Action Items for Local Governments
Local governments are critical partners in restoring and protecting their local waterways and, in turn, the Chesapeake Bay. This page contains resources on how local governments in the Eastern Panhandle can move toward responsible management of their jurisdictions’ land and water resources. Some of the resources you will find on this page are related karst management, smart growth, stormwater management, model stormwater ordinances and plans, septic system management, technical and financial resources, and databases and tools.
Important Steps for Establishing a Municipal Nutrient Reduction Plan:
1. Identify potential hot spots, or target areas for nutrient reductions:
2. Establish monitoring parameters & protocols
3. Revise local ordinances & rules to allow LID and stormwater retrofits
- Region 3 Fact Sheet: Incorporating Environmentally Sensitive Development Into Municipal Stormwater Programs
- Modernizing Rural Development Codes: “Quick Fixes” for Highest Priority Challenges
- Community Review of Stormwater Management Requirements
- Water Quality Benefits of Stormwater Management
- Barriers to Low Impact Development
- Policies and incentives to facilitate the use of green infrastructure in your community
- Avoiding conflicts between LID designs and community essential services (emergency services, utilities, waste management, etc.)
- Establish a fertilizer management ordinance like Lee County, Florida or New York's Nutrient Runoff Law.
4. Provide incentives for BMP installation and LID design elements
5. Create a Public Involvement Plan
Don’t know where to start? Click here for information on how to establish an effective stormwater management program in your jurisdiction. Options for Financing a Stormwater Management Program can help your community decide how to fund this important service.
Land Use Planning Resources
Sustainable Land Development in Southwest Virginia - This report promotes sustainable land development in the New River Valley through the Green Infrastructure approach. New River Valley Planning District.
Groundwater Management in Karst Terrain - Many decisions regarding the management of karst groundwater resources rely upon our ability to predict certain effects of development. Karst settings may present a challenging set of conditions in which conventional predictive techniques may be inadequate. This report assists in understanding the physical nature of the karst and developing a realistic appreciation of inherent uncertainties in predictions of groundwater behavior in karst terrain. Converse Consultants.
Karst Landscape Preservation - Primer on land use planning option in karst terrain. Karst references. Indiana Dept. of Transportation.
Carroll County (MD) Resource Management Guidance - An abundance of information related to managing resources in karst. Resource Management Manual (water resource protection, sinkhole management), forest conservation, grading and sediment control, floodplain management, and stormwater management. Carroll County, MD Bureau of Resource Management.
Clarke County VA Zoning and Subdivision Ordinances - Zoning and subdivision ordinances (karst and water resource protection). Clarke County, VA.
Groundwater Protection and Siting Ordinance - Ordinance for protecting groundwater in karst. Hernando County, FL.
Watershed Credits - Watershed credits focus on the location of the development, rather than on the design of the site. They reward developers who locate in areas that result in less impact to water resources by encouraging development in already urbanized or highly degraded areas. Stormwater Manager's Resource Center.
Etowah Aquatic HCP - Resources for the protection of aquatic species in the Etowah watershed, Georgia. The innovative Habitat Conservation Plan calls for performance-based standards for runoff reduction. Resources include model ordinances, runoff limit models, Better Site Design checklist, and guidance for the design of stream crossings and culverts.
Chester County (PA) Watersheds Plan - Part of an overall Comprehensive Plan, this integrated water resources plan for Chester County, PA provides specific strategies, criteria, and recommendations for municipalities and others to protect water resources while accommodating for planned growth. Recommendations, guidance and tools for municipal implementation. Chester County (PA) Water Resources Authority.
Delaware NEMO Guide to Natural Resource Based Planning - Resources for managing impervious cover, riparian areas, stormwater, and source water protection.
Developments and Dollars - This guide provides citizens, planners, local officials and others concerned with sprawling development and growth issues with tools they need to examine the likely impacts of development proposals on local taxes and municipal budgets. It also offers advice on accounting practices sometimes used to make development appear more attractive to local governments than it really is. Natural Resources Defense Council.
LEED Standards for Neighborhood Development - The LEED for Neighborhood Development Rating System integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism and green building into the first national system for neighborhood design. U.S. Green Building Council - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
Smart Growth America - Smart Growth America supports citizen-driven planning that coordinates development, transportation, revitalization of older areas and preservation of open space and the environment.
Smart Growth and the Clean Water Act - This study investigates the relationship between three Clean Water Act programs and “smart growth,” an approach to development that emphasizes greater density, mixed uses, redevelopment of underused areas, transportation choices, and open space protection. These programs can promote smart growth when federal, state, and local governments grasp opportunities to integrate water quality and smart growth goals. Some jurisdictions already have done so, resulting in efficiencies and environmental benefits. Environmental Law Institute.
