Failing to Plan: The Clean Water Act Can’t Fix it All

1. Failing to Plan: The Clean WaterAct Can’t Fix it All Douglas “Dusty” Hall The Miami Conservancy District for Hey 19: Make Tomorrow a Wonderful Thing

2. The Miami Conservancy District • Great Flood of 1913 • Authorized under state statute – 1914 Ohio Conservancy Act • Governed by Conservancy Court • Broad authorities within watershed

3. Presentation Overview • Chapter 1: Water, Water Everywhere But… • Chapter 2: The Great Miami River Watershed • Chapter 3: “Patchwork” Management

4. What is a watershed? A watershed is all the land area that drains to a given body of water.

5. l The Water Cycle Graphic Courtesy of Press & Siever, 1998

6. Commercial Development Residential Development Water Treatment Plant

7. Water You can live without it… …but not for very long!

8. YourShare • Intake 2/3 of a gallon each day • 60% of body weight! 12½ gallons with a twist of lemon please!

9. Earth = over 74% covered Volume = 326 million miles³ Plentiful

10. Plentiful??? Percent

11. “Other” Percent

12. Whose water is it? • Justinian Institutes (533) “By the law of nature these things are common to mankind---the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea.” • English Law - Magna Charta (1215) • U.S. Supreme Court (1800s)

13. Recap – Chapter 1Water, Water Everywhere But… • The same water gets “used” over and over. • It’s easily polluted. • There is lots of it - but not much is readily available. • We can’t live without it. • It’s yours and mine.

14. Ohio’s Great MiamiRiver Watershed • 4,000 mi² / 15 counties • Dayton is largest city • Major tributaries: • Great Miami River • Stillwater River • Mad River • Wolf and Twin Creeks • 1.5 million residents

15. Buried Valley Aquifer • Underlies river system and many urban centers • Source for > 90% drinking water • High production • High permeability • High vulnerability • Significant exchange of surface and ground waters

16. GMR Watershed Snapshot • Headwaters primarily rural & agricultural • Urban near confluence & lower Great Miami River • > 70% of people live in urbanized areas • > 80% of land used for agriculture

17. Water Quality Impairment Ohio EPA - Stillwater River Phosphorus • Proposed reduction = 977K lbs./year • Agriculture is source of 90%

18. Recap - Chapter 2The Great Miami River Watershed • It’s big and covers all or parts of 15 Ohio counties. • Our drinking water source is under our feet. • Urban areas are mostly on the major rivers. • The watershed is dominated by agriculture. • Water quality relates to land use.

19. Who’s in Charge Here? Federal Government? State Government? Local Government?

20. Federal • Clean Water Act • Surface water • Zero discharge by 1985 • “Fishable and swimmable” by 1983

21. Are We Meeting the Goals? • Of our monitored streams: • Yes = 58.8% • Almost = 19.8% • No = 21.4%

22. Clean Water Act “The term "point source" means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including… This term does not include agricultural stormwater discharges…”

23. Counties § 303.21. Powers not conferred by chapter.(A)  Except as otherwise provided in division (B) of this section, sections 303.01 to 303.25 of the Revised Code do not confer any power on any county rural zoning commission, board of county commissioners, or board of zoning appeals to prohibit the use of any land for agricultural purposes or the construction or use of buildings or structures incident to the use for agricultural purposes of the land on which such buildings or structures are located, and no zoning certificate shall be required for any such building or structure. 

24. Townships • § 519.21. Powers not conferred by chapter.  (A)  Except as otherwise provided in division (B) of this section, sections 519.02 to 519.25 of the Revised Code confer no power on any township zoning commission, board of township trustees, or board of zoning appeals to prohibit the use of any land for agricultural purposes or the construction or use of buildings or structures incident to the use for agricultural purposes of the land…, and no zoning certificate shall be required for any such building or structure. 

