By E.B. FURGURSON III, Staff Writer July 2, 2006
South Riverkeeper Drew Koslow used a secchi disk, a round white plastic platter attached to a rope marked in tenths of a meter, to measure the clarity of Church Creek. He was concerned about the mark of .4 of a meter, the worst reading of the year.
But that was June 19, a full week before last week's storms.
The tropical deluge washed untold tons of nutrient-laden sediment off of area construction sites and into local waterways.
With the sheer volume of rain - more than a foot of water in some areas - even the most sophisticated of stormwater technologies would not have kept earth stripped by excavation equipment from sullying the Chesapeake Bay and it's tributaries.
But there are new techniques on the horizon being tested by the county, and builders too, that could help stem the muddy tide during normal rainfalls, like the one that sullied Church Creek in mid-June.
County officials point to innovative techniques used at the huge Parole development that have helped stem the sediment coming off the 35-acre site during normal rainfall events.
Mr. Koslow and others pushing for stricter enforcement and more innovative techniques give the county and Parole developer some credit for the effort.
"The county and state pushed the developers to go over and above required county stormwater regulations, and to their credit they did," he said. "But even that is not enough."
Mr. Koslow said sediment and erosion rules in Maryland are only designed to have a 60 percent success rate in keeping sediment on a construction site.
"But those current standards, even if they work perfectly, fall short of what's needed to protect our waterways," he said before last week's tropical onslaught. "We need to do better. Plumes like this on this creek just don't cut it."
The county is trying to do better, but shifting the thinking of engineers who design projects and builders who build them is slow.
County officials have some developers utilizing new, and often simpler technologies to improve the runoff situation in the county.
For that, many say Anne Arundel is on the cutting edge.
But that edge is dulled somewhat by development guidelines that, while including some innovative techniques, still emphasize old methods.
Anne Pearson serves on the Maryland State Water Quality Advisory Committee and has been active in local efforts to incorporate new techniques.
She hopes the state will soon recommend changes in its construction guidelines to utilize new techniques like infiltration -putting water back in the earth rather that rushing it off site in a pipe.
"The Maryland Department of the Environment has a CD it uses touting infiltration and other techniques. But they are not ready to change regulations to actually implement them," she said.
Anne Arundel County is in the midst of a rewrite of its grading, sediment control, stormwater and floodplain management code.
Whether the rewrite includes the innovative techniques remains to be seen, It likely won't be finished until after the November elections, when a new administration and council are in place.
Keep trees
There is plenty of research and on-the-ground examples of the new techniques, but it is a matter of convincing builders and county staff that the applications work and are cost effective.
The National Homebuilders Association is looking at test sites to educate its members on the new, usually simpler, ways.
"It's one step at a time," said Alex Duran of the National Homebuilders Association Research Center in Upper Marlboro, which has been looking at new methods for controlling runoff for about five years. "We are trying to demonstrate both the environmental and cost benefits ... if builders see both benefits more of that will be followed.
One way to prevent wholesale runoff is to not clear entire sites all at once. Instead of clearing, say, all of Parole's 35 acres at once, new techniques emphasize clearing only what is necessary to get infrastructure in place, then come back and clear whatever else is needed for construction.
While Parole was previously a shopping center, it was covered in asphalt. The developer dug all that up, exposing the soil.
That new methods haves applications in residential development as well.
Forest Friendly Development is a process by which trees and other plant life are only cleared to provide space for a home's footprint and room for equipment to move around during construction. It has won recognition from Maryland's Department of Natural Resources.
" It makes sense, if they clear less land there is less stormwater runoff they have to deal with," said the Center for Watershed Protection's Paul Sturm, a water quality specialist with the organization that works with communities across the eastern U.S. including a restoration plan for the South River watershed.
The center's Builders for the Bay program is bringing environmentalists, builders and governments together in round table discussions to help create more understanding of new technologies.
It is starting to happen slowly. The more we do it the more success we have with it," he said. "But I wish we could just flip a switch."
