hold the Commonwealth – ourselves – accountable for this.”

At press time, the state still had not paid any of its stormwater obligations under the City Beautiful H2O program.

The Payment Drought

Kurowski said during the hearing that the City Beautiful H2O program was especially popular with the one-third of Harrisburg residents living in poverty, who were previously paying roughly double the stormwater costs for which they are now responsible under the impervious area charge program.

“They’re not happy about this situation,” he said in his testimony. “The state’s refusal to pay means that fee has to be covered by other members of the community, including residential ratepayers and commercial business owners. Other tax-exempt organizations like churches and the Harrisburg School District are stepping up to meet their obligations, and they want to know why the Commonwealth is not.”

“Article I, Section 27 of our state constitution says that we have a right to clean air and clean water,” added Evgeniadis in his testimony, referencing the Pennsylvania Constitution’s status as the strongest of just five state constitutions with environmental rights amendments. “Every Pennsylvanian deserves that right, but right now the public trust is not being held up to its responsibilities.”

Learn more about the City Beautiful H2O program at the Capitol Region Water website. Read Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association Executive Director Ted Evgeniadis’s full letter to the Pennsylvania Senate.

Top image courtesy of Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Will Fowler is a staff member of the Water Environment Federation (WEF). He mainly writes for Water Environment & Technology magazine and additionally contributes to WEF’s online publications. Contact him at wfowler@wef.org.

The post State Stormwater Fee Exemption Debate Continues in Pennsylvania appeared first on Stormwater Report.

Despite uncertainty about the package’s next steps before being signed into law, legislators from both bodies of Congress have indicated a desire to finalize the measure’s terms by mid-September, when funding from previous legislation focused on transportation infrastructure is set to expires.

“Both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives versions of the major infrastructure package contain comprehensive – and long-overdue – funding and policy provisions for the stormwater sector,” said Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Virginia) Legislative Director Steve Dye. “WEF is pleased that increased funding and attention for stormwater infrastructure appears to be a bipartisan priority and looks forward to working with our partners to maximize the impact of this legislation.”

Centers of Excellence

The Senate version of the bill contains language that would provide $25 million over five years to identify and establish between three and five “centers of excellence” for stormwater-control innovation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would administer an application process for colleges and universities, research organizations, and nonprofit groups to become centers of excellence. These centers then would explore new types of stormwater management infrastructure, methods to improve existing designs, and strategies for financing and rate-setting, public outreach, and professional training.   

Additionally, the measure authorizes $10 million per year for these centers of excellence to implement construction projects that demonstrate the potential of new and emerging technologies for stormwater control. These grants, according to bill language, would award each individual project as much as $2.2 million for planning, design, and implementation, up to a maximum of 80% of its costs.

Reuse, Resilience, and Response

The bill allocates a combined $330 million per year to support new, EPA-managed grant programs aimed at exploiting stormwater runoff as a resource, improving infrastructure resilience, and promoting public safety during floods.

The first new grant program would support pilot projects that provide alternative water sources for municipal, industrial, and agricultural use, aiming to stimulate reuse applications for both wastewater and stormwater. It entails an annual $25 million to support projects focusing on groundwater recharge, potable reuse, or similar goals, according to the bill. An additional $25 million each year would support projects targeting increased resilience — both from the effects of climate change as well as other vulnerabilities, such as cybersecurity — at existing water treatment facilities.

With the effects of climate change prompting more frequent and intense flooding in many parts of the U.S., the package would also invest $280 million each year toward improving public notification systems during heavy storms and sewer overflows. According to the bill, at least 25% of this funding must be used to improve public safety in rural and financially distressed communities.

Addressing the Information Gap

The WEF Stormwater Institute earlier this year released the results of its second formal survey of U.S. stormwater organizations. These results, and the results from the first survey in 2018, help determine the resources organizations require to operate effectively. Results from both surveys underscored substantial funding needs, but also highlighted informational needs.

The Senate’s infrastructure package would address stormwater sector information gaps by establishing a competitive grant program to support new resources that facilitate data-sharing among water, wastewater, and stormwater management providers. The bill awards $15 million each year to state and local governments and describes that the measure intends to establish online data warehouses and new, interjurisdictional communication resources to reduce duplication of efforts and guide infrastructure planning decisions.

