[Durham INC] City/County Budget and Stormwater Services/BMPs

[Cox, John]

Dear Inter-Neighborhood Council,

 

On April 23, 2013, Melissa Rooney sent a message to the listserv
entitled "City/County Budget and Stormwater Services/BMPs."  The general
tenor of the message is that City of Durham Stormwater and GIS Services
Division in the Public Works Department should provide funding to the
Durham Soil and Water Conservation District.

 

The City of Durham Public Works Department (the City) appreciates and
values the efforts and accomplishments of the Durham Soil and Water
Conservation (SWCD) in obtaining grants to restore stream segments;
hosting a cost share program for rain gardens, cisterns, and other best
management practices; coordinating outreach events; and more. The City
cooperates with SWCD by attending monthly SWCD Board of Directors
meetings, working with SWCD on numerous outreach efforts, and providing
grant support for a green roof on the SWCD building on Foster Street.
The City has expressed an interest in furthering cooperation through a
contract or Memorandum of Understanding with SWCD to initiate a pilot
program for specific performance-based services that meet the City's
permit needs and implementation criteria. The City has and will continue
to request input from SWCD on the proposed South Ellerbe Wetlands. The
City will continue to invite SWCD staff to meetings to discuss what the
City is required to do as a preliminary step to establishing how SWCD
can help the City meet its obligations.  

 

The City of Durham is the most heavily regulated municipal stormwater
program in the state.  The City's legal stormwater mandates include a
federal municipal stormwater permit and Stormwater Management Plan, six
federal industrial stormwater permits for City facilities, state water
supply watershed protection regulations for five drinking water sources,
and three sets of state regulations for nutrient sensitive waters.  All
of the City's stormwater efforts are and must be guided by these
mandates. 

 

The message writer is new on the SWCD Board of Directors.  The message
raises numerous issues that appear to be based on a misunderstanding of
the programs and mandates under which the City stormwater program
operates.  For example, the message incorrectly indicates that
Stormwater Services receives stormwater fees from residents located
outside city boundaries.  Certainly any such misunderstanding needs to
be resolved in order for the City to further a working relationship with
SWCD. The responses below are provided to clarify the City's stormwater
program.  

Issues raised include the following:

 

*         Concern that City of Durham Stormwater Services is heavily
focused on developing cost-effective nutrient credits. 

This is true.  The City is working to meet unprecedented reduction
mandates for Falls and Jordan Lake rules. Plans include using engineered
stormwater control measures for which we can establish nutrient credits.
At the same time, City stormwater staff is also working to expand the
range of measures for which credits are available, including stream
restorations, pet waste collection, fixing failing septic systems,
backyard rain gardens, fertilizer management plans, and other
non-structural measures.  This includes promoting or funding research to
provide the data needed to establish credits, participation in NC
Division of Water Quality's Nutrient Science Advisory Board, and
participation in the Upper Neuse River Basin Association's Path Forward
Committee.  

 

*         General redundancy and lack of coordination between three
programs: Durham County Engineering and Environmental Services, City of
Durham Stormwater and GIS Services Division, and Durham Soil and Water
Conservation District.

The issue of possible redundancy between City and County stormwater
programs has been addressed by a memorandum jointly prepared by Durham
County Engineering and Environmental Services and City of Durham
Stormwater and GIS Services Division for the Joint City-County
Committee, December 29, 2010.  Merging or combining the programs does
not make sense at this time.  Because the City owns and operates a
municipal stormwater system, it must fund repair and maintenance as well
as comply with a federal municipal stormwater permit.  In unincorporated
areas of Durham County, streets and the associated stormwater system are
owned and operated by the North Carolina Department of Transportation,
which is also required to comply with a stormwater permit.  Durham
County does not own and operate a municipal stormwater system and is
therefore not required to obtain and comply with a stormwater permit
under the Clean Water Act.

Although County and City stormwater programs currently have different
needs, both programs recognize the need to coordinate efforts and to
support each other.  Durham County operates the Erosion and
Sedimentation Control program in both City and County.  Durham County
Environmental Health regulates on-site wastewater systems in both City
and County.  City and County often hold coordinating meetings to share
data, discuss approaches, and share concerns.    

