Use of Watershed Management Plans to Guide Stormwater System Improvements

Transcription

1 The Second Annual Statewide Use of Watershed Management Plans to Guide Stormwater System Improvements Gene Quinn Pinellas County Environmental Management

2 - Earl E. "Gene" Quinn, Senior Environmental Specialist Pinellas County Department of Environmental Management Pollution Prevention and Resource Recovery Section The History of Watershed Management in Pinellas County Pinellas County has a long history of surface water monitoring and watershed management; as a result of these efforts, partnerships have developed, with the public and with other governments. Because pollution doesn't always recognize media boundaries (for example, pollutants are often transported from the air to water through rain or dry deposition) pollution prevention has evolved into a multimedia endeavor (air, water, and solid waste). During the ~ O ' S, ~O'S, and ~O'S, as public concerns about water quality developed, the monitoring of water quality in and around municipa4 sewer systems developed into a standard requirement for State operating permits. Around 1982 the Pinellas County sewer system initiated monitoring programs that went far beyond the mandated permit requirements. The purpose of this monitoring was to establish the background conditions in any watershed that could potentially be impacted by the Sewer System's activities. Pinellas County government has a history of concern for the local environment. Because of this concern, the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners created, in April of 1975, the Department of Environmental Management (DEM). From the beginning, water quality issues were addressed by this new Department. Some of the early water management objectives of the department were: 1) to encourage the use of retention ponds in the County's stormwater sewer systems, and 2)to reduce the demand on the potable water supply by requiring the installation of irrigation wells for new construction and by also encouraging the use of lakes and ponds for irrigation. Because DEM's scope of interest includes the entire county, in 1978 and 1979 monthly surface water quality data were collected at: 1) the County's major stream outfalls, 2) representative marine sites around the County, and 3) several of the County's larger lakes; to establish the background conditions of the waters of the County. The Allen's Creek Project The Allen's Creek project was Pinellas County's first attempt to gather data from a specific watershed to be used for the purpose of managing and planning the future development within that watershed.

3 Allen s Creek is an urban stream system that flows through the City of Clearwater, the City of Largo and the County jurisdictional areas before it empties into Old Tampa Bay between Belleair Road and Haines Bayshore Road. The major channel and tributaries total about 6.5 miles in length and drain 5,000 acres. The project officially began on May 19, 1987 when an Interlocal Agreement was signed by the Cities of Clearwater and Largo, the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation (now the Florida Department of Environmental Protection), and Pinellas County Government. Originally, the project was conceptualized as occurring in three phases: Phase I (information gathering), Phase I1 (determination of the objectives and methods), and Phase I11 (doing the work needed to fix the problems). Phase I involved gathering information about the characteristics and condition of the watershed at that point in time. This included extensive field observations and diurnal sampling throughout the basin. This information was used to establish the attributes of the ecosystems within the basin and the water quality background conditions. Ground truthing of the extent and condition of: the! stormwater sewers, sanitary sewers, and septic areas within the basin was also done. Phase I was concluded with a report on these i condifions (Hooper, et al., 1990). 1 I The purpose of Phase I1 was to determine the objectives of the project. What did we want to do and how were we going to do it? We considered a number of possible objectives and priorities; and then held a public meeting to present this information to the residents of the basin and to request their input. Lessons Learned from Mistakes The Allen s Creek Phase I1 public meetings demonstrated that the public, at that time, was very mistrustful of the motives and objectives of local government. The project had to be rethought; the scientific and technical possibilities had been thoroughly considered and researched, but the political realities had not been adequately addressed. Other communities may face totally different situations, unique to their specific local political realities; and perhaps there are numerous possible successful scenarios for resolving or avoiding these difficulties. In our case, we reexamined our work in Phase I1 and rethought our objectives; taking care to solicit the involvement of the public and especially the local protest groups. Slowly a rapport began -to develop and eventually some of the projects greatest critics became project supporters. The public learned that, as a result of this watershed management project, land values were likely to increase and that the resulting projects and initiatives would improve their quality of life, while helping the environment. We (the governments involved in the project) learned that some of our original objectives were politically unrealistic and

4 others were too expensive in the short term. The project s original purpose was to quickly solve the problems in Allen s Creek; as the enormity of this objective became clear, it was apparent that the watershed management plan would work best at identifying and selecting modest short term projects quick fix projects (public education, habitat restorations, wildlife studies, etc.), while also functioning as a tool to guide long term planning (construction projects that impact drainage and treat runoff, zoning changes, major land purchases, sewer system expansions, etc. ). It had required many years for the creek to reach its current condition it was clear that it would require many years to fix it Lessons Learned from Successes What worked really well was the partnerships that developed out of the Interlocal Agreement. This agreement lead to the efficient sharing of resources: labs, personnel, field equipment, boats, meters, vehicles, computers, and documents. This combined effort saved money and it helped develop a working relationship between the local governments and agencies that led to shared activities in other prdjects and activities. After the input from the public at the Phase I1 meetings, public participation was increased in this project and in future watershed management projects. Currently, public participation in the Allen s Creek Project has grown from simply providing planning input, into active participation and field work. Civic groups, including local private and public schools, have participated in activities, such as, painting warnings on storm drains, the removal of nuisance vegetation, the planting of wetlands areas and butterfly gardens, and the creation of a Nature Center. The next two watershed management efforts were the Lake Tarpon and Lake Seminole Projects. In response to the experience gained in the Allen s Creek Project, both of these projects began with the creation of project committees. These committees planned the project activities. The membership of these committees included the involved governments and agencies, and appointed members of the public that represented businesses, interested public groups, and home owners organizations. The Comprehensive Plan In 1989, in response to amendments to the Local Government Comprehensive Planning Act, Pinellas County Government adopted significant revisions to its local government comprehensive plan. Under the goals of this revised plan, the county would prioritize the waters of the county for development of watershed management plans, and systematically prepare watershed or water body management plans

5 which would consider both flooding issues and water quality. Priority for development of management plans would be given to waters which are endangered or impaired (Moores, et a1.,1992). To gauge the progress of these efforts, the Ambient surface water monitoring program was begun to: 1) establish the background conditions of County waters, 2) document the changes in water quality over time (whether natural or anthropomorphic), 3) select impaired watersheds for further study, and 4) verify and measure the results of efforts to improve watersheds. The program started October of The stream basins within the county and the near shore marine environments were monitored for several parameter; such as, nutrients, chlorophyll, turbidity, the bacteriological series, and in situ physical parameters. Partnerships and Cooperation As mentioned above, pollution can be mobile. It moves between media and it can also move between jurisdictional boundaries; so to maximi'ze efforts to prevent pollution, it is often necessary for governments and agencies to work together, pooling resources and data. Pinellas County and Hillsborough County are neighbors and both have lengthy histories of involvement in the process of watershed management. Cooperation between our two governments has increased the resources and information available to both governments. This has allowed all involved parties to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics and interactions of local ecosystems and helps us to optimize the effectiveness of our watershed management efforts. References Cited Hooper, L., M. Andersen, M. Trexler, L. Garcia, E. Quinn, T.R. Cuba, and D. Moores Allen's Creek Baseline Project Phase I Report. Pinellas County Department of Environmental Management. Moores, D., E. Quinn, P. Leasure, N. Page, M. Andersen, S. Coats, S. Myers, D. Hicks, and C. Cox Ambient Surface Water Quality Monitoring Report, Data Year October December 1991, Pinellas County Florida. Pinellas County Department of Environmental Management.