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Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
A draft report funded by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finds that it would cost municipalities, businesses and property owners in Bellingham, Franklin and Milford $180 million to comply with new federal stormwater regulations.
The study was released last month by the Horsley Witten Group.
Proposed new federal regulations would require businesses with at least two acres of parking, rooftops and other impervious surfaces to take steps to reduce stormwater run-off in order to reduce the amount of phosphorus – the main cause of algae blooms – that enters the Charles River watershed.
The EPA says that reducing phosphorus can cost businesses and other landowners as much as $118,000 per acre.
Municipal governments, meanwhile, would be responsible for reviewing, approving and monitoring the stormwater management practices of their businesses and landowners.
The EPA is mounting a massive effort to reduce the level of pollutants that are plaguing rivers, lakes and streams. Cities and towns will soon be required to meet new Municipal Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit requirements and institute more advanced programs to reduce pollutants that are discharged from their storm drainage systems.
In order to lessen the initial impact on commercial taxpayers of complying with the proposed federal stormwater regulations, municipalities would likely establish stormwater utilities, either individually or regionally. Landowners would also have the option of creating a groundwater discharge system, rather than having runoff drain into a municipal stormwater system.
The $180 million cited in the Horsley Witten report would cover mitigation efforts such as stormwater catch basins, the construction of retaining ponds, new treatment systems to remove phosphorus, and improvements to phosphorus removal by wastewater treatment plants.
The EPA’s aim is to use Bellingham, Franklin and Milford as a pilot program that could be duplicated elsewhere. There is no cost estimate yet for all 35 communities in the Charles River watershed to comply with the federal regulations. So far, just three Massachusetts communities – Chicopee, Newton and Reading – have established stormwater utilities, according to the EPA.
The MMA submitted written testimony in June asking the EPA to delay implementation of new stormwater run-off rules until a feasibility study had been completed.
Ken Moraff, deputy director for ecosystem protection for the EPA’s Boston office, told the Boston Globe that the considerable expense of compliance has the agency reconsidering how quickly communities should be expected to comply.
“The estimate of $180 million … is a lot,” he said. “It is clearly a major investment. The real key is to make sure the work is done over an appropriate schedule to make the work doable. There is a major difference between doing it in 10 years versus over 20 or 25 years.”
The Horsley Witten report is based on phasing in compliance over 25 years, establishing local or regional stormwater utilities, and eliminating the use of fertilizers that contain phosphorus.
At that state level, a bill now before the Joint Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture would restrict the use of phosphorus in lawn fertilizers, which would decrease the amount of phosphorus that would have to be removed from stormwater. The EPA estimates that the phosphorus restriction would reduce the compliance costs for communities in the Charles River Watershed by approximately $100 million, or by $184 million for communities statewide.
The EPA plans to issue final stormwater regulations after meeting with all stakeholders.