Smart Growth for Clean Water - Identifies five smart growth approaches that can improve water quality: land conservation, waterfront brownfields revitalization, urban and community forestry, low impact development, and watershed management. It profiles several local partnerships across the nation that have successfully used these approaches to realize multiple environmental and economic benefits. The report also identifies specific barriers and solutions to the effective implementation of smart growth for clean water programs. National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals.
Smart Growth Publications - US EPA compendium of resources related to all aspects of Smart Growth.
Smart Growth Scorecards - Smart growth scorecards can help your community choose the best tools to make growth and development benefit everyone. They can also help you measure your community's progress towards the best possible future by offering ways to rate and analyze the policies and regulations that determine development patterns. US EPA.
Land Development Regulations Tools - Smart growth guidance - smart code, ordinances, and models. Smart Growth Network.
Getting to Smart Growth - Policy options that can be mixed and matched to fit local circumstances, visions, and values, and highlights steps for putting Smart Growth principles into practice. US EPA.
TMDL Water Quality Issue Brief - Local government guide to water quality impairments, Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) development and implementation. National Association of Counties.
Watershed Forestry Resource Guide - This website is a central clearinghouse for all things related to forests and watersheds. There have been many recent efforts towards managing urban forests for watershed health that have resulted in a variety of highly useful tools and training materials. This site compiles these resources into a format that can be easily accessed and downloaded. U.S. Forest Service/Center for Watershed Protection.
Planner's Guide to Wetland Buffers for Local Governments - Based on detailed examination of more than 50 enacted wetland buffer ordinances around the nation and nine model ordinances, as well as several hundred scientific studies and analyses of buffer performance, this guide identifies both the state-of-the-art and the range of current practice in protection of wetland buffers by local governments. Environmental Law Institute.
Stormwater Management Resources
Incorporating Environmentally Sensitive Development Into Municipal Stormwater Programs - US EPA factsheet intended to assist local stormwater managers who wish to encourage or require low impact development practices to meet stormwater goals.
Using Incentives to Promote Green Stormwater Practices - Economic strategies to increase implementation of green stormwater/runoff reduction practices. Includes case studies. ECONorthwest.
Water Quality Performance Standards for Urban Development - Performance standards for stormwater management on karst. Texas.
Paving Our Way to Water Shortages - A major contributor to our water problems is the way we develop land. As we pave over more and more wetlands and forests, this report shows that we are depleting our water supplies.
Low Impact Development Toolkit (Mass.) - Techniques, factsheets, ordinance guidelines and other resources for putting LID to work. Massachusetts Metropolitan Area Planning Council.
Stormwater Manager's Resource Center - Resources for stormwater practitioners, local government officials and others that need technical assistance on stormwater management issues. Includes stormwater manual builder and model ordinance.
Stafford Cty. VA - Stormwater-Erosion Sediment Control Plans - Stormwater management and erosion control guidance incorporating Low Impact Development principles.
Impediments to Low Impact Development and Environmental Site Design - Results from workshops whose goal was to identify important impediments to use of low impact development and environmental sensitive design for improving water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and to recommend ways to remove these impediments. Chesapeake Bay Program - Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee.
Connecticut NEMO Program - Excellent LID resources for land use planners, engineers, and local officials.
Managing Stormwater in Your Community - Codes and Ordinances Worksheet, guidance for developing a post-construction stormwater management program, model ordinances, stormwater manual guidance, maintenance guidance, and much more. Center for Watershed Protection.
Using Economic Incentives to Manage Stormwater Runoff - This report describes a methodology for focusing limited budgets on the most efficient and ecologically-effective installation of stormwater management practices. The methodology was tested in a midwestern suburban watershed in Ohio. By employing a multidisciplinary approach to watershed management, the case study offers an example of stormwater management that should be readily transferable to other residential watersheds. US EPA.
Upper Swift Creek Area Plan Amendment - The Upper Swift Creek Plan will help guide future development in ways that balance the interests of current and future residents, landowners, businesses and the development community in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
LGEAN Stormwater Resource Center - Substantial information on various technical and financial resources available to local governments, as well as information on current wet weather regulatory and legislative initiatives, workshops, web sites, and publications which can assist local governments in reducing wet weather pollution. Local Government Environmental Assistance Network (LGEAN). LGEAN is one of EPA's Compliance Assistance Centers that helps businesses, local governments, and federal facilities understand and comply with federal environmental requirements and save money through pollution prevention techniques.