 

*         Possible redundancy of service in stormwater education
programs between SWCD and City of Durham.

The City, through its stormwater permit, is required to meet "minimum
measures" for public outreach and public involvement.  The City and SWCD
coordinate with each other and with Keep Durham Beautiful to sponsor Big
Sweep and Creek Week cleanups. There is no duplication. The team
approach allows us to reach more residents and clean up more creeks and
litter than through one group alone.

Services provided by SWCD do not address the range of target pollutants,
pollutant sources, and target audiences listed in the City's Stormwater
Management Plan.  They also do not meet the City's permit requirements
for implementation, tracking, and performance outcome measurement.  

 

The City is required to implement a detailed set of programs specified
in the City's approved Stormwater Management Plan.  The City's
stormwater education audiences range from city staff to target business
sectors to industrial facility managers, teachers and schools, and
residential property owners.  In the past year the City conducted 86
outreach events and numerous other internal presentations. Festivals,
workshops, public meetings, engineering seminars, and presentations to
school and community groups are a regular part of the City's program.
The City has also prepared videos that are available on the City's cable
channel and on YouTube on various topics including stream buffers,
household hazardous waste disposal, vehicle car washing, and disposal of
cooking grease. All stormwater communication products intended for
general audience are reviewed by technical writers, stormwater managers,
and the City's Public Affairs Office.

To facilitate continual improvement, the City's stormwater education
efforts are coordinated with its water quality assessments, industrial
inspections, and illicit discharge detection and elimination program.

 

Community groups that have received presentations from the City's
stormwater staff can attest to the staffers' responsiveness, willingness
to accommodate schedules, level of knowledge, and level of
professionalism. 

*         Possible redundancy of programs to retrofit existing
residential properties with cisterns, rain gardens and other small
stormwater control measures.

Currently SWCD operates a program to routinely implement these types of
measures with funding provided through the Community Conservation
Assistance Program.  

The City itself does not have a program to routinely implement these
measures, in part because nutrient credits have not been approved by
state regulators.  However, the City has three pilot programs to help
develop information needed to establish water quality benefits and
nutrient reduction credits for these types of measures.  

(1)    The City contracts with Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association on a
pilot program to install residential rain gardens and cisterns.  

(2)    The City received a grant from the state's 319 stormwater program
to install 40 rain gardens using workers from the Mayor's Summer Youth
Program.  For this project the NC Botanical Garden provided plants for
fall planting and helped with plant selection, garden design, planting,
homeowner education, and maintenance.  

(3)    To document credits, the City has undertaken Rain Catchers, an
innovative research project funded by the Clean Water Management Trust
Fund.  Rain Catchers includes a year of pre-installation monitoring to
establish baseline conditions of water quality and hydrology in South
Ellerbe Creek. Rain Catchers will install approximately 50 rain gardens,
120 cisterns, 50 backyard trees, and 68 street trees at over 100
residences in the South Ellerbe Creek watershed. After installation,
Rain Catchers monitoring will assess the cumulative effect of these
measures.  Rain Catchers also includes a separate research component by
North Carolina State University to evaluate the benefits of rooftop
disconnection.  Installation of practices uses contractors selected
through the City's competitive bid process. Homeowners signed a 10-year
maintenance agreement and will have follow up inspections.

The results of these programs will be used to guide future deployment of
these stormwater control measures.  Once the results from Rain Catchers
are available, the City can advocate for credits and can make an
informed decision about expanding the current pilot programs.

 

*         Stormwater funding availability

Despite being the most heavily regulated municipality in North Carolina,
the City's water quality programs represent less than 20% of the
stormwater budget.  The largest fraction of the budget is devoted to
operation, maintenance, repair, and replacement of existing drainage
infrastructure located within street rights-of-way.  The City's Public
Works Department operates a lean stormwater program, with City Council
approving anything extra such as the two feasibility study contracts to
evaluate innovative nutrient treatment systems (Aqualutions and Algal
Turf Scrubbers).

