EPA has approved a new permit for the District of Columbia meant to reduce stormwater runoff pollution into the Anacostia and Potomac rivers, Chesapeake Bay tributaries.
The new permit is an improvement for water quality, and will require that the city add at least 350,000 new square feet of green roofs on city properties, stop 100,000 pounds of trash per year from being washed into Anacostia River, and plant at least 4,150 trees a year, according to EPA. It also sets stringent new pollution control standards for new development projects in the city.
But the permit is not as strong as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and other clean water advocates would have liked. The new permit does not have very aggressive requirements for planting vegetation that can act as filters for runoff, or for requiring that stormwater control efforts meet local water quality standards.
“There are some very worthy improvements to this permit,” said Lee Epstein, CBF’s Lands Program Director, “but there are also some missed opportunities.”
To learn more, click here or here.
By Tom Pelton
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
(Photo from EPA)
At least it's a good start. Not hard to understand why it's not so strict, with so many budget deficits and a tanking economy :/
-Jackie
Posted by: Stormwater Control | 10/18/2011 at 08:04 PM
good
Posted by: Paul Hornung Jersey | 01/10/2012 at 08:50 PM