Additionally, the bill authorizes $5 million to enable EPA to conduct a Clean Watershed Needs Survey within the next two years, with directives to update the survey at least every four years. Following a similar methodology to WEF’s MS4 Needs Assessment Survey, the effort intends to provide a better understanding of the resources required by U.S. surface water professionals.

Read the full text of the Senate’s version of the infrastructure package, and visit the WEF website for details on the bill’s other water-sector provisions.

Top image courtesy of Architect of the Capitol

The post Major U.S. Infrastructure Package to Address Stormwater Sector Needs appeared first on Stormwater Report.

Randall Wakumoto, civil engineer for the City and County of Honolulu Department of Facility Maintenance (DFM), explained during a July 15 Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Virginia) Stormwater Institute webcast that although the new utility would address “one of the biggest threats to the island’s sustainability and resilience,” the proposition of a new fee has faced considerable opposition. For example, in February 2021, members of the Hawaii House of Representatives introduced a bill that would exempt all state-owned properties from any fees imposed by the new utility.

Proponents of the exemption described in written testimonials that state-owned properties, particularly airports and harbors owned by the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT), are already subject to an array of regulatory requirements for stormwater management and that an additional fee based on impervious space would be unnecessarily burdensome. Detractors, however, argued that exempting state-owned properties would place additional financial stress on Oahu’s residents, whose taxes currently make up roughly 75% of the City and County of Honolulu’s stormwater management budget. Financial documents from an advisory group driving the utility’s establishment state that residential properties own 85% of the island’s parcels, but only about 44% of its impervious area.

“The bill eventually died and was not passed during this year’s legislative session,” Wakumoto said. “However, it did shed some light on the subject of how a stormwater utility would affect various state properties, and what alternatives could be considered to allow for a working relationship to exist between the county and the state government.”

Already Strictly Regulated

Ensuing negotiations after the bill’s introduction prompted an amendment that would limit state-property exemptions only to those owned by HDOT, which would include the 1,830-hectare (4,520-acre) Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Honolulu Harbor, and other transit hubs. All told, financial documents from an advisory group driving the utility’s establishment state that their proposed fee would cost HDOT approximately $6 million each year, with the potential to shrink the charge by about 65% based on credits for implementing on-site stormwater management measures.

In a statement, HDOT Director Jade Butay called it “unjustifiable” for a county stormwater utility to charge the agency additional fees when its properties are already subject to strict regulatory requirements for runoff management set by the Hawaii Department of Health and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She emphasized that HDOT has spent “millions to upgrade its environmental compliance” in recent years.

During the webcast, Barnes & Thornburg (Indianapolis, Indiana) environmental attorney Jeff Longworth reiterated Butay’s points, outlining the high regulatory standards to which transportation facilities are already held.

“It’s important to understand that there’s probably not an airport in the country that does not have, at any given time, three different NPDES permits [to comply with],” Longworth said. These include industrial stormwater permits for areas used for vehicle and equipment maintenance, refueling, de-icing, and more, as well as permits for construction activity, and other facilities classified by EPA as Non-Traditional Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems. “That’s all regulated with the best available technologies and very strict controls to manage pollutants in those areas. The bottom line is that essentially all stormwater from most airports is going to meet Clean Water Act mandates.”

Equity and Fairness

During the bill’s public comment period, representatives of cities and counties on Oahu, environmental nonprofit leaders, residents, and other stakeholders voiced concerns that the idea of a fee exemption for state-owned properties would run counter to the goals of a regional approach to stormwater management.

Roger Babcock, City and County of Honolulu DFM director, noted that current stormwater management efforts on Oahu are largely coordinated by Honolulu’s taxpayer-funded municipal government. Because one of the key reasons to establish a stormwater utility is to mitigate the residential sector’s share of the cost burdens of stormwater management activities, Babcock wrote, exempting state-owned properties would be counterproductive.

Other letters suggested that exemptions of any kind, particularly for large landowners such as the state, would undermine Oahu’s broader efforts to prepare for climate change, improve water quality, and protect groundwater.

