Stormwater July/August 2012 : Page 15

such as those in Prince George’s Coun-ty, MD; Arlington County, VA; Fairfax County, VA; and Alexandria, VA, can make it diffi cult for stormwater manag-ers to plan for long-term capital pro-grams. This volatility in the assessment tax base can provide the impetus for a municipality to consider a stormwater utility. For example, the city of Takoma Park, MD, switched from a dedicated tax to an impervious area-based fee in 1997 (Figure 1). Stormwater utility fees are more eq-uitable systems for raising revenues for stormwater management—basing fees on actual runoff impact, rather than property value. Under an impervious area-based fee system, tax-exempt enti-ties (e.g., nonprofi ts, faith-based organiza-tions) that contribute to stormwater run-off are generally charged just like other properties. In general, user fees have the effect of shifting some of the burden of managing stormwater from residential to other properties (Figure 2). Recently, due to Senate Bill 3481, enacted in January 2011, that equity was further increased by requiring the federal government to pay stormwater utility fees. In some ju-risdictions, impervious area from federal properties represents a signifi cant portion of total impervious area. For example, in Montgomery County, MD; Portsmouth, VA; and Washington DC, the impervious area of the federal government proper-ties is 1%, 16%, and 20% of the total, respectively. Stormwater utilities can positive-ly affect behaviors and assist with NPDES permit compliance, especially when fees are based on impervious sur-faces or when a system of credits is put into the system. At the very least, utilities raise awareness about the connection be-tween human development activities and polluted runoff. Driven in part by the Chesapeake Bay total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), Montgomery County’s recent NPDES permit requires the retro-fi t of 20% of all impervious surfaces with stormwater controls. The county has de-termined that to meet that goal, a signifi -cant fraction of all retrofi ts will need to be implemented on private property. water utilities and the growth rate of stormwater user fees have roughly cor-related with three periods of regulatory pressure. The fi rst was in the 1970s, with implementation of the Clean Water Act and with increased focus on local fl oodplain management regulations. The second was in the early 1990s with the issuance of Phase I NPDES stormwater permits for large cities and counties with over 100,000 people served by munici-pal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s). And the third historical wave of develop-ment of stormwater utilities was in the early 2000s when NPDES MS4 permits were issued for the smallest regulated size class, the so-called Phase II jurisdic-tions, with populations over 50,000 in urban areas. Communities with combined sewer overfl ow (CSO) systems also have turned to using impervious area-based fee mechanisms to fund some portions of their programs, such as the nonstruc-J & S Valve Open ® What is a WaStop ® Valve? WaStop ® is a Backflow Prevention Valve for: x Water x Storm Water x Wastewater x Sanitary Sewer Close WaStop Opens When Flow Moves Under the Flexible Conical Shaped Membrane. WaStop Closes When Reverse Flow Fills the Flexible Conical Shaped Membrane. ® ® WaStop ® Replaces: x Faulty Curved Duckbill Check Valves x Faulty Inline Duckbill Check Valves x Faulty Flap Valves Sizes: 3” -72” Install Reliability Install WaStop ! ® WaStop Installation ® JandSValve.com New Funding Pressures and Approaches The rate of implementation of storm-sales @ jandsvalve.com Ŷ 281 -324 -3990 July/August 2012 www.stormh2o.com 15

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