Largest construction project since Metro will eliminate sewage, stormwater pollution in Washington, D.C.

A $2.6 billion project in Washington, D.C., will nearly eliminate combined sewer overflows (CSOs) to Rock Creek and the Anacostia and Potomac rivers, helping to improve the Chesapeake Bay’s health.

The Clean Rivers Project, led by the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water), is the largest construction project in the District since Metro was built.

Combined sewer overflows occur during heavy rainstorms, when the mixture of sewage and stormwater cannot fit in the sewer pipes and overflows to the nearest water body. CSOs direct about 2.5 billion gallons of sewage and stormwater into Rock Creek and the Anacostia and Potomac rivers in an average year.

The Clean Rivers Project consists of massive underground tunnels to store the combined sewage during rainstorms, releasing it to the Blue Plains wastewater treatment plant after the storms subside. The first, and largest, tunnel system will serve the Anacostia River.

Visit DC Water’s website for more information about the Clean Rivers Project.

Image courtesy Daniel Lobo/Flickr

New standards for Washington, D.C., redevelopment will reduce polluted runoff to Anacostia, Potomac rivers and Chesapeake Bay

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved new standards to control polluted stormwater runoff from roads, buildings and other developed areas in Washington, D.C.

The District’s renewed municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permit requires that redevelopment projects in the city install runoff-reducing practices to slow the flow of polluted stormwater to the Anacostia and Potomac rivers and the Chesapeake Bay.

The required practices include:

• Requiring a minimum of 350,000 square feet of green roofs on properties across the city
• Planting at least 4,150 trees each year and developing a green landscaping incentives program
• Retaining 1.2 inches of stormwater on site from a 24-hour storm for all development projects of at least 5,000 square feet
• Developing a stormwater retrofit strategy and implementing retrofits over 18 million square feet of drainage areas
• Developing consolidated implementation plans for restoring the Anacostia and Potomac rivers, Rock Creek and the Chesapeake Bay
• Preventing more than 103,000 pounds of trash from being discharged to the Anacostia River each year

Roads, rooftops, parking lots and other hard surfaces channel stormwater directly into local rivers and streams, carrying pollution and eroding streambanks. The renewed permit will help the District in meeting its Bay pollution reduction goals and Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP).

Visit the EPA’s website to learn more about the new stormwater permit and standards.

What did 2011 weather conditions mean for the Chesapeake Bay?

Hurricanes, earthquakes, a freezing cold winter and a blistering hot summer – 2011 has been an interesting year for weather in the Chesapeake Bay region. Scientists with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center have written some preliminary thoughts about the bizarre weather and its link to conditions in the Bay in a post on SERC’s blog, Shorelines.

While SERC tends to focus on the long-term picture rather than brief snapshots, this year has prompted more than a few raised eyebrows among our scientists. What does it mean for the environment? What does it mean for Chesapeake Bay? And can any of it be linked to climate change?

Visit SERC’s blog to read more about the link between 2011 weather and the Chesapeake Bay.

Image courtesy Iris Goldstein/Flickr

More Than $10 Million Awarded to Help Protect and Restore Wetlands, Forests and Waterways

The Chesapeake Bay Program and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation have awarded $10.9 million in grants to 55 environmental projects in Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Collectively, the projects will preserve 3,729 acres of land, restore 32 miles of forest buffers and stream banks, and install runoff-reducing practices on 2,878 acres.

The funding was awarded through the Small Watershed Grants Program and the Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants Program. Both are part of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund.

The Small Watershed Grants Program provides grants to organizations and municipal governments that are working to improve the condition of their local watershed through on-the-ground restoration, habitat conservation and community engagement. The program, funded by a combination of public agencies and private support, awarded $2.8 million to 37 projects. Grant recipients provided an additional $4.4 million in matching funds.

This year’s Small Watershed Grant projects are expected to involve 8,645 volunteers and engage 2,228 landowners in conservation and restoration practices. Many recipients will reduce polluted runoff through techniques such as rain gardens, as well as through outreach and marketing initiatives that promote sustainable landscaping practices.

Recipients of this year’s Small Watershed Grants include:

• Lands and Waters (Va.), which will work with local schools to conduct hands-on schoolyard conservation projects that will promote student stewardship while helping Fairfax meet its TMDL requirements.
• The Pennsylvania Institute for Conservation Education’s Master Naturalist Program, which will educate and train citizens to be leaders in protecting, restoring, monitoring and conserving natural resources in their communities.
• The Tioga County Soil and Water Conservation District (N.Y.), which will develop a berm removal program in partnership with local highway departments in effort to restore 8,000 feet of streamside forests.

The Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants Program provides grants to innovative and cost-effective projects that dramatically reduce or eliminate nutrient and sediment pollution into local waterways and the Bay. The program, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, awarded $8.2 million to 19 projects. Grant recipients provided an additional $11.7 million in matching funds. This year’s projects are expected to prevent 600,000 tons of sediment, two million pounds of nitrogen and 700,000 pounds of phosphorus from entering the Bay.

Recipients of this year’s Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants include:

• The Elizabeth River Project (Va.), which will expand its behavior change program to inspire at least 500 homeowners to reduce fertilizer use, harvest rain and install rain gardens on their properties.
• Frederick County’s (Md.) Neighborhood Green program, which will convert 50 acres of turf into upland and streamside forest and remove 35 acres of invasive species.
• Washington D.C.’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, which will convert fire station roofs into model stormwater management systems that will capture stormwater, treat it and reuse a portion in daily operations.

Through these grants, diverse agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Natural Resources Conservation Service are able to pool resources with corporate sponsors like Altria, Wal-Mart and FedEx to increase the impact any one of them could have alone, according to Tom Kelsch, vice president of conservation programs at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Since 2000, the Small Watershed Grants Program has provided more than $29 million to support 663 projects in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These projects have leveraged close to $95 million in local matching funds for a total investment of more than $125 million toward on-the-ground restoration.

Since 2007, the Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grant Program has provided $26.8 million to 54 projects that reduce the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

For more information, visit www.nfwf.org/chesapeake.