“There needs to be collective, aligned effort where everyone is in the canoe and all paddles are in,” wrote Roth Ecological Design (Honolulu) President Lauren C. Roth Venu. “The climate issues Hawaii will be facing require everyone to take part in the solution and we need to start now.”

According to the new utility’s advisory group, the first stormwater fees are expected to be issued in 2023, with state-owned properties included. However, other bills seeking fee exemptions may arise in coming legislative sessions before the utility’s official establishment.

Learn more about the Oahu stormwater utility effort at its website, and listen to a recording of the WEF webcast, “Stormwater Utilities: Impacts From Legislative Exemptions,” for additional perspectives.

Top image courtesy of Michelle Raponi/Pixabay

The post New Hawaii Stormwater Utility Sparks State Exemption Debate appeared first on Stormwater Report.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) hopes the law, which will restrict the use of Colorado River water for non-functional grass beginning in 2027, will chip away at the area’s outdoor, non-potable water use. It also aims to ensure Las Vegas Valley communities make more productive use of what little precipitation falls in the perennially drought-stricken region. The measure will affect properties only within the SNWA service area, and exempts lawns on single-family homes, in parks, and on golf courses, all of which are subject to other water-conservation-minded regulations.

“There’s a broad acceptance in southern Nevada that if we can take some grass out to preserve the water supply for our communities, then that’s something that we need to do,” Nevada Assemblyman Howard Watts III, who sponsored Assembly Bill 356, told the Associated Pressin June. “This sends a clear message about what other states need to be looking at in order to preserve water.”

By implementing the ban, SNWA estimates that it can drastically reduce demands on Lake Mead water reserves, saving approximately 40 L (11 gal) of water per person per day in a service area containing more than 2 million people.

Cutting Down on Consumption

SNWA estimates that its service area contains roughly 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of non-functional grass. Each year, that amount of land demands about 10% of SNWA’s annual water allocation from the Colorado River — about 45 billion L (12 billion gal) — for irrigation. The new legislation will prompt Las Vegas-area landowners to replace approximately 75% of this non-functional grass within the next few years.

As an alternative, the agency encourages the use of drought-tolerant desert plants, such as canopy trees, cacti, and flowering bushes. These plants, in addition to requiring far less water than grass, can provide various benefits typical to green infrastructure, such as mitigating urban heat-island effects and enhancing groundwater recharge. In applications such as rain gardens and bioswales, native plants also can support rainwater harvesting and discourage flooding during Nevada’s wet season. On its website, SNWA offers a comprehensive list of native alternatives to grass as well as a portal to connect local landowners with qualified landscapers.

“Replacing non-functional turf from southern Nevada will allow for more sustainable and efficient use of resources, build resiliency to climate change, and help ensure the community’s current and future water needs continue to be met,” said SNWA General Manager John Entsminger.

Crisis on the Colorado

SNWA estimates that existing infrastructure in its service area enables approximately 99% of the water its customers use indoors to be reused. But most water used outdoors — which accounts for about 60% of all consumption in the region — is lost to evaporation.

The grass ban attempts to chip away at these losses at a time when the region’s already scarce water supplies are poised to become even scarcer.

Water levels in Lake Mead, Nevada’s primary storage site for water allocations from the Colorado River, are approaching historic lows as most of southern Nevada contends with the most extreme drought category assigned by the U.S. Drought Monitor. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation predicts that Lake Mead water levels will not rebound to adequate levels until at least the end of 2022, which would force the agency to declare the first-ever Colorado River water-shortage declaration as early as this August.

Nevada, which already receives the lowest annual water allotment from the Colorado River of any U.S. state, would receive approximately 26.5 billion L (7 billion gal) fewer each year if a federal shortage were declared.

Watch the following video from SNWA about the non-functional grass ban:

Top image courtesy of jplenio/Pixabay

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Containing specific provisions to address plastic debris in stormwater runoff, SOS 2.0 intends to empower state and local governments to better manage plastics and microplastics in runoff. Microplastics in runoff are considered one of the most prevalent sources of U.S. marine-plastic pollution. In addition to addressing plastics in stormwater, wastewater, and drinking water, SOS 2.0 also subsidizes new grants, studies, and projects to identify reuse opportunities for environmentally hazardous discarded materials such as plastic packaging.

