Water from rain and snow is a valu­able resource to add to our sup­ply; think of it as recy­cling at its most nat­ural level as it recharges our ground­wa­ter sup­ply. But in order to uti­lize stormwa­ter it has to be cleaned and treated before we can use it in our every­day life. Howard County has a com­pre­hen­sive Stormwa­ter Man­age­ment Divi­sion that facil­i­tates the col­lec­tion and purifi­ca­tion of all the water that falls onto or flows through the area.

While ben­e­fi­cial, stormwa­ter in its most basic form con­tains runoff that if left untreated would lead to ero­sion, flood­ing, and dam­age to wildlife. Salt, gravel and oil from our paved roads, chem­i­cals from lawn treat­ments or even lit­ter along­side the road can all con­t­a­m­i­nate the water. If left alone, this water would quickly find its way into the Chesa­peake Bay and harm the eco­log­i­cal bal­ance crit­i­cal to the Bay’s protection.

Stormwa­ter runoff accounts for over twenty per­cent of the pol­lu­tion impact­ing our local streams and the Chesa­peake Bay.  Howard County has a strong com­mit­ment to address stormwa­ter runoff prob­lems, yet there is a still great deal of work to be done; and it will take all of us work­ing together to reach our water qual­ity goals.  This stormwa­ter man­age­ment chal­lenge pro­vides oppor­tu­ni­ties for some valu­able part­ner­ships between gov­ern­ment, non-profits and the busi­ness community.        

READY — Restor­ing the Envi­ron­ment And Devel­op­ing Youth

Start­ing in sum­mer 2012, PATH (Peo­ple Act­ing Together for Howard) and their part­ner the Alliance for the Chesa­peake Bay, with the finan­cial back­ing of a grant from Howard County Gov­ern­ment, will hire and train up to 40 young adults who will learn how to develop green solu­tions to stormwa­ter man­age­ment issues.  Also work­ing with the Alliance are the Parks and Peo­ple Foun­da­tion and the Mary­land Sea Grant pro­gram.  READY pro­gram mem­bers will use their new knowl­edge to build facil­i­ties that will reduce the storm runoff that car­ries sed­i­ment and pol­lu­tants to our streams and the Chesa­peake Bay.  More infor­ma­tion on the pro­gram can be found HERE.

Storm Water Man­age­ment
The Stormwa­ter Man­age­ment Divi­sion inspects storm water man­age­ment facil­i­ties, includ­ing ponds; and man­ages stream and water­shed stud­ies and restora­tion projects in the County. The Divi­sion also main­tains and assists res­i­dents with inter­pret­ing the County’s flood plain stud­ies and flood insur­ance maps. Visit the Storm Water Man­age­ment home page for infor­ma­tion on the storm water man­age­ment, water­shed man­age­ment, flood pro­tec­tion, com­mu­nity involve­ment, illicit dis­charge, and the Howard County Storm Water Man­age­ment Design Manual.

Water Resources Ele­ment
Dur­ing the 2006 leg­isla­tive ses­sion, the Mary­land Gen­eral Assem­bly enacted House Bill 1141 Land Use – Local Gov­ern­ment Plan­ning. HB 1141 requires that local juris­dic­tions adopt a water resources ele­ment in their com­pre­hen­sive plans.

The Howard County Water Resources Ele­ment (WRE) is an amend­ment to Gen­eral Plan 2000 that adds Poli­cies and Actions intended to ensure that the County has ade­quate water resource capac­i­ties to meet future growth needs through 2030. In par­tic­u­lar, the WRE is to ensure a safe and ade­quate sup­ply of drink­ing water, and ade­quate land and water capac­ity for the treat­ment of waste­water and stormwa­ter. The WRE must reflect the oppor­tu­ni­ties and lim­i­ta­tions pre­sented by local and regional water resources. It is intended to improve pro­tec­tion of land and water resources and to address water resource goals within the con­text of local and State smart growth policies.

What you can do:
Con­sider installing a rain gar­den or native land­scap­ing to help absorb stormwa­ter before it reaches a paved sur­face or storm drain. 

Also opt for per­me­able pave­ment where pos­si­ble to allow water to fil­ter into the ground rather than run off of tra­di­tional paved surfaces.

What can I do to help pro­tect our water resources?
The WRE is, in part, intended to improve water qual­ity and habi­tat in our local streams, ponds, lakes and reser­voirs. This will in turn help improve water qual­ity and habi­tat in the Chesa­peake Bay. The major­ity of land in Howard County is pri­vately owned, so man­age­ment prac­tices at indi­vid­ual homes and busi­nesses are crit­i­cal to these efforts. The fol­low­ing links pro­vide more infor­ma­tion about local and regional water resources and ways for indi­vid­u­als and busi­nesses to help improve and pro­tect our water resources.
 

Learn more about your local and regional water resources:
Water Resources Ele­ment
Colum­bia Asso­ci­a­tion Water­shed Man­age­ment
Mary­land Trib­u­tary Strate­gies
Mary­land Streams, Rivers, Water­sheds, Coastal Bays, and Chesa­peake Bay
Mary­land Bay­Stat
NOAA Chesa­peake Bay Office
EPA Mid-Atlantic Water Quick Finder

Dis­cover more ways to save water:
EPA Water Sense
Water Use It Wisely

Find ways to vol­un­teer your time help­ing our water­ways:
Howard County Con­ser­vancy
The Friends of Pat­ap­sco Val­ley Her­itage Green Way
Chesa­peake Bay Research Reserves
Alliance for the Chesa­peake Bay Cit­i­zen Mon­i­tor­ing Program

Apply for a grant to help your com­mu­nity pro­tect water resources:
Chesa­peake Bay Trust