CRWA in the News

Massachusetts rules blamed for outdated water runoff systems

By Jeremy Miller

New York Times, Thursday, September 17, 2009
In 'Green Inc: Energy, the Environment, and the Bottom Line'

Environmentalists and manufacturers of storm-water treatment systems in Massachusetts say that outdated regulations in the state are undercutting an ambitious initiative to clean up the Charles River watershed and other waterways.

Last November, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would oversee a pilot program to clean up storm-water runoff in three towns – Milford, Bellingham and Franklin – along the Charles’ upper reaches.

The E.P.A.’s goal is to reduce levels of phosphorus, a constituent of fertilizer and motor oil linked to the growth of algae and cyanobacteria – green blooms of microorganisms that drain oxygen from
streams and rivers and damage aquatic ecosystems.

Though not the only source of the contamination, phosphorus and nitrogen are known to enter waterways when rainfall flows over urban and suburban areas — parking lots, for instance, or rooftops — with inadequate storm water management.

To curb the problem, the federal plan called for all new commercial developments in the three communities with more than two acres of such “impervious surfaces” to install systems to reduce phosphorus runoff by as much as 65 percent.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection carried the E.P.A. mandate even further, proposing that all new commercial properties with two or more acres of impervious surfaces in the entire Charles River Watershed – and those of five or more acres across the rest of the state – meet the E.P.A. storm-water rules.

(The state has also proposed forcing existing property owners to retrofit their impervious surfaces with storm-water control systems capable of meeting the standards.)

The problem, critics say, is that the state agency that was responsible for testing and certifying storm-water control systems ran out of funding in 2003 — after certifying just three technologies to do the job.

Environmentalists, along with representatives from several companies that supply newer storm-water treatment systems, say that more advanced — and more effective — technologies have since been developed, but that they are rarely used because they require an extra certification step and are often much more expensive than the older, pre-certified systems.

According to Kate Bowditch, a project manager for the Charles River Watershed Association, an advocacy group based in Boston, the situation has allowed property developers to opt for storm-water systems that are cheaper, undersized or incapable of meeting not just the E.P.A.’s phosphorus goals, but more general requirements mandated under the federal Clean Water Act.

“We have seen lots of development on the watershed that simply doesn’t comply with the federal rules,” Ms. Bowditch said. “Until that happens, there is likely to be little improvement in water quality.”
Massachusetts D.E.P. representatives said the agency is in the process of phasing out the old certification program and moving to a more rigorous protocol used in several states, including New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

That switchover is expected to be complete by January 2011, but until the transition is final, the state will continue to honor the old assessments. “We felt we had to give firms adequate time to adapt to the new rules before phasing the old ones,” said Thomas Maguire, a regional planner for the agency.

But Ms. Bowditch said the state has refused to firmly commit to the 2011 phase-out date, and that the prolonged adherence to the outdated rules means prolonged damage to Massachusetts waterways
.
Derek Berg, a spokesman for Contech, agreed, suggesting that the old rules “leave the door open” for property developers to avoid more effective devices. Contech was one of the three companies that received certification for their storm-water control systems before the qualifying agency ran out of money.

And even if the 2011 date holds, Mr. Berg said in an e-mail message, “that is still another year and a half of inadequate water quality protection.”