Nonpoint Pollution | Success Stories | Urban | 2005

Urban Success Stories: Archives (2005)

Note: Highlighted projects are not necessarily funded by the Coastal Nonpoint Program nor do they necessarily represent projects that have been approved by NOAA and EPA to remove remaining conditions on state programs.

PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS

South Carolina Launches "Scoop the Poop" Campaign: The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management recently announced a new outreach campaign that encourages pet owners to "Scoop the Poop" and clean up after their pets. Coastal Nonpoint Program funds were used to produce a "Scoop the Poop" poster that has received attention from local television and print media as well as conservation groups. The poster features an amusing virtual 'line-up' of pet offenders and simple tips for pet owners to follow to keep their pet's waste from entering waterways and affecting coastal water quality. Pet waste has been identified as a significant source of fecal coliform bacteria that can cause shellfish bed closures and pose human health risks. In fact, cats and dogs in the Charleston area can produce over 10,000 pounds of waste each day. The poster educates pet owners that uncollected pet waste can wash directly into marshes and tidal creeks, or it can be washed into storm drains and go into waterways without prior treatment. OCRM is distributing these posters to local municipalities in Charleston County, Charleston County Parks and Recreation, veterinary clinics, and pet stores. For additional information, contact Marion Page.

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Massachusetts Promotes Improved Storm Water Management, LID, and Open Space: The Massachusetts Coastal Nonpoint Source Pollution Grant Program has recently supported several projects to help implement many of their urban management measures. The Massachusetts Audubon Society North Shore Advocacy Office received funding for outreach and implementation of a newly updated Open Space Residential Design (OSRD) bylaw/ordinance in three cities and towns in the Merrimack Valley region. This new OSRD model promotes low impact development (LID) land planning and site-design practices that simultaneously conserve and protect land and water resources, while reducing infrastructure costs. As a result of the project, the City of Newburyport, and the Towns of Georgetown and Salisbury adopted the new OSRD-LID model this spring.

Currently many communities in Massachusetts are unable to regulate storm water runoff outside of the state's wetland jurisdiction because they lack the local regulatory standards to do so. Therefore, to assist three communities along the South Shore improve their storm water management capabilities, the Coastal NPS Grant Program also funded their effort to jointly develop a Model Storm Water Bylaw. The Model Bylaw not only enables a more comprehensive approach to storm water management in these communities but also provides an incentive program to encourage LID, leaves a place holder for establishing a storm water utility fee, meets and exceeds the Massachusetts Stormwater Policy and Standards and attempts to fulfill EPA Phase II requirements for post-construction storm water management. Some of the ways the bylaw surpasses statewide storm water requirements include: (1) proposing a more stringent criteria for channel protection (attenuating the 24-hr extended detention storage of post-development runoff from a 1-yr, 24-hr storm event vs. controlling the peak discharge rate from a 2-yr storm event to the pre-development rate as required by the MA Stormwater Management Policy); (2) proposing more stringent criteria for extreme flooding protection (attenuating the peak discharge rate from the 100-yr, 24-hr storm event to the pre-development rate vs. evaluating the 100-yr, 24-hr storm event to demonstrate no increased off-site flooding impacts will occur); and (3) proposing more stringent criteria for structural practices to improve water quality (in addition to requiring control structures be designed to remove 80% of the average total suspended solids from post-development runoff, the practices must also be designed to remove 40% of the total phosphorous and 30% of the total nitrogen).

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Michigan Makes Land Use Planning a Priority: In Michigan, the interplay between land use planning, growth management, and environmental protection is moving into the spotlight, and the Michigan Coastal Management Program (MCMP) is one of several agencies in the state working to move it firmly to center stage. In 2003, Governor Granholm jumpstarted the effort by convening a bipartisan Michigan Land Use Leadership Council to address trends, causes, and consequences of unmanaged growth and development. The Council developed 150 recommendations, many of which are now state policy, including statutes providing for land bank establishment and multi-jurisdictional planning and zoning, and an executive order that directs siting of new state facilities to urban areas with existing infrastructure.

In supporting Governor's land use initiative, the MCMP is also working to implement its Coastal Nonpoint Program as many of the "smart growth" principles promoted through the Initiative relate directly to many of the CNP's urban, hydromodification, and wetland and riparian area management measures among others. For example, in 2003, the Program published the guidebook "Filling the Gaps: Environmental Protection Options for Local Governments" with the assistance of a NOAA Coastal Services Center Fellow and the Planning and Zoning Center, Inc. "Filling the Gaps," outlines Michigan natural resource protection statutes, points out the limitations of the state laws, and explains how locally-crafted master plans and zoning ordinances can increase protection of wetlands, riparian areas, high risk erosion areas and other sensitive environmental areas and reduce polluted runoff and why taking the above steps is important. The Guidebook also provides model ordinances and case studies of local governments that have adopted more protective ordinances. The guidebook is being used widely and the Coastal Program, in partnership with the Michigan Association of Planning, will deliver workshops on "Filling the Gaps" in 2006.