 

*         Lack of funding by the City to repair drainage on private
property, including unstable stream banks 

City Council created a discretionary assistance program to assist
property owners with specific types of severe drainage problems.  The
intent of this program is to assist property owners with compromised
drainage systems that are negatively impacting a structure or the
primary entrance/exit of a structure.  The typical eligible project for
this program involves an older home built over a storm drainage system
where the system has aged and is compromising the foundation of the
home.  As of 2009, the City had completed 395 private drainage
assistance projects at an average cost of $11,500 per project.  This
assistance program is completely discretionary and is not required as
part of the City's municipal stormwater permit and Stormwater Management
Plan.

 

*         Stream Restoration Projects and Large Projects 

The City has a history of working with neighborhood groups, nonprofit
organizations, other City and County departments, the North Carolina
Ecosystem Enhancement Program and interested residents when it comes to
siting, planning, and maintaining stream restorations and other large
stormwater projects. Staff members have worked to address neighbors'
concerns about buffer plantings, land use, and safety. 

 

The NC Division of Water Quality's Nutrient Science Advisory Board is
expected to complete work to establish initial nutrient credits for
stream restoration by the end of this year, allowing the City to make
informed management decisions.

 

More information is available on the City's web site at
www.durhamnc.gov/stormwater. Click on the "Technical Reports" link on
the right side of the main stormwater page to view the annual compliance
reports for the City's stormwater permit, the Stormwater Management Plan
and the other documents referred to above. 

 

Sincerely,

 

       John

 

John H. Cox

Water Quality Manager

Stormwater and GIS Services Division

City of Durham Public Works Department

101 City Hall Plaza

City of Durham, NC 27701

(919) 560-4326 ext 30212

www.durhamnc.gov/stormwater 
www.facebook.com/DurhamNCStormwater

"Keep it neat. Leaves and grass off the street."

 

(Whitespace has been removed from following message)

From: Melissa Rooney <mmr121570 at yahoo.com>
Date: April 23, 2013, 12:28:46 PM EDT
To: INC <inc-list at rtpnet.org>
Subject: [Durham INC] City/County Budget and Stormwater Services/BMPs

I apologize that I cannot make the INC meeting tonight to bring this up
in person (I have the kids on my own again and they have commitments
this evening).

 However, I wanted to ask the INC to consider making some collective
suggestions regarding the city and county budgets, particularly
regarding stormwater management.

Please bear with me -- I tried to make the correspondence below as brief
as possible, but there are many important things to consider here.

 Right now the following 3 entities deal with stormwater issues in
Durham city and county (I hope there aren't more, but these are all I
know of):  

Durham County : Engineering and Environmental Services
<http://dconc.gov/index.aspx?page=180&redirect=1> (EES)

City of Durham - Stormwater & GIS Services
<http://durhamnc.gov/ich/op/pwd/storm/Pages/Home.aspx> (SS)

Durham County : Soil & Water Conservation District
<http://dconc.gov/index.aspx?page=571&redirect=1>  (SWCD)

 To the best of my knowledge, the SWCD receives only a nominal amount of
county funding (it is likely the smallest budget line item), though I
know of many rain-garden/cistern installations and stream-bank
restorations that the SWCD has done in the city (largely because the
city residents involved did not receive assistance from SS). 

 At any rate, it is quite apparent to me that the 3 Durham entities
above do not work together as they should and sometimes even compete
with one another, resulting in redundancy, inefficiency, and increases
in time, human resources, and $ spent (for both the city and the
county). See the 'Examples' section under my signature for specific
examples.

 I recently wrote several people in city and county government about the
need for the city and county to cooperate and collaborate in this
regard, and I suggested that they do so by using (and appropriately
funding) the SWCD for the purposes of cistern/rain-garden/small BMPs
(best management practices), stream-bank restorations, and public
education/awareness, as well as requiring SWCD's true input and PR
skills for bigger projects like the Duke Fitness Wetland project.

