N e w s l e t t er

July 2023

HELPING CHARLES COUNTY RESIDENTS CARE FOR THEIR RAIN GARDENS AND POROUS PAVEMENT

In order to help meet their stormwater permit requirements, Charles County, MD has implemented a homeowner Best Management Practice (BMP) program. Through this initiative, stormwater BMPs are installed on private property as part of the development process. To date, over 500 rain gardens, as well as other vegetated BMPs and porous pavement, have been installed through this program. These BMPs must be maintained by the homeowner and are inspected by the County every three years.

EFC has been working with Charles County government to help educate homeowners about proper care and maintenance of their residential rain gardens and porous pavement. The first phase of this work culminated with a Residential Rain Garden and Porous Pavement Summit. The purpose of the summit, which was held at the Charles County Government Complex in La Plata, was to educate homeowners about the causes and impacts of stormwater, how the County is managing stormwater and the County’s stormwater, the County’s BMP program and the inspection process, and the purpose and proper maintenance of rain gardens and porous pavement. Presentations on the topics were shared by a variety of content area specialists including EFC faculty, University of Maryland Extension Watershed Restoration Specialists, and Charles County staff. Additionally, a selection of service providers (design firms, landscaping companies, Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professionals, etc.) that can assist homeowners with their BMP maintenance needs were invited to have tables at the event.

The next step in this project was a Rain Garden Maintenance Training for Homeowners held earlier this month and led by the Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professionals. This session educated homeowners that want to care for their own rain gardens about basic maintenance, signs of problems, and proper plant selection. If you are a Charles County resident that is interested in learning about future training opportunities, you can put your name on an interest sheet by completing this short survey.

WATER TA PROGRAM TO HELP COMMUNITIES ACCESS FUNDS FOR WATER INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS

UMD EFC recently launched the Region 3 Water Technical Assistance (WaterTA) program, which offers direct support to municipalities, tribes, and water utilities in the Mid-Atlantic region (EPA Region 3) to help them access federal and state funding for water infrastructure needs. Funded by a five-year EPA award, the program aims to increase the number of communities that can successfully access water infrastructure funding to ensure safe, reliable water systems for all. 

This no-cost assistance is available to any municipality, tribe, or water system in the Mid-Atlantic region, with priority given to historically underserved and disadvantaged communities and those that meet their state’s affordability criteria. The WaterTA team – which includes EFC as well as a group of partner TA providers – can help at any stage in the process, from identifying water challenges to developing plans to completing funding application materials. Projects may span drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, source water protection, nonpoint source and other categories. 

To learn more about available services or request assistance, visit the Region 3 WaterTA project site.

FINDING FUNDS TO IMPLEMENT CLIMATE ADAPTATION AT WATER UTILITIES

EPA's Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) initiative offers a range of resources and tools to help drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater operators understand how climate change risks may affect their utility and then evaluate the costs and benefits of potential adaptation strategies. The two primary tools for conducting a climate risk assessment are the Resilient Strategies Guide (RSG) and the Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool (CREAT).

In 2023, EPA recruited dozens of communities who were interested in receiving direct, hands-on technical assistance from engineers and subject matter experts with the CWRU initiative to integrate resiliency measures into their systems. The EPA CRWU team invited the EFC to participate in sessions within Region 3 to provide input to communities on funding and financing strategies. Three communities in Maryland took advantage of this opportunity, Cambridge, Chesapeake Beach, and Crisfield, and two in Virginia, Dumfries and Prince William County. EFC has recently worked with all three of the Maryland communities on flooding issues. These communities met with the CRWU team virtually and on-site, working through the CREAT tool for a selected issue each utility was facing. In addition to receiving expert assistance to help them prepare scenarios and conduct the assessments, they were able to engage in peer sharing during their work sessions. Each community received a report at the end of the process to guide planning, decision-making, and budgeting processes going forward. The Maryland cohort held a hybrid workshop in Annapolis in late May where communities shared their results. The event featured a panel of state and federal funding agencies as well as EFC, where staff member Stephanie Dalke presented about strategies and best practices for pursuing funding and financing for infrastructure resiliency.

The CRWU initiative is offering another round of technical assistance; interested communities or utilities should contact Aliza Furneaux (Furneaux.aliza@epa.gov) to request assistance.

Consider.

 "It didn’t cause the event, but it changed the magnitude of the event."

-Michael Wehner, a senior scientist in applied mathematics and computational research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, on how climate change has made the ongoing heat wave in the Southern United States about 5 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than it would have been otherwise.