“Considering that an estimated 80 percent of ocean plastics are from land-based sources, it is clear that reducing trash and plastics in stormwater conveyance systems is an effective approach to reducing plastics in the aquatic environment,” said Seth Brown, executive director of the National Municipal Stormwater Alliance (Alexandria, Virginia). “The SOS 2.0 Act includes grants provided through the EPA Trash-Free Waters program specifically to promote trash/plastics reduction in stormwater systems.” 

Subsidizing Solutions

SOS 2.0 allocates $55 million per year through 2025 to a new Post-Consumer Materials Management Infrastructure Grant Program. The grants, administered by EPA, will enable state and local governments to implement new infrastructure and programs specifically tailored to preventing plastic pollution. According to law, grant applicants will have to demonstrate how subsidized projects will reduce plastic-waste generation and support quality of life in disadvantaged communities. The act also requires EPA by 2023 to make a recommendation to the U.S. Congress about whether to establish a new Waste Management State Revolving Fund similar to existing programs for drinking water and wastewater projects.

Additionally, SOS 2.0 directs a combined $30 million each year to support projects by individual utilities, local governments, and nonprofit organizations that enhance microplastic-treatment capabilities in wastewater, drinking water, and stormwater systems. For stormwater managers, this may include new infrastructure that captures plastics and microplastics at stormwater inlets and outfalls before they reach waterways.

SOS 2.0 also aims to capitalize on the talents of individual researchers and problem-solvers. It establishes a new, independent Marine Debris Foundation that will award up to $1 million every 2 years to outstanding technologies that can combat plastic pollution. The new award, known as the Genius Prize for Save Our Seas Innovations, could recognize, for example, new types of biodegradable plastic substitutes, new strategies for cleaning up marine debris, or ways to improve existing post-consumer waste management programs, act language describes.

Finally, the act authorizes funding for specific studies and pilot projects on such topics as

• reuse opportunities for post-consumer plastic waste,
• gathering more information about the threat of microfiber pollution, and
• incentives for U.S. anglers to collect and properly dispose of plastic debris found at sea.

A Global Issue

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (Gland, Switzerland), at least 8 million tons of non-biodegradable plastic waste enters the world’s ocean each year. This plastic adds up to the most prevalent type of marine debris by a wide margin.

SOS 2.0 represents the largest U.S. federal investment toward minimizing plastic-waste contributions to date. It builds on the 2006 Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act, which established the NOAA Marine Debris Program, as well as the original 2018 Save Our Seas Act, which enabled NOAA to declare marine-debris states of emergency that allow the use of federal funds for response and cleanup.

Internationally, several nations have implemented guidelines and targets for marine-debris reduction, but few contain mandatory requirements or binding regulations. For example, the United Nations Environment Programme has managed a Global Partnership on Marine Litter since 2012 that provides a forum for international environmental, industrial, and policy experts to share knowledge. However, the partnership does not mandate any specific actions to reduce plastic waste. Likewise, the European Union adopted a Marine Strategy Framework Directive in 2008 that sets country-by-country plastic-reduction targets, but does not impose penalties if targets are missed.

Because marine litter is by nature an international issue, SOS 2.0 also directs EPA, the U.S. State Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to explore new international partnerships focused on curbing the influx of post-consumer waste into the oceans.

Read the full text of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act on the U.S. Congress website.

Top image courtesy of flockine/Pixabay

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Aiming to provide greater clarity to permittees under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA; Washington, D.C.) has introduced a new Stormwater Permit Screening Program. Stormwater agencies can submit draft permits and regulatory action plans to NACWA experts for an independent, personalized review of their appropriateness and comprehensiveness.

“By participating in this program, stormwater utilities have an added tool to help with evaluating new or revised permit language,” explained NACWA Director of Regulatory Affairs Emily Remmel. “This individualized feedback is the first of its kind from a national association and will not only flag potentially impractical permit requirements, but also help permittees better understand options available during the permit issuance process.”

