(BALTIMORE, MD) — Baltimore’s stormwater program was designed to meet aggressive goals, established by state and federal regulators, to reduce polluted runoff and the damage it does to our neighborhoods, urban streams, Harbor, and Chesapeake Bay. The City is responding with its own aggressive implementation plan and a list of accomplishments that shows its commitment to healthier communities and cleaner waterways.
 
The Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) launched Citywide Mechanical Street Sweeping in April 2014, reaching streets in every neighborhood – many for the first time. Citywide street sweeping has since collected more than 2,000 tons of litter, glass, grit, chemicals, bacteria, and other pollutants before they could reach Baltimore’s waterways and further degrade our streams, Harbor and Bay. That is in addition to the 10,209 tons of pollution swept from the old routes in the Central District and commuter gateways.
 
Stormwater infrastructure projects that began or were substantially completed in calendar year 2014 include: 

• The Race Street project, which is repairing a collapsed stormwater line that also undermined and forced the closure of a section of a South Baltimore street
• Leakin Park’s outfall stabilization and stream restoration project, which uses mostly natural materials to tame a stormwater system in West Baltimore, enhance the park and reduce potential flooding
• The priority repair of a badly eroded streambed along a section of Biddison Run that forced the closure of one lane of Moravia Road in East Baltimore

A number of important projects had lingered due to a lack of funding or simply a lack of priority. Under the new stormwater rules, and with dedicated stormwater funding, projects like Race Street and Biddison Run that were delayed for years are finally moving forward. Not only are stream banks being shored up so they no longer are in danger of eroding, communities have the benefit of knowing their streets and underground infrastructure – water, sewer, gas, cable, electricity lines – are secure and safe. Without attention, these problems would have only gotten worse, creating more damage and costing more money and time to correct.
 
We also have stepped up our Plans Review and Inspections program and our Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination program, both of which help keep the City cleaner and healthier. And we have planned for several communities to get storm drain inlet screens, designed to better block trash from entering our storm drain system and, ultimately, our waterways.
 
Our plans for 2015 and beyond literally fill a book. The Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) is 81 pages of information detailing what we need to do to manage polluted runoff, how and why we intend to do so, and what it will likely cost to make it happen. The document was compiled after months of review, including public meetings and input from stakeholders. It details the projects, programs, and partnerships we are utilizing to meet our goals. The WIP is available, for free, on DPW’s CleanWaterBaltimore website, under the Stormwater tab.
 
The goals, laid out in the City’s stormwater permit, are ambitious. Key among these goals is: 

• Restoring 20 percent of the Baltimore’s impervious area so that more stormwater is managed, and not just left to run into waterways
• Meeting stricter water pollution limits established by government regulations
• Educate the public about water quality improvements and establish a reporting framework
• Identify necessary strategies to carry out the plans

The first goal, restoring 20 percent of the City’s impervious area, means addressing more than 4,000 acres (roughly 3,000 football fields). We cannot possibly return that much paved surface to open land where water can soak directly into the ground, but we can implement stormwater management practices and programs that help us meet the goal. Street sweeping is one example of a program we are now using to reduce polluted runoff and meet the goals. Other examples include expanding our engineering, monitoring, and enforcement staff; more preventive cleaning of our 50,000-plus storm drain inlets; designing and building numerous small stormwater retention systems; and designing and building nearly two dozen stream restoration projects.
 
Many of these projects will cost just a few thousand dollars; others will cost several million dollars. The money to pay for the ongoing expenses will come from the stormwater remediation fee, which started showing up on the bills of City water customers late in 2013. The fee for most homeowners is $15 per quarter, or $60 per year. Owners of homes that cover more ground pay $30 per quarter; owners of smaller homes pay just $10 per quarter. Owners of property that is not single-family residential pay an amount based on the impervious area. All property owners are eligible to earn credits against the fee.
 
The revenue generated by this fee must, by law, go toward stormwater programs and projects. The City is obligated, by its own Charter, to levy this fee. The DPW, as part of its commitment to effectively carry out its responsibilities, has assembled a 15-person Stormwater Advisory Committee to review and advise the agency leadership on policies regarding stormwater management. Committee members represent environmental groups, business and community associations, and other non-profits.
 
A full explanation of DPW’s stormwater plan is available athttp://www.cleanwaterbaltimore.org/dec2014/MS4-WIP-12-19-14-Final.pdf. All citizens are invited to learn more about how we intend to make Baltimore’s neighborhoods more livable and its waterways cleaner.