New storm drainage rules to cost city nearly $250,000

 

Staff photo | Robert Sutton

Stormwater rushes through a culvert and into a creek that feeds into the Black Warrior River after heavy rain Wednesday morning. The culvert is behind the ABC Store on 21st Avenue, between Jack Warner Parkway and University Boulevard.

By Robert DeWitt Senior Writer

Published: Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 10:24 p.m.

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TUSCALOOSA | The city of Tuscaloosa must soon find an estimated $200,000 to $250,000 to implement new storm drainage regulations.

The regulations are intended to prevent pollutants from washing into the Black Warrior River, Lake Tuscaloosa and other public waters, but they also are an unexpected blow to the city’s budget.

“We’re all on the same page for implementing better practices to safeguard our environment,” Mayor Walt Maddox said. “However, this is a prime example of an unfunded mandate, where Washington passes down to Montgomery and Montgomery passes to the cities regulations they can’t afford to enforce.”

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management is imposing the regulations, which originated with the federal Environmental Protection Agency. So a state law that prohibits the state from placing unfunded mandates on local governments does not apply in this case.

“There’s no new money being allocated and there’s no more money being generated by the economy, so we’ll have to take away from some city department,” Maddox said. “My complaint is having to find $250,000 in what is already one of the most difficult budget years we’ve seen. And it’s not like we’ve had an opportunity to plan for it.”

The mandate will change in two significant ways how the city regulates stormwater:

The city will take on the primary responsibility for enforcing stormwater runoff regulations at construction sites during and after construction.

That responsibility has belonged to ADEM. 

The city also must do some water quality testing, something it does not do now.

The regulations are intended to prevent pollutants from washing into the Black Warrior River, Lake Tuscaloosa and other public waters, but they also are an unexpected blow to the city’s budget.

“We’re all on the same page for implementing better practices to safeguard our environment,” Mayor Walt Maddox said. “However, this is a prime example of an unfunded mandate, where Washington passes down to Montgomery and Montgomery passes to the cities regulations they can’t afford to enforce.”

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management is imposing the regulations, which originated with the federal Environmental Protection Agency. So a state law that prohibits the state from placing unfunded mandates on local governments does not apply in this case.

“There’s no new money being allocated and there’s no more money being generated by the economy, so we’ll have to take away from some city department,” Maddox said. “My complaint is having to find $250,000 in what is already one of the most difficult budget years we’ve seen. And it’s not like we’ve had an opportunity to plan for it.”

The mandate will change in two significant ways how the city regulates stormwater:

n The city will take on the primary responsibility for enforcing stormwater runoff regulations at construction sites during and after construction.

That responsibility has belonged to ADEM.

n The city also must do some water quality testing, something it does not do now.

A committee of city staff members is forming recommendations on implementing the new regulations. That task should be completed in two to three months, with implementation expected about six months later, said Chad Christian, the city’s stormwater drainage engineer.

Although the city has been involved in enforcing regulations concerning runoff from construction sites, it does not have the manpower to assume primary responsibility, Christian said. The city might need as many as eight to nine more employees to do that.

“It would take a lot more staff,” Christian said.

Until now, the city has been primarily involved in educating the public about ways to reduce pollution in stormwater drainage and minimize pollution created by municipal operations, spending about $50,000 on those efforts. The changes will increase its annual spending on stormwater pollution control to between $250,000 and $300,000, according to estimates provided by the EPA.

The regulations stem from the Clean Water Act, passed by Congress in 1971. It first targeted “point source” pollution, which includes things like a wastewater treatment plant discharge or an industrial discharge, Christian said.

When regulating point source pollution did not completely clean up pollution problems, the EPA turned to non-point source pollution. That comes from things like runoff from old mines or city stormwater.

“Rain washes everything off of the rooftops and streets into the water,” Christian said.

Oil, radiator fluid and other pollutants collect on the streets, along with dirt and trash like cigarette butts, plastic bottles and paper cups. It all washes into the river when it rains.

Much of the storm drainage on the south side of Tuscaloosa washes out through Moody Swamp. That helps cut down on pollution.

“You get a tremendous water quality benefit from a natural wetland,” Christian said. “It filters a lot of things out.”

But the northern areas of the city are hilly, resulting in pollution and sediment washing directly into the river or tributaries of the river, since there is little to filter the runoff.

Sediment creates two problems: Pollutants like oil, grease, pesticides, chemicals and heavy metals attach to the grit and are carried by it into the stream, Christian said. And sediment builds up in waterways, posing a serious problem in places like Lake Tuscaloosa, the city’s primary source of drinking water, which has lost a significant portion of its capacity to siltation.

“Our raw drinking water source has to be protected,” Christian said.

Along Tuscaloosa’s riverfront, much of the stormwater is now being filtered. There is a filtration device in the inlet at the riverboat landing next to the Hugh Thomas Bridge, and the new Bank of Tuscaloosa office complex included a filtration system for stormwater generated on the site. The new Riverwalk Place development and the amphitheater will have similar systems, Christian said.

Christian does not believe stormwater will ever be channeled to a filtration plant and treated like sewage, because it would not be practical, he said. For example, as much stormwater comes through the outlet off 21st Avenue near the Alcoholics Anonymous building in one day during a major rain as would come into the city’s wastewater treatment plant. And there are outlets all over the city.

As standards increase, however, stormwater management will become more expensive. While the city will have to find the money to deal with it, Tuscaloosa does want to protect the waters in and around the city.

“It’s true that we have to do it,” Christian said. “But we want to do it, if for no other reason than to protect Lake Tuscaloosa.”