Expert Feedback

Because different stormwater authorities work within the context of different receiving waters, population sizes, climates, and other site-specific variables, NPDES municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permittees are rarely held to a one-size-fits-all regulatory standard. Instead, stormwater system managers must commit to treating stormwater to the “maximum extent practicable” for their communities. The permitting renewal and reissuance process helps both system owners and regulators agree upon measures considered practicable.

Participating in NACWA’s screening program can help stormwater agencies set clearer performance targets that are both achievable and likely to meet the standards of NPDES and the Clean Water Act.

NACWA enlisted AquaLaw PLC (Richmond, Virginia), a group of legal experts specializing in water rights and regulation, to help administer the program. Once stormwater agencies submit draft permit language as well as fill out a short checklist of priority issues, NACWA and AquaLaw experts scrutinize the permit with specific attention toward such themes as Impaired Waters status, applicable total maximum daily loads, and opportunities for water quality trading.

Quick Turnaround

The screening process ensures that MS4 permittees are considering the full range of regulatory factors when devising new permit language and provides a warning when potential requirements might be impractical to achieve. Best of all, the program promises rapid feedback to ensure users meet permitting deadlines, Remmel described.

“It is often the case with draft MS4 permits that there is a short turnaround for public comment, so it is helpful to know as soon as possible when draft language is available,” she said.

The City of Phoenix, Arizona, has already used the screening program to aid their development of both robust and practical stormwater management targets.

To participate, interested stormwater utilities should complete NACWA’s online screening checklist, gather any relevant fact sheets, and submit all materials to Remmel at eremmel@nacwa.org.

Get more information about the NACWA Stormwater Permit Screening Program at the organization’s website.

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To maintain compliance, MS4 permittees must not only fund and operate effective stormwater infrastructure, but also perform public outreach and year-round environmental monitoring. While information exists online to help guide success in each MS4 program area, the sector has lacked a centralized destination where MS4 permittees can easily locate information applicable to their specific needs.

In August, the National Municipal Stormwater Alliance (NMSA; Alexandria, Virginia) released the National MS4 Online Resource. The tool, funded by EPA and compiled by a team of stormwater experts from MS4 program managers, regulatory bodies, consultancies, and research groups, directs users to a host of reputable online sources that enable MS4 permittees to dive deep into specific topics and compliance strategies.

“Our observation is that there is a huge amount of accumulated insight and experience in the stormwater community, but so far, not a lot of places to go to get that information from stable sources,” described David Smith, assistant director of water for EPA Region 9 in an August 12 webcast about the new tool. “Our hope is that this resource provides a gathering point where we can share some of the great insights and experience that this community has developed in building and improving our stormwater programs around the country.”

Comprehensive Guidance

The National MS4 Online Resource features six focus areas, each broken down into several sub-topics, covering virtually every aspect of MS4 administration. In addition to a generalized, introductory section tailored to each of the MS4 program’s minimum control requirements called MS4 101, focus areas include Communications and Outreach, Funding, Operations, Program Goals and Management, and Water Quality Outcomes.

“This resource is definitely not your typical stormwater design manual,” said Randy Neprash, vice chair of NMSA. “The focus here is on MS4 programs: How to set them up well, how to improve them, and how to get them to be more effective and more efficient. There’s a real programmatic focus rather than stormwater design.”

Each focus area begins with a brief overview of the topic’s fundamental considerations, followed by a compilation of applicable research papers, published guidance from governments and regulators, and other resources. At the tool’s launch, it already contained links to more than 100 online resources. 

The resource does not impose any additional MS4 permit language or regulations, Smith stressed, but is instead intended to help permittees explore new ways to meet existing requirements.

Your Feedback Requested

NMSA is calling on users of the tool to help improve it, said NMSA executive director Seth Brown. The development team will make periodic updates to the National MS4 Online Resource to include new topics and sources in response to user feedback.

“We want to make sure that what we’re providing is something that’s useful to the sector. What we’re trying to do is focus on those things that are specifically useful and helpful for MS4 program managers and those who support MS4 programs,” Brown said.

Users can easily contribute to the tool by clicking on “Feedback” or “Submit A Resource” at the top of the National MS4 Online Resource page. NMSA will review and curate submitted sources to ensure their quality and relevance.

Explore the National MS4 Online Resource or listen to a webcast about the resource at the NMSA website.

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