1. Howard County, MD Phase II Watershed Implementation Plan October 6, Howard Saltzman Howard County Department of Public Works

2. Tonight’s Outline What is a TMDL and why is it important?
What is a Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP)?
Why is it needed?
What are the WIP goals?
What is the WIP schedule?
How will the WIP be developed?
What happens after the WIP is written?

3. What is a TMDL and why is it important?
TMDL = Total Maximum Daily Load
A TMDL is the maximum amount of pollution, that can be discharged to any given body of water and still allow it to meet water quality criteria.
A TMDL is often referred to as a “pollution diet”
Clean Water Act of 1972 requires to be set for all impaired water bodies

4. So, what does that mean for tonight’s discussion?
The water body, of particular concern tonight, is the Chesapeake Bay
The pollutants in questions are Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sediment
The water quality standards to be met include water clarity and dissolved oxygen – needed to allow aquatic plants, shellfish, and fish to thrive

5. Benefits of Achieving the Bay TMDL
Achieving the Bay nutrient TMDLs will help maintain the Bay:
Recreational – boating, fishing , and tourism
Economic resource – commercial fishing, crabbing, oysters
Improvements in local water quality
Job creation (restoration projects)

6. A little history….
The first interstate agreement to restore the Chesapeake Bay was signed by Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC in 1983
There have been additional agreements since 1983.

7. More recently
The 2000 Bay Agreement said to meet water quality criteria by 2010, otherwise the Bay will be listed as an impaired water and a TMDL will be set
Progress has been made, but the Bay’s waters still do not meet water quality standards

8. The result of not, yet, meeting Bay WQ standards
EPA and the States have agreed to a more regulatory approach that includes Baywide TMDLs for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment
AND
Require Watershed Implementation Plans to meet those TMDLs
Including milestones and deadlines to measure progress

9. TMDL and Initial WIP
EPA issued the initial Chesapeake Bay TMDL in December 2010
Maryland Department of the Environment prepared the Phase I WIP for meeting the TMDL
Local governments have the opportunity to fine tune the plan as a Phase II WIP

10. The Bay TMDL was determined from modeling
The model determines loads from each state in the Bay watershed based on land use, location, and best management practices (BMP) in place to reduce pollution in storm water runoff
More on BMPs in a few minutes

11. And allocated to the Counties
The results of the model were further refined to provide pollutant load allocations by County and major contributing “sector”
The major sectors of concern are:
Agriculture
Urban stormwater
Septic systems
Wastewater treatment

12. What are Howard County’s TMDLs

13. Best Management Practices
Pollutant reduction
Within each sector nitrogen and phosphorus discharges can be reduced by application of various techniques commonly referred to as:
Best Management Practices
(BMP)

14. Examples of BMPs Agriculture Fencing animals out of streams
Cover crops
More precise fertilizer applications
Manure management
And lots more…

15. Wastewater treatment
Upgrade treatment process to Enhanced Nutrient Removal (ENR) at Little Patuxent Water Reclamation Plant

16. Examples of BMPs continued
Septic
Upgrade of existing septic systems to Best Available Technology designs
Connection of existing septic systems to ENR level wastewater treatment plants that provide better nutrient removal

17. Examples of BMPs continued
Urban Stormwater Management
New and retrofit SWM ponds
Stream restoration
Impervious surface reduction
Tree planting
Street sweeping
Rain gardens

18. Stream Restoration
Before
After

19. Stormwater Management Pond Retrofit
Before
After

20. Maryland Assessment Scenario Tool (MAST)
How do we know what to do?
Maryland Assessment Scenario Tool (MAST)
A computer model developed by MDE
Allows input of percentage of land treated by various BMPs
Calculates nutrient loads delivered to the Chesapeake Bay from Howard County
Allows for an iterative process to develop one or more scenarios to meet the County’s TMDL allocation

21. Watershed Implementation Plan Schedule
October 14, 2011 Draft WIP II Milestones to MDE
October 28, 2011 Draft Local WIP II inputs to MDE
November 18, 2011 Local WIP II Report Narrative to MDE
Mid-Dec 2011– Draft Statewide WIP II to EPA
March 2012 – Final Statewide WIP II to EPA

22. Possible actions (through 2017) that will be included in the WIP II
Add urban BMPs to provide storm water management treatment of 20% of currently untreated impervious area
Approximately 9,000 acres
Approximately 2% of untreated acres completed last10 years
Upgrade 20% of the 15-20,000 septic systems in the County,
Particularly those within 1,000 feet of a perennial stream
Currently upgrade less than 10 septic systems per year

23. Wastewater treatment and agriculture are closer to meeting their goals
Upgrade of Little Patuxent WWTP to ENR underway and will be completed in 2012

24. Agriculture
Howard Soil Conservation District and MD Department of Agriculture are preparing the agricultural section of the WIP which will outline BMPs and nutrient management plans to be developed for farms

25. When does all of this need to be completed?
EPA requires that measures needed to achieve 60% of the reductions be in place by 2020
But, Maryland has decided to meet this goal by 2017
All practices to be in place by 2025, but Maryland has agreed to do this by 2020

26. What will all of this cost?
Construction costs are yet to be determined and are likely to be in the $300M to $800M range for urban storm water BMPs and septic system upgrades
The wastewater treatment plant ENR upgrade has already been funded at $35M
HSCD has existing programs and funding in place to meet the County’s agricultural TMDL allocation

27. Where will the money come from?
Wastewater paid out of the Utility Fund supported by user fees and assessments
ENR upgrade also funded by grants from the MD Bay Restoration Fund
Agricultural BMPs are substantially funded through existing Federal and State cost sharing programs
Septic system upgrades in Howard County are not a priority for funding through the Bay Restoration Fund

28. More money…..
Storm water management BMPs are funded by Howard County out of the general fund or bonds and by grants from MDE (which may include federal monies)
Feasibility of a storm water utility is being studied provide a steady and reliable funding source for implementing and maintaining SWM BMPs

29. What’s Next? Complete the County’s input to the Phase II WIP
MDE will compile all the County WIPs into a Draft Maryland Phase II WIP for submission to EPA in December 2011
Maryland’s final WIP II will be submitted to EPA March 2012

30. And after that…. Implementation of the Phase II WIP proceeds
The WIP will include milestones for 2013 and to be compared to actual implementation progress
By 2017 a Phase III WIP will be developed to ensure the 2020 TMDL nutrient pollution limits are met

31. Howard County’s WIP Team
Department of Public Works
Department of Planning and Zoning
Howard County Health Department
Howard Soil Conservation District
Howard County Public School System
Columbia Association

32. Questions? For further information contact Howard Saltzman