 I have personally communicated with SS and SWCD (though I don't have
much experience with Durham county's stormwater/environmental services),
and I am well aware of the SWCD's superior responsiveness, customer
service, education, and installation and maintenance of bmp's. (After
receiving nothing but a pat on the shoulder from SS, I was assisted by
the SWCD with a residential stream-bank restoration, 2 cistern
installations, sedimentation and erosion solutions/plans at a public
school, a rain-garden installation, and a few other projects at public
schools and private residences - see below my signature for a brief but
more detailed description of my experiences with the SWCD in this
regard).

 As a result of these experiences, I am convinced that the city and the
county should, at the very least, divert the responsibilities of
education and small-BMPs and streambank restorations from SS to the SWCD
and should fund the SWCD accordingly. I have absolutely no doubt that we
will see more bang for our bucks in a more timely fashion than what is
happening currently via the separate city and county storm-water
management organizations.

 Furthermore, I have heard SS insist to the public (i.e. at INC meetings
and other public outreach meetings) that the Trinity Wetland
installation is in addition to smaller BMPs that are ongoing. However, I
have also become aware of individual comments among SS staff to the
effect that 'we shouldn't have to do [this or that] because the Wetland
will take care of it'. 

 This is exactly what nearby neighbors are afraid of...that SS is going
to use the Wetland installation merely as a water-filtering/cleaning
facility rather than a truly and aesthetically maintained Wetland that
is habitat to vegetation and wildlife and truly used for the purpose of
public education.

 I guarantee you that these nearby neighbors would be much more amenable
if the Wetland were required to pass the scrutiny of the SWCD and to
have to adhere to their strict maintenance and follow-up guidelines over
the long-haul. 

 It seems to everyone I talk to (except SS staff) that the SS just wants
credits (as quickly as possible), whereas the SWCD wants long-term,
sustainable solutions.

 Given the above considerations, the SWCD is the perfect entity for
addressing storm-water problems and BMP installations at least on
private properties (though public/gov't-owned properties and projects
would greatly benefit from the involvement of the SWCD), not to mention
for conducting public awareness and education programs, in BOTH the city
and the county.

 If the SWCD were utilized in the above fashion, we would reduce
redundancies resulting from separate (but, nonetheless, parallel) city
and county storm-water programs, Jordan/Falls lake
programs/installations, etc.

 Admittedly, the resources of the SWCD (particularly human resources)
are stretched to the limit (particularly given their miniscule funding
from the county (and no funding from the city)). They will need
additional funding to truly be able to put their expertise to work on
BMPs, stream-bank restorations and other projects in the city (and to
increase their involvement and oversight in the county).

 In this regard, Stormwater Services receives tens of millions from the
water fees charged to Durham citizens (city and county) via their water
bills. Some of this money should be diverted from Stormwater Services
directly to the SWCD -- to fund an additional position (or positions) to
expand the work that SWCD's Mike Dupree and Eddie Culberson have been
doing to research, install, and follow up and ensure proper maintenance
(something most Durham citizens think is lacking with Stormwater
Services) for BMPs and Streambank restorations. 

 ** This is not only a request for more city and county funding for
expanded SWCD services, it also presents a means for providing that
funding by omitting current redundancies and inefficiencies in
city/county storm-water maintenance and diverting a portion of current
storm-water fees to the SWCD, which actually installs effective BMPs in
a timely and truly sustainable fashion and in a manner that visibly
benefits fee-payers and improves public relations. 

 Thus far, I have been a bit of a lone wolf, hoping someone with
influence will hear me howling and sincerely consider what I'm howling
about. I now need other Durham citizens (individual members of this
listserv and the INC collectively) to back me up by emailing/calling
your city and county officials and managers and showing your support at
upcoming budget public hearings. 

 This is going to require some serious communication b/w the city and
the county about how to ally their stormwater services, their BMP
installations, and their resulting stormwater credits as well as
regarding how much each should budget for the SWCD for their services.

 Thanks, as always, for seriously considering my suggestions and for
making your concerns and recommendations/support known to your elected
officials and city/county managers. I don't have time to initiate a big
public movement in this regard, but I hope that the INC and those who
are on this listserv will insist on increasing collaboration, reducing
redundancies and increasing our use (and funding) of currently existing
entities for services in which they have demonstrated success (which is
the case with the SWCD).

