Storm Water

A task force will present three payment options for upgrading the county's aging storm water management system at a public hearing tonight -- all of which would involve increasing assessments or fees on county residents.County Executive Charles I. Ecker said yesterday that he would not accept a proposal that would raise residential taxes or fees.Ecker said there is a good possibility that money for upgrading the county's storm sewers will not be allotted if the task force can't come up with a plan that maintains current tax rates.

T he Baltimore Sun recently published an editorial in support of the Maryland Department of the Environment's proposed new storm water regulations, to become effective May 4. What The Sun's editorial neglected to appreciate was the threat these new regulations pose to Smart Growth in Maryland. Particularly for Maryland's most populous jurisdictions, such as Baltimore County, redevelopment provides a critical opportunity to absorb new population growth, maximize the use of public infrastructure and create economic opportunity and jobs, while simultaneously reducing consumption of valuable land and rural open space.

The Planning Commission Monday night rejected a proposed new infiltration storm water management system in favor of a more traditional basin-type plan for Boulder Hill Estates.After debating for three months the merits of a trench system designed by subdivision engineer Dan Staley, the commission voted to go with a double basin presented by town engineer Bob Bond.Commission members told Staley they had doubts about how long thenew trench system would last and concerns about replacement costs ifit failed.

Howard County residents have told county officials not to ask for increased funding for storm water management unless residents are informed exactly how and where their money will be spent.Tonight at 7: 30, the fourth and final public hearing on the funding proposals will be held at the East Columbia library on Cradlerock Way in Columbia's Owen Brown village.The meetings are designed to get feedback from residents on a county-appointed task force's proposals on how best to pay for upgrading and maintaining the county's aging water management system.

THE FASTEST-growing source of pollution of the Chesapeake Bay begins as raindrops. As rain runs off from streets and parking lots, storm water sweeps away chemicals and wastes collected there and carries them into the bay and its streams. Storm water runoff is now the primary cause of pollution for nearly 1,600 miles of streams in the Chesapeake watershed. It accounts for 15 percent of all nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) pollution and 9 percent of sediment entering the estuary, according to the Chesapeake Bay Program.

If you create ponds and rain gardens to capture polluted runoff, will they work - and keep working?  A recent survey of storm-water control facilities put in along the Severn River in Anne Arundel County found that a third of them were in good condition, but more - 43 percent - were either in poor shape or couldn't be found at all. That's what 26 volunteers for the Severn River Association found earlier this month when they fanned out...

Taneytown City Manager Joseph Mangini says a proposal for the city to take responsibility for its own storm water management will be ready for the City Council to enact at its October meeting.The proposal, introduced at the last council meeting, detailed a city plan to take control of the process from the county.If the proposal is accepted, Taneytown will become one of only two towns its size in the state -- Chestertown on the Eastern Shore is the other -- to handle its own storm water management, Mr. Mangini said.

The Anne Arundel County Council will hear from the public at its meeting tonight on a proposal that would levy a new fee on county residents designed to reduce and more effectively manage storm water run-off along the Chesapeake Bay. The measure, proposed by Councilman Chris Trumbauer, would impose a $35 annual fee on residential property tax bills and $25 on condos and town houses; nonresidential properties would be assessed depending on square...

Four islands of lush, disheveled, green vegetation - and a smattering of black-eyed Susans - sprout from the hot, tarred parking lot of Anne Arundel County's office complex on Riva Road in Annapolis. Not there for aesthetic reasons, the plantings are part of a county experiment to better control the flow of oil- and grease-laden storm-water that runs across the pavement and eventually settles in area waterways. Called "bioretention areas," the gardens are among a variety of innovative storm-water management methods being tested at the county's 6.5-acre office park.

Mayor Martin O'Malley celebrated Earth Day this morning by participating in a sensory garden planting designed by students at Gilmor Elementary School and the Parks & People Foundation, during which he also launched a public awareness campaign aimed at providing solutions to Baltimore's urban storm water runoff. The campaign -- created through a partnership between Adopt-A-Waterway and the city that was announced last December -- seeks to bring together local government and corporations to raise funds for storm water cleanup at no expense to local taxpayers, officials said.