Mr. Duran is starting to see some acceptance of the forest friendly techniques and limiting clearing on larger projects as well. " Controlling stormwater runoff is a major expenditure. Even though some methods have costs associated with them, the reduced amount of stormwater that has to be treated (provides) some cost savings on that end."
Mulch that gulch
Another method beginning to take hold is using mulch along the upstream side of the plastic fencing used to control runoff or even stuffed into fabric tubes to prevent the smallest particles, abundant in our predominately clay soils, from washing downstream.
The silt fencing one sees along the perimeter of construction sites only controls the largest particles of dirt, like sand and silt. Smaller clay particles, which do more damage to waterways because they take longer to dissipate, are not captured.
Adding mulch along the base of existing silt fence can catch the finer particles. Using tubes filled with mulch in ditches leading to or along streams can help catch those particles, too.
At Parole, the county convinced the developer to try a variation on the same theme. One of the retaining ponds capturing stormwater on the cleared lot is using mulch to filter water.
The pond is basically split in two sections. Between the two is a earthen berm with mulch piled up between two fences lined with filter cloth. Stormwater that fills the uphill pond first filters through the mulch into the other pond before it is discharged downstream.
It has been making a difference according to the county's site environmental code administrator John Peacock. "You can see the water is clearer."
But last week's deluge overwhelmed the setup and construction crews spent time replacing all the mulch on the site.
The tubes are relatively new devices. The county used them successfully at Compass Pointe Golf Course in Pasadena after complaints about runoff from neighbors.
A showcase project at Shamrock Manor, a development in Severn funded by a National Fish and Wildlife Service grant, showed positive results.
Learning from mistakes
A runoff disaster last year underscored the need for using these techniques.
After a Bestgate Road site was cleared of nearly 20 acres of trees, a rainstorm dumped 1.7 inches of rain in a matter of hours before the project's stormwater treatment system was finished.
Tons of sediment washed into nearby Saltworks Creek and down to the Severn River.
The mulch tubes are now being used at the Monticello development on Bestgate Road.
"In this last event, unfortunately, Saltworks Creek turned a muddy brown," Severn Riverkeeper Fred Kelly said. "But it is not clear whether it came of the Monticello site or was the result of years of sediment being washed out."
Another technique being applied but not yet officially sanctioned is geared to slow the rush of water from community and construction site stormwater ponds.
Creating earthen and rock step pools in lieu of the usual piping can help cool and clear water coming off a site.
Shortly after Keith Underwood and the county unveiled a restored stream bed adjoining the Wilelinor neighborhood off Route 2 just south of Annapolis, a neighboring site was approved for a development of 32 homes.
Mr. Underwood was shocked to learn the county had approved a hard pipe to convey stormwater from Homeport into his freshly restored creek.
"I approached Winchester Homes and asked them to consider an alternative that would not damage our newly installed restoration," Mr. Underwood said. "They were alarmed because they had already received permits and were ready to start working."
He asked for a week to see what he could do. To his surprise Jeff Opel of the County Soil Conservation District and the departments of Inspections and Permits and Planning and Zoning all agreed.
So into the eroded ravine he built a series of 14 small pools, each one foot below the other, using sand and native bedrock. On top of that, compost was sprayed and grass seed planted.
The water leaving the construction site now fills up the first pool, then seep through the sand and over the weir separating into the next.
The first thing it does is slow the flow. It also cools and clears the water.
"It's working like a charm," Mr. Underwood said.
It held up through the major storms this week. He went to check on it yesterday morning.
"The water entering the system is warm and cloudy, by the time it leaves the last pool ... cool, clear water."
Mr. Peacock points to the project, as do others, as a perfect example of cooperative venture between stakeholders.
"It is very good to see citizens, government, and the development community, getting together to do something positive for the stream. ... The step pools are the next new thing and very promising."
But like the other techniques being showcased, studied and advocated, governments have to approve their use first, then give them the real seal of approval by requiring their use.
"It is starting to happen slowly. The more we do it the more success we have ...," Mr. Sturm said. "But I wish we could just flip a switch."
Published July 02, 2006, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