Over the years, the MCMP has also used 310, 306 and 309 funds to help numerous coastal communities update or develop land use plans and zoning ordinances to incorporate many of these smart growth principles. They have also been able to work with groups like the Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Townships Association to leverage funds for a large collaborative effort promoting planning across municipal borders to protect open space and sensitive ecosystems and encourage urban development and discourage sprawl. For more information contact Matt Smar.

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Pennsylvania Coastal Nonpoint Source Project Receives Recognition: The PA CZM and Growing Greener programs jointly funded a nonpoint source pollution control project in Lower Southampton Township, Bucks County. The project, entitled Sweetwater Farms In-Line Detention Basin Planting & Infiltration, was designed to reduce nonpoint source pollution from a residential development into Turkey Run, a tributary of the Neshaminy Creek. As part of the project, riparian buffers along storm water ponds adjacent to the Sweetwater Farms residential development in the township were designed and installed. Also, a 50-foot infiltration trench was developed and emplaced on the longest and steepest slope adjacent to the ponds to capture and treat high-velocity storm flows. Another mitigation step involved alternative mowing practices in order to allow the return of natural vegetation along the banks of the creek and the development's detention ponds. Local volunteers from the township accomplished most of the planting.

As evidence of the project's success, the landscape architect with the firm hired to carry out the project recently received the 'Planning and Analysis Merit Award' from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) for her work. She will be presenting the project at the North American Surface Water Quality Conference in Florida this July.

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Delaware's Coast-A-Syst Program Taking Off: To help homeowners throughout the state become better stewards of the coastal environment, especially coastal water quality, Delaware developed a Coast-A-Syst Program in 2002. The Program, modeled off of South Carolina's successful Coast-A-Syst Program and other national programs such as Farm-A-Syst and Home-A-Syst, is an extension program for rural, urban and suburban residents to show what they can do around their home and yard to protect coastal water quality. At the heart of the Coast-A-Syst Program is a booklet and series of self-assessments to help homeowners identify potential pollution sources and health risks on their property. Each of the seven chapters focuses on a different pollution source ranging from general information about watersheds and storm water runoff, to specific information about septic system siting and maintenance, landscaping, management of hazardous household products, and caring for boats and docks. The booklet addresses many elements of the Coastal Nonpoint Program measures including site design, existing development, on-site disposal systems and wetlands and riparian areas to name a few. Since its inception, the Delaware Coast-A-Syst Program has reached over 400 households. For additional information on Delaware's Coast-A-Syst Program contact Kim Cole.

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Wisconsin Supports Bacterial Source Tracking: As they do for saltwater environments, funds granted through EPA's BEACH Act support beach monitoring programs along Wisconsin's beaches. Two Wisconsin counties, Door and Manitowoc, concerned about the high bacterial levels measured at their beaches and the impact beach closings were having on their tourism industry, wanted to get to the root of the contamination problem. However, BEACH Act funds are generally used for monitoring and public notification of potential contamination. Therefore, with help from Wisconsin Coastal Nonpoint Program funds and other contributions from county and municipal governments, the Door Chamber of Commerce and university research programs, the County Soil and Water Conservation Districts spearheaded team efforts to develop bacterial source tracking programs and propose recommendations for addressing the identified source(s) in each county. The interdisciplinary teams brought together relevant county and municipal health, planning, storm water, parks and rec and extension staff, WI DNR and SeaGrant representatives, and researchers from nearby universities to develop and implement source tracking strategies.

The counties are both employing several different sampling protocols including rain event sampling, DNA typing, antibiotic resistance testing, and avian waste surveys (recording the number of bird droppings along beach transects) to pin-point the source(s) of bacterial pollution for each beach. To compliment their sampling programs, they also mapped the location of storm water outfalls and areas serviced by OSDS using GIS. In Door County, the OSDS survey also catalogued which coastline sections the County Sanitarian Department has conducted sanitary surveys, noting when each section was surveyed, the percent of failing systems identified, and the location of failing systems and those that have been replaced. This year, the county plans to conduct additional sanitary surveys where existing data identified OSDS as a potential source of bacterial contamination. Another component of the study involved developing a database of animal waste genetic signatures from animals throughout each county. Each species (cows, birds, other wildlife, and humans) should have an identifiable signature. Therefore, genetic samples from bacteria collected at each beach could be linked back to the possible sources(s) (nearby farms, bird roosts, or septic tanks) contributing to the contamination through the database.

While the studies are still on-going and no definitive sources have been identified yet, the teams have already begun to work with the local decision makers and the general public to educate them about the bacterial contamination problem and how the source tracking study will help solve the problem. This way, the decision makers will be ready to take action based on the studies' recommendations. For additional information, contact Vinni Chomeau (Door County) and Tony Smith (Manitowoc County).

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