Report calls pollution protection inadequate along water’s edge

Friday, Jan. 4, 2008

And because the response from the St. Mary’s County Department of Land Use and Growth Management has been deemed inadequate, the environmental protection group will be seeking volunteers to help inspect stormwater management systems.

The Potomac River Association asked the consulting group Community and Environmental Defense Services to evaluate major developments in the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area — land within 1,000 feet of the shoreline.

The group began inspecting facilities in October and three of the four inspected ‘‘were in a very severe state of disrepair and were providing virtually no protection for the sensitive aquatic communities located downstream,” the PRA report stated.

Based on that, the Potomac River Association directed the consultant to determine if this was an isolated situation, or if it was countywide.

In the interim, the consultant notified the land use and growth management office. ‘‘Seven weeks later, on Dec. 10, the county’s sole stormwater inspector, George Thompson, reported that he had verified the deficiencies at the three facilities and that corrective action was being initiated,” the report stated.

‘‘Thompson also said that the county has decided to expand their inspection capabilities through a contractual arrangement. The goal of this arrangement is to inspect each of the 389 existing facilities, plus another 138 under construction, once every three years. In the meantime, the scope of the maintenance problem could be considerable,” it added.

State law requires that stormwater management facilities be inspected one year after completion and every three years after that, said George Erichsen, director of public works and transportation. That department used to be in charge of inspections but it was moved to the office of planning and zoning in 2002 (now called land use and growth management).

Denis Canavan, director of land use and growth management, did not respond to inquiries this week.

The existing stormwater facilities drain about 4,000 acres or 11 percent of the developed portions of St. Mary’s, according to the association.

The PRA now aims to develop a program to recruit and train volunteers to assess the condition of stormwater management facilities visible from areas open to the public. The goal is to start in the spring.

E-mail Jason Babcock at jbabcock@somdnews.com.