Sincerely,

Melissa Rooney

 

 * After quite a bit of push-back (which I have personally observed), SS
finally appears sincere in their efforts to collaborate with the SWCD on
small BMPs (raingardens and cisterns and the like), but the verdict is
still out on how much SS will involve the SWCD in larger projects, like
streambank restorations and the wetland project at the Duke Diet and
Fitness site. Certainly, SS and SWCD still compete (rather than
collaborate) for federal (and other) funding, as can be seen with their
two competing projects at Southern high-school (these projects should be
combined to get the most bang for our buck, but SS politics appears to
be getting in the way of collaboration here). The following links may
delineate this a bit:

Southern High School Received $30,714 for - Durham County
<http://dconc.com/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=5056> 

 Farmland Protection Program The regular monthly ... - Durham Count
<http://dconc.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=1839>  (search
for 'southern highschool')

 (I could not find info on the separate funding given to Stormwater
Services for their project at Southern, but you can see a smaller
example via the link immediately above, in which it is stated that SS
'was going to buy [rain-garden] plants from Southern High School [via
the BETC project of Southern and the SWCD] but now they have decided to
purchase them from the [North Carolina] botanical gardens.' Why wouldn't
the city's SS support a county project when it is clearly synergistic
and beneficial to both?)

 * SS has its own bmp (i.e. raingarden)-installation program (separate
from anything done by the SWCD): Durham rain gardens are green in more
ways than one - The News ...
<http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=stormwater%20services%20falls%20
lake%20jordan%20lake%20raincatchers&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&ved=0CEwQFjA
E&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsobserver.com%2F2012%2F08%2F12%2F2264090%2Fgre
en-in-more-ways-than-one.html&ei=fKR2UcmBCorQ9ASL94DYCg&usg=AFQjCNEMfgst
OK9USk5stgu82mycsCRZZA&bvm=bv.45512109,d.eWU>  

 As a result, SS hired and trained (at taxpayers' expense) its own
personnel to implement the program(s). Meanwhile, the SWCD already had
the expertise and experience (and a stellar record) for installing and
maintaining rain-gardens and other such bmp's on private land:

Durham County : Community Conservation Assistance Program
<http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=ccap%20durham&source=web&cd=1&ve
d=0CDMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdconc.gov%2Findex.aspx%3Fpage%3D580&ei=c6V2
Ub2bD5Dg8ATA1oHYCw&usg=AFQjCNGEyZnEBV6Tql59qkoksd1gg8KDCQ&bvm=bv.4551210
9,d.eWU>  

Why not just give the SWCD more funding and use the expertise that is
already available to us (particularly when the SWCD offered their
services in this regard)? The latter would have saved quite a bit of $
and time. It appears the reason is because of politics and unproductive
competition between SS and the SWCD.

 * Brief recount of my personal experiences of SWCD's superior
responsiveness, customer service and education:

After receiving a run-around from SS, it was the SWCD that did the
stream-bank restoration on my property on Gresham Ave (in the city). The
SWCD also installed a 1000-gallon cistern at Creekside Elementary School
and at my personal residence at 301 Spring Garden Drive, and the SWCD
advised Grounds and Maintenance Superintendent Allen Bailey with regard
to the tremendous irrigation problems at Creekside Elementary (we are
slowly implementing their suggested long-term (that's a key word)
solutions). Furthermore, Mike Dupree (from the SWCD) is working with Jin
Ellington, the coordinator of Citizen Schools (afterschool program) at
Lowe's Grove Middle School, to organize a 1/2-semester (at least)
workshop for the Citizen Schools that focuses on sustainable food
production and environmental sustainability (including education about
stormwater and water resources). Two other SWCD employees had a table
regarding the same at Creekside Elementary's Science Night this month
(and they weren't even being paid for their time). I could make an
extensive list of the altruistic, non-paid hours that SWCD staff put
into education of children and the public.

_______________________________________________
Durham INC Mailing List
list at durham-inc.org
http://www.durham-inc.org/list.html

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20130510/c003d6e9/attachment.html>