NRDC Stormwater Strategies - Comprehensive resource outlining causes, consequences, and solutions for stormwater management.
NRCS Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Processes and Planning Principles - Provides a good overview of nonpoint sources and impacts, erosion and sediments control, stormwater management, and planning principles to control nonpoint source pollution. Part of the Illinois Urban Manual developed by the NRCS for urban ecosystem protection and enhancement.
Before the Storm: Reducing the Damage from Polluted Stormwater Runoff - This report examines the problem and contains recommended changes to Albemarle County’s (VA) development ordinances to reduce the harm stormwater runoff is inflicting on local streams and rivers. Southern Environmental Law Center.
The Changing Face of Stormwater Management - Overview of stormwater management practices that improve water quality. Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay.
Using Rainwater to Grow Livable Communities - Sustainable stormwater management resources. This website is designed to encourage and facilitate the integration of stormwater BMPs into development projects in your area by providing tools and resources for effective communication and implementation as well as in-depth case studies that examine BMP integration in several cities across the United States. Information is helpfully organized by perspective e.g Elected Official, Engineer, Planner, etc. Water Environment Research Foundation.
Water Quality Scorecard - The Water Quality Scorecard was developed by US EPA to help local governments identify opportunities to remove barriers and revise and create codes, ordinances, and incentives to better protect water quality. It guides municipal staff through a review of relevant local codes and ordinances across multiple municipal departments to ensure that these codes work together to support a green infrastructure approach.
Comprehensive Approach to Stormwater Design - Overview of Maryland's avoid, minimize, and mitigate approach to stormwater management.
Pennsylvania's Approach to Comprehensive Stormwater Management - Pennsylvania's comprehensive stormwater management approach is designed to preserve and restore flood carrying capacities of streams, preserve to the maximum extent practical natural stormwater runoff regimes and the natural course, current and cross sections of streams, and to protect and conserve ground waters and groundwater recharge areas.
Comprehensive Stormwater Management Procedure - The Procedure begins with a background assessment of the site, its natural systems, and the local regulations that must be met. It then examines opportunities for incorporating Non-Structural (preventive) BMPs into the site design and considers which structural (mitigative) BMPs can be integrated to achieve the peak rate/volume control/water quality goals. The intent is that through an iterative series of feedback loops, a comprehensive stormwater management plan is formulated. Pennsylvania.
Performance Criteria for Stormwater Treatment Practices - Performance criteria for a select group of structural stormwater treatment practices. Stormwater Manager's Resource Center.
Site Design Credits - Site design credits act as an incentive to developers, designers, and builders to implement better site design and low impact development techniques that can reduce the volume of stormwater runoff, preserve natural areas, and minimize the pollutant loads from the site. Stormwater Manager's Resource Center.
Site Design Guidance - For planners and engineers - tools for incorporating postconstruction stormwater quality protection into concept plans and land disturbance permitting. Particularly nice section on evaluation of concept plans. St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District.
Site Planning for Stormwater Management - Describes preventive, source reduction and control practices throughout the site planning process in the design of stormwater runoff management sytems. The intent of this document is to provide non-technical methods of considering the sources and effects of stormwater runoff as early in the site planning process as possible and to consider stormwater as a part of the site plan through all steps of the development process. North Carolina.
Green Infrastructure - Codes and Ordinances - US EPA presentation outlining guidance for incorporating green infrastructure principles into land use planning to protect water quality.
Maryland 2010 Model Stormwater Ordinance - Stormwater ordinance revised to incorporate Environmental Site Design principles. Maryland Dept. of the Environment.
Knox County (TN) Stormwater Ordinance and Manual - Stormwater ordinance and manuals promoting Low Impact Development and karst management. Good overview of planning process and stormwater impacts. Knox County, Tennessee.
St. Johns River Stormwater Management Ordinance - Performance-based requirements for runoff reduction. Karst requirements.
Clarke County VA Resource Plans and Ordinances - Zoning and subdivision ordinances (karst and water resource protection). Clarke County, VA.
Model Post-Construction Stormwater Ordinance - Stormwater Manager's Resource Center.
Developing a Model Stormwater Ordinance for Chester County, PA - The Chester County Water Resources Authority, as part of the planning efforts for Chester County’s integrated water resources management plan, developed “Ten Principles of Comprehensive Stormwater Management”. These principles present a holistic approach to watershed management. They are intended to be implemented collectively through an integrated design process that will accomplish the ten principles with the minimum total system volume and site disturbance. More at Chester County Water Resources Authority.
