Federal Bill Would Improve Stormwater Runoff Management in Chesapeake Bay Region
As rain water runs off lawns, driveways and parking lots, it picks up pollutants and carries them into storm drains like this one, which usually direct untreated stormwater to the nearest waterway. Image courtesy Chesapeake NEMO.
July 2009 -- Virginia Rep. Gerald Connolly has introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would reduce pollution from impervious surfaces and increase forest cover in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Stormwater runoff is a major source of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay. As rain water runs off lawns, driveways and parking lots, it picks up pollutants such as dirt, oil and fertilizer and carries them into storm drains, which usually direct untreated stormwater to the nearest waterway. Because of increased development throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, stormwater runoff is the fastest-growing source of pollution to the Bay and the only type of pollution that continues to increase.
The Chesapeake Bay Restoration Act of 2009 (H.R. 3265) would amend the Clean Water Act to require that local governments within the Chesapeake Bay watershed better manage stormwater runoff on new development projects larger than one acre. Specifically, projects that discharge stormwater runoff to a storm sewer system would have to manage all of the rain water that falls on the development during most rain storms by harvesting and reusing the rainwater or allowing it to soak into the ground.
The stormwater management requirement would be included in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits issued by the U.S. EPA. A grant program would be established to help local governments with the cost of implementing and complying with the permit.
Additionally, the bill would require federal government agencies to develop plans to preserve and restore forests on federally owned land in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.