25. County & Township Zoning Regulation of Agriculture

26. Incentive-Based Strategies • “Farm Bill” Conservation Programs • 1935 Soil Conservation Act • 1956 Soil Bank • 1970 Water Bank • 1985 Full title devoted to conservation programs • 1990s CRP & EQIP • 2002 EQIP at $1.3 billion (CSP added) • More Incentives Needed!

27. Water Quality Credit Trading • Wastewater treatment plants facing increased compliance costs meet their requirements for pollutant reductions by investing in more cost-effective agricultural projects that produce better environmental results in the same watershed.

28. Nutrient Reduction Costs • Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) can reduce phosphorus and other nutrients with $$$$ treatment • Agricultural producers can reduce phosphorus and other nutrients for a fraction of the cost

29. Water Quality Credit Trading County SWCDs

30. All trades upstream Project validation Trading ratios Insurance pool Data collection Adaptive implementation Trading Program Strategies

31. Ancillary EnvironmentalBenefits

32. Ancillary Pollutant Reduction Estimated* Impact of Trading Ratios *Kieser & Associates, 2004

33. Trading Market Study Preliminary Economic Analysis of Water Quality Trading Opportunities in the Great Miami River Watershed, Ohio Prepared by: Kieser & Associates 536 E. Michigan Ave., Suite 300 Kalamazoo, Michigan 49007

34. 20-Year Trading Economics • WWTP upgrades = $422.5 million • Trading = $46.5 million • Ag. practices $37.8 million • Data, admin., etc. $8.7 million • Citizens save $376 million! Meeting Nutrient Criteria Discharge Limits

35. Key Partners • Wastewater Treatment Plants • United States Department of Agriculture • Soil and Water Conservation Districts • Ohio Farm Bureau Federation • Ohio Department of Natural Resources • Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce • Community-based subwatershed groups

36. Migration from Large Cities From Growth and Change at the Urban-Rural Interface, OSU, 2003

37. Ohio’s Changing Landscape • Population of large and small metropolitan counties peaked in 1970 • Population of fringe counties of large metro areas grew more than 500,000 between 1970 and 2000 Photo from WOSU –”View from Malabar”

38. Central to Decentralized Systems

39. More than a million HSTSs in Ohio* More than one out of four new homes will use HSTSs* Less than 7% of Ohio’s soils are suitable for traditional HSTSs** Failure rate estimate is 25% = 900,000 gallons per day* Moving to the “Country” *Ohio Department of Health **OSU Extension

40. Moving to the “Country”

41. Excuse Me???????

42. “Truly Tasteless”

43. Exurban Land Use Planning • “Ohio counties and townships have a somewhat limited ability to handle the population and land use changes…” (OSU, 2003) • Health district staff may act as de facto planners when approving/disapproving HSTSs

44. Household Sewage Treatment Systems • HB 231 Signed by Governor in February • New rules • Soil types • Drainage • Hydrogeology • Promote coordination

45. 40% evaporation 30% evaporation 55% runoff 10% runoff 25% shallow infiltration 10% shallow infiltration 25% deep infiltration 5% deep infiltration Development vs. Water Cycle Natural Ground Cover 75% - 100% Impervious Cover

46. Coming Up Next

47. Dayton Well Field Protection Area • Drinking water production areas built out with industry • More than 600 businesses with over 140 million pounds of hazardous substances • Multiple jurisdictions

48. Education Funding for easements Funding for projects Emergency response Monitoring and enforcement Inventory and spill reporting Land use controls Comprehensive Local Strategy

49. Recap - Chapter 3“Patchwork” Management • Federal laws won’t solve local challenges. • State laws won’t solve local challenges. • Market-based incentives are vital. • We’re building tomorrow’s problems today. • Creative and cooperative solutions work.

50. It’s OUR Future! • Should water resources be a priority in planning processes? • How can planning processes address water resources that extend across many jurisdictions? • Are comprehensive/integrated approaches to water resources management possible in the absence of an overarching set of rules or regulations? • Can planning bridge the gap between water science and and the water resources management strategies based on zoning techniques?