County set to meet state regs, EPA directives

Subwatershed plans aim for better water

Friday, Dec. 18, 2009

While it's been known for years that the Patuxent River is too polluted, Calvert County's topography does present opportunities to improve water quality, Director of Planning and Zoning Greg Bowen told the county commissioners on Tuesday.

Nutrient loads are too high and eroded sediments are clouding up streams, but limited impervious surface, good forest cover and upcoming subwatershed plans put the county in good position to curb future pollution, Bowen said.

Last spring, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science released its annual Chesapeake Bay Health Report Card. For the second consecutive year, the bay was graded at a C-minus. However, a portion of the bay stretching from Anne Arundel County, along Calvert, to just north of the Rappahannock River in Virginia graded as a D-plus and the Patuxent River was given a score of D-minus.

"When I was in elementary school — that's been a few years — [the] Patuxent River, we always were told, was one of the cleanest rivers on the whole eastern coast of the United States," Bowen said. "But that's when the watershed constituted about 25,000 population, the whole watershed. Now there's 600,000 population."

After decades of ineffective or poorly executed policies at the state and local levels, President Barack Obama issued an executive order in May directing the Environmental Protection Agency to take charge of the cleanup effort.

Concern over the report card and EPA involvement prompted a presentation from Bowen to the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners at its weekly meeting.

"The fact is that bay quality either has not improved or [has] deteriorated over the last 25 years when the first nutrient-plan reductions were adopted as part of the bay-wide agreement," Bowen said. "The poorer water quality and declining fish and shellfish harvests have not gone unnoticed and the EPA is now under a court order to complete total nutrient- and sediment-load plans by May 2011."

Jurisdictions that did not comply with EPA directives could face "stinging consequences" and risk having project permits revoked.

"That's a pretty heavy hand, if they ever choose to use it, and I'd prefer to be ahead of the game to say we've solved our problems," Bowen said.

States within the bay's watershed are required to deliver preliminary plans to the EPA, which is currently hosting public meetings, by June 2010. Revised plans will be submitted in August 2010 and made open to public comment before final plans are issued in November 2010.

Maryland, Bowen said, is ahead of the game because it has been working on similar plans for some time. As for Calvert County, its biggest challenge is stormwater runoff — highly-erodible soils and steep slopes contribute to high sediment loads in local streams, Bowen said.

Much of phosphorous pollution comes from fertilizers, and while data shows varying levels of phosphorous amongst the county's 22 subwatersheds, the largest loads are in areas known for high agriculture.

Nitrogen loads also varied but were highest in areas with the most impervious surface. Impervious surfaces, like paved parking lots, produce significant runoff because they do not absorb water like soil. In order to be considered "urban," a subwatershed must have more than 10 percent impervious surface, Bowen said. Only two of Calvert's subwatersheds classify as such — those near the Twin Beaches and the Lusby-Solomons area.

In addition to low impervious surface, high forest cover also reduces runoff and helps water quality. About 56 to 58 percent of Calvert is forest canopy, Bowen said, adding that 60 percent is considered good. While the Parkers Creek subwatershed has the most forest cover in the county at more than 70 percent, the two lowest have just over 30 percent due to agricultural lands, Bowen said.

Certain "best management practices" like cover crops, which can reduce farm runoff by 70 percent if used for seven consecutive years, and "residential raingardens," shallow ditches that collect rainwater, can also help.

"I found out I have raingardens at home. I thought they were large puddles," Commissioner Linda Kelley (R) said.

Another option is replacing parking lot curbs with trenches where plants can feed on stormwater and washed-up nutrients, Bowen said.

The department plans to perform studies on all 22 subwatersheds, with Hall, Fishing, Parker's, Gray's and Mill creeks set to be the first five. Bowen hopes these initial studies can serve as templates for later surveys.

New stormwater management regulations passed by the state have raised concerns over new and existing development, board President Wilson Parran (D) said, but Bowen assured the commissioners that improved water quality would also be good economically.

"This is not just about the environment, it's about business," he said. "A lot of our economy is based on tourism. We want to have good water quality — we live in the county, water quality is important for our residents and for our businesses."

Commissioner Barbara Stinnett (D) expressed disappointment over the UMCES report card and, referencing a "sea of pavement" in the Prince Frederick town center, suggested it might be time to begin building parking lots up rather than across.

Commissioners Susan Shaw (R), Jerry Clark (R) and Kelley questioned whether northern counties, like Prince George's and Montgomery, that also border the river have a greater impact on its pollution.

"This whole issue of subwatershed planning is really going to impact the way that we all lead our lives," Shaw said.

In other business, the commissioners:

ï Congratulated the Northern High School Varsity Girls Volleyball team for its recent 3A State Championship. The commissioners were excited to learn that the team will return all but two seniors to next year's squad.

"It looks like with only two seniors leaving you may be back here next year," Parran said.

ï Recognized Ronald Nahas of Huntingtown as the grand prize winner of the 2009 Pump for the Bay contest. The contest is held annually to encourage residents to either pump out their septic systems or retrofit them with nitrogen-removing technology. Nahas received a certificate for a free overnight stay at the Holiday Inn Select hotel in Solomons and a $200 check, donated by Constellation Energy, as reimbursement for his pump out.

ï Voted unanimously to appoint Tim Cleary, owner of Friday's Creek Winery in Owings, to the Agriculture Commission.

"I think he'd be a good representative of one of our newest, or latest, very, very special agricultural-economic factors and that's the wine-growing in this Calvert County," Stinnett said.

ï Voted unanimously to reappoint Anthony Benn, Patricia Carpenter and Jeannie Stone and appoint Nancy Wieck and Lynda Striegel to the Calvert Marine Museum Board of Governors.

ï Voted unanimously to award Schlenger/Pitz & Associates Inc. of Timonium a $20,520 engineering contract for the design and replacement of an air handling unit serving medium security at the Calvert County Detention Center. Members of the detention center, Department of Public Works and Department of General Services reviewed five proposals to replace the 30-year-old unit and scored each based on comprehensive criteria. Schlenger/Pitz & Associates, Inc., submitted by far the lowest bid and received the highest score of the five proposals. Gipe Associates Inc. of Suitland submitted the second-lowest bid of $35,970.

jnewman@somdnews.com