Feds Plumb Local Runoff

New EPA regulations require municipalities to address dirty water in neighborhood

MARK WEINER / The Post-Standard (Syracuse) 10aug03

The federal government is taking the battle against water pollution to new territory - your neighborhood.

After three decades of cracking down against industry, municipal sewage plants and other top-rung polluters, the Environmental Protection Agency is turning its gaze to the unpleasant residue of daily life.

Dog poop, leaky septic tanks, fluid-dripping cars and trucks, lawn pesticides and soil at construction sites - all of this pollution is washed away by storm water, one of the last bits of unregulated pollution. Until now.

New EPA regulations require cities, towns and villages in urban areas with a population of 10,000 or more to watch over the pollution that runs off rooftops and streets every time it rains. Eventually that water flows down storm drains and into local streams, rivers and lakes.

In Central New York, 32 municipalities in Onondaga, Oswego and Madison counties will each likely spend thousands of dollars trying to comply with the Storm Water Phase II Final Rule. Cayuga County has no affected municipalities.

Nationally, about 5,000 municipalities will be affected in a program that will cost $800 million to $980 million per year, according to EPA estimates.

The storm water regulations will also have environmental benefits worth an estimated $600 million to $1.6 billion per year, the EPA said.

The EPA developed the regulations in response to the 1987 amendments of the federal Clean Water Act, but the new rules did not take effect until this spring.

Many local towns and villages are still trying to come up with a way to comply with the new regulations, said Kathy Bertuch, a senior planner for the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board.

"Some are trying to figure out how they are going to do it because they don't have the budget or the staff," said Bertuch, whose agency is assisting 25 municipalities in Onondaga and Madison counties in their compliance efforts.

"The municipalities have to

map their storm sewers, and show the outfalls and receiving bodies of water," she said. "Beyond that, you have to come up with a program to identify illicit discharges."

Those "illicit discharges" could come from a carwash, mechanic's garage, or a commercial or residential laundry hookup, Bertuch said. Such wastewater should be directed down pipes carrying municipal sewage, which is cleaned before being released to a stream, river or lake.

John Millett, an EPA spokesman in Washington, D.C., said the storm water regulations mark an important step in trying to take the next leap in improving the nation's water quality.

"We realizethat by focusing only on end-of-pipe industrial and municipal sewage treatment plant discharges, we would soon reach a plateau in water quality improvements," Millett said. "We couldn't go much further. So the next step is to address storm water runoff."

In March, municipalities faced a national deadline to apply for a federal permit and move from planning stages to the implementation of their storm water plans, he said. Those plans can vary greatly among municipalities.

"There's quite a bit of flexibility for cities," Millett said. "The approach is a best management practices approach. There are a range of things a city can do that will have benefits for the water that runs off streets and lawns. With some simple steps, overall improvement can be seen."

One largecomponent of each plan is public education. The idea is to convince people to pick up after their dogs, limit their use of lawn fertilizer and pesticides and recycle their motor oil.

"This is one of those things where everything can hurt and anything can help," Millett said.

In Central New York towns and villages, large and small, officials are starting to comply with the new rules by mapping all of their storm water sewers or catch basins, and determining where they flow - to a local stream, river or lake.

Liverpool is among the first to start work. Last week, village workers began cleaning storm drains in preparation for a dye test that will show where the storm water flows, said John Waldron, Liverpool's deputy superintendent of public works.

Pellets ofdye will be dropped into the storm drain. When it rains, the pellets will dissolve, leaving a trail of colored water, Waldron said. Most of the water ends up in Bloody Brook or Onondaga Lake.

Waldron said village crews cleaned more than 100 catch basins last week. The dye tests will begin later this month.

The town of Marcellus hired a private engineering firm for $2,500 to help determine what work the town has to complete under the new regulations.

Marcellus Supervisor Frank Wilson said it has been difficult trying to sort through the various regulations.

"Within the town of Marcellus there are county roads, state roads and town roads," he said. "All of them pretty much have ditches on them. So the question becomes what do we have to do to come into compliance?"

For Clay, Onondaga County's most populous town, the subject of storm water management is a familiar one.

"The town of Clay, in my view, has been a leader in storm water management," said Supervisor Mark Rupprecht. "We've had standards for a decade or more."

New developments along Route 31 in Clay have been required to build drainage ponds and manage their storm water runoff for years, he said.

The town has already filed a five-year plan that involves inspecting and maintaining storm water facilities, mapping the town and educating the public, Rupprecht said.

"In general, I think this is a good thing," he said. "It will protect our freshwater environment."

The newrules also require developers of small construction sites of one to five acres to manage their storm water and prevent soil erosion.

Bertuch, of the regional planning board, said nobody expects compliance to be easy.

"There's been a huge amount of progress over the past 20 or 30 years in cleaning up the waters," she said. "This next step is what's going to be the most difficult."

To that end, the planning board plans to hold its first public workshop on storm water management at 7 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Liverpool Fire Station on Oswego Road.

"People have to realize that small, everyday actions are going to have a large positive impact," she said. "Things like picking up after your dog, organized stream cleanups and similar actions will go a long way to improving the water."

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