Model Stormwater Management Plans:
Little Lehigh Creek Stormwater Management Plan - Stormwater managment plan for Little Lehigh Creek (PA). Contains Carbonate (i.e. Karst) Area Standards that seek to maintain the natural balance, avoid concentrating stormwater flows, minimize the disruption of the karst mantle, maximize buffering of karst features and consider the interaction of site risk and design factors. See stormwater ordinance in same section - utilizes stormwater management districts with specific standards. Lehigh Valley (PA) Planning Commission.
Maiden Creek (PA) Stormwater Management Plan - Karst-related stormwater management plan. Contains a Municipal Handbook for Stormwater Management. Maiden Creek watershed, Pennsylvania.
Spring Creek Stormwater Management Plan - This stormwater management plan for Pennsylvania's Spring Creek watershed provides guidance for managing stormwater in karst terrain - karst drainway protection and groundwater recharge. Centre County (PA) Planning Office.
Additonal information regarding stormwater managment can be found on the Stormwater Resources page.
Septic System Management Resources
USEPA Septic Systems Site - US EPA portal for septic system information. Guidance, manuals, policies, contacts, tools, educational materials, demonstration projects, and technical information.
Voluntary National Guidelines for Management of Onsite and Clustered (Decentralized) Wastewater Treatment Systems - Guide that helps communities establish comprehensive management programs to ensure that all septic systems function properly; shows how septic system managment can contribute toward achieving mutual water quality objectives and public health protection goals; and discusses different septic system managment models and how to apply them. US EPA.
Handbook for Managing Onsite and Clustered Wastewater Treatment Systems - US EPA "how-to guide" for implementing EPA's Voluntary National Guidelines for Management of Onsite and Clustered (Decentralized) Wastewater Treatment Systems. The guide describes a step-by-step approach for the development of a community management program for decentralized wastewater systems. It includes specific community examples, gives an overview of the elements essential for sound management of these systems, and provides links to extensive resources.
Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems Manual - US EPA manual for onsite (septic) systems. Contains information on onsite wastewater treatment system siting, design, installation, maintenance, and replacement. Chapter 1 provides a good overview of the history and problems associated with septic systems.
Technical & Financial Resources
Bay Partner Communities – A program that recognizes many of the more than 1,650 local governments that are doing their part to be good stewards of their land and water resources. Apply for your community to get an award.
Chesapeake NEMO – Chesapeake NEMO (Network for Education of Municipal Officials) helps communities foster well-planned growth, preserve water quality and protect natural areas. Find out how Chesapeake NEMO helps communities link land, water and growth.
Local Government Environmental Assistance Network - The Local Government Environmental Assistance Network is a "first-stop shop" providing environmental management, planning, funding, and regulatory information for local government elected and appointed officials, managers and staff.
An Internet Guide to Financing Stormwater Management - Developed by the Center for Urban Policy and the Environment at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in cooperation with the Watershed Management Institute, Inc., this Web site seeks to help communities find ways to pay for stormwater management projects.
Wastewater Tools for Communities - Produced by the National Onsite Demonstration Project, this series of products is designed to assist communities with addressing onsite and decentralized wastewater management issues.
Bay LOGIN – Bay LOGIN is a resource based website for local governments in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This site provides the latest information on current activities, grants, and events that impact local governments in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Best Nonpoint Source Documents - US EPA list of some of the best nonpoint source materials for both professionals and the public. Categorized by source e.g. agriculture, urban, etc.
Southeast Watershed Assistance Network - Clearinghouse for land and water protection resources.
BMP Locator - Use this unique on-line tool to locate instructions and specifications for construction stormwater best management practices (BMPs) published by EPA and state agencies.
Urban BMP Performance Tool - This tool has been developed to provide stormwater professionals with easy access to approximately 220 studies assessing the performance of over 275 BMPs. It provides access to studies covering a variety of traditional and low impact BMP types, including retention and detention ponds, biofilters, grassed filter strips, porous pavement, wetlands, and others. Users will also find a series of essays aimed at improving understanding of BMP performance and the importance of volume reduction/infiltration in these assessments.
NPDES Compliance Monitoring Strategy - This new strategy, which takes effect in 2009, outlines inspection and compliance goals for the entire NPDES program, including major and minor NPDES facilities, pretreatment programs, biosolids, CSOs, SSOs, stormwater, and CAFOs. It places increased emphasis on wet weather issues, particularly stormwater sources, and sets ambitious targets for audits and inspections of Phase I and II MS4s, construction sites, and industrial facilities.
National Storm Water Best Management Practices Database - This searchable database provides access to BMP performance data in a standardized format for over 113 BMP studies conducted over the past fifteen years.