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Tonight’s Outline

Howard County, MD Phase II Watershed Implementation Plan October 6, 2011 Howard Saltzman Howard County Department of Public Works. Tonight’s Outline. What is a TMDL and why is it important? What is a Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP)? Why is it needed? What are the WIP goals?

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Tonight’s Outline

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  1. Howard County, MD Phase II Watershed Implementation PlanOctober 6, 2011Howard SaltzmanHoward County Department of Public Works

  2. Tonight’s Outline • What is a TMDL and why is it important? • What is a Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP)? • Why is it needed? • What are the WIP goals? • What is the WIP schedule? • How will the WIP be developed? • What happens after the WIP is written?

  3. What is a TMDL and why is it important? • TMDL = Total Maximum Daily Load • A TMDL is the maximum amount of pollution, that can be discharged to any given body of water and still allow it to meet water quality criteria. • A TMDL is often referred to as a “pollution diet” • Clean Water Act of 1972 requires to be set for all impaired water bodies

  4. So, what does that mean for tonight’s discussion? The water body, of particular concern tonight, is the Chesapeake Bay The pollutants in questions are Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sediment The water quality standards to be met include water clarity and dissolved oxygen – needed to allow aquatic plants, shellfish, and fish to thrive

  5. Benefits of Achieving the Bay TMDL • Achieving the Bay nutrient TMDLs will help maintain the Bay: • Recreational – boating, fishing , and tourism • Economic resource – commercial fishing, crabbing, oysters • Improvements in local water quality • Job creation (restoration projects)

  6. A little history…. • The first interstate agreement to restore the Chesapeake Bay was signed by Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC in 1983 • There have been additional agreements since 1983.

  7. More recently • The 2000 Bay Agreement said to meet water quality criteria by 2010, otherwise the Bay will be listed as an impaired water and a TMDL will be set • Progress has been made, but the Bay’s waters still do not meet water quality standards

  8. The result of not, yet, meeting Bay WQ standards • EPA and the States have agreed to a more regulatory approach that includes Baywide TMDLs for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment AND • Require Watershed Implementation Plans to meet those TMDLs • Including milestones and deadlines to measure progress

  9. TMDL and Initial WIP • EPA issued the initial Chesapeake Bay TMDL in December 2010 • Maryland Department of the Environment prepared the Phase I WIP for meeting the 2010 TMDL • Local governments have the opportunity to fine tune the plan as a Phase II WIP

  10. The Bay TMDL was determined from modeling • The model determines loads from each state in the Bay watershed based on land use, location, and best management practices (BMP) in place to reduce pollution in storm water runoff • More on BMPs in a few minutes

  11. And allocated to the Counties • The results of the model were further refined to provide pollutant load allocations by County and major contributing “sector” • The major sectors of concern are: • Agriculture • Urban stormwater • Septic systems • Wastewater treatment

  12. What are Howard County’s TMDLs

  13. Pollutant reduction • Within each sector nitrogen and phosphorus discharges can be reduced by application of various techniques commonly referred to as: Best Management Practices (BMP)

  14. Examples of BMPs • Agriculture • Fencing animals out of streams • Cover crops • More precise fertilizer applications • Manure management • And lots more…

  15. Wastewater treatment Upgrade treatment process to Enhanced Nutrient Removal (ENR) at Little Patuxent Water Reclamation Plant

  16. Examples of BMPs continued • Septic • Upgrade of existing septic systems to Best Available Technology designs • Connection of existing septic systems to ENR level wastewater treatment plants that provide better nutrient removal

  17. Examples of BMPs continued • Urban Stormwater Management • New and retrofit SWM ponds • Stream restoration • Impervious surface reduction • Tree planting • Street sweeping • Rain gardens

  18. Stream Restoration Before After

  19. Stormwater Management Pond Retrofit Before After

  20. How do we know what to do? • Maryland Assessment Scenario Tool (MAST) • A computer model developed by MDE • Allows input of percentage of land treated by various BMPs • Calculates nutrient loads delivered to the Chesapeake Bay from Howard County • Allows for an iterative process to develop one or more scenarios to meet the County’s TMDL allocation

  21. Watershed Implementation Plan Schedule • October 14, 2011 Draft WIP II Milestones to MDE • October 28, 2011 Draft Local WIP II inputs to MDE • November 18, 2011 Local WIP II Report Narrative to MDE • Mid-Dec 2011– Draft Statewide WIP II to EPA • March 2012 – Final Statewide WIP II to EPA

  22. Possible actions (through 2017) that will be included in the WIP II • Add urban BMPs to provide storm water management treatment of 20% of currently untreated impervious area • Approximately 9,000 acres • Approximately 2% of untreated acres completed last10 years • Upgrade 20% of the 15-20,000 septic systems in the County, • Particularly those within 1,000 feet of a perennial stream • Currently upgrade less than 10 septic systems per year

  23. Wastewater treatment and agriculture are closer to meeting their goals • Upgrade of Little Patuxent WWTP to ENR underway and will be completed in 2012

  24. Agriculture • Howard Soil Conservation District and MD Department of Agriculture are preparing the agricultural section of the WIP which will outline BMPs and nutrient management plans to be developed for farms

  25. When does all of this need to be completed? • EPA requires that measures needed to achieve 60% of the reductions be in place by 2020 • But, Maryland has decided to meet this goal by 2017 • All practices to be in place by 2025, but Maryland has agreed to do this by 2020

  26. What will all of this cost? • Construction costs are yet to be determined and are likely to be in the $300M to $800M range for urban storm water BMPs and septic system upgrades • The wastewater treatment plant ENR upgrade has already been funded at $35M • HSCD has existing programs and funding in place to meet the County’s agricultural TMDL allocation

  27. Where will the money come from? • Wastewater paid out of the Utility Fund supported by user fees and assessments • ENR upgrade also funded by grants from the MD Bay Restoration Fund • Agricultural BMPs are substantially funded through existing Federal and State cost sharing programs • Septic system upgrades in Howard County are not a priority for funding through the Bay Restoration Fund

  28. More money….. • Storm water management BMPs are funded by Howard County out of the general fund or bonds and by grants from MDE (which may include federal monies) • Feasibility of a storm water utility is being studied provide a steady and reliable funding source for implementing and maintaining SWM BMPs

  29. What’s Next? • Complete the County’s input to the Phase II WIP • MDE will compile all the County WIPs into a Draft Maryland Phase II WIP for submission to EPA in December 2011 • Maryland’s final WIP II will be submitted to EPA March 2012

  30. And after that…. • Implementation of the Phase II WIP proceeds • The WIP will include milestones for 2013 and 2015 to be compared to actual implementation progress • By 2017 a Phase III WIP will be developed to ensure the 2020 TMDL nutrient pollution limits are met

  31. Howard County’s WIP Team • Department of Public Works • Department of Planning and Zoning • Howard County Health Department • Howard Soil Conservation District • Howard County Public School System • Columbia Association

  32. Questions? • For further information contact Howard Saltzman 410-313-6416 Hsaltzman@HowardCountyMD.gov

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