Storm Brews Over Water Runoff Regs
Regulators will soon be implementing tougher storm water management rules for commercial, industrial, retail and large residential properties in Massachusetts, causing business groups to worry about the costs of onerous mandates amid a gloomy economy.
The state and federal programs are aimed at developments in the Upper Charles River Watershed towns of Franklin, Bellingham and Milford. The three towns have been zeroed in on by the federal Environmental Protection Agency with a special designation because the Charles River in that area shows concerning levels of phosphorous pollution.
Businesses Balk
The tougher standards will be applied to properties with two acres or more of “impervious surfaces,” such as parking lots or roofs, through a general permit process where businesses will self-certify they are in compliance.
Getting compliance will require new projects or existing developments to evaluate their storm water drainage and make updates where necessary. The environmental argument for the new regulations is that storm water runoff that is not properly managed is causing widespread pollution of the state’s water resources. In areas outside the Charles River Watershed, the regulations also address shrinking groundwater resources.
Cost estimates from business and local property owners run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for compliance. EPA officials say the cost estimates of meeting the new regulations have been overblown.
Not surprisingly, businesses are less than enthusiastic about the need for the new permits and regulations.
“It will drive up the cost of doing business in Massachusetts,” said Christopher Egan, president of Carruth Capital LLC, a commercial real estate development and leasing company based in Westborough. He predicted that the programs will keep landlords from fixing up their properties because even small fixes like roof repairs and repaving parking lots will trigger new storm water management requirements.
Egan also pointed to what he sees as unfairness in how the rules are being applied. In fact, there are exceptions being made for a variety of properties, including single-family homes, campgrounds, RV parks, trailer parks and municipal, state and federal properties.
The new regulations are designed to take some of the regulatory burden off municipalities, according to regulators.
Once the state has its pilot program in the three towns well under way, it will roll out the program statewide but with a slightly different standard – only properties with five acres or more of impervious surfaces will have to comply.
“Storm water management regulations are necessary because a number of waters around the state are impaired,” DEP Commissioner Laurie Burt said. “In 27 watersheds around the state, three quarters of them have water that has been classified as impaired. In urban and rapidly growing areas our waterways, including ponds and lakes as well as rivers, are not available for our citizens to enjoy. That’s very inconsistent with the goals of the DEP.”
Over the last decade, municipalities have had to upgrade their wastewater systems, including storm water drainage systems to meet federal and state regulations, and now regulators are looking to private industry for gains both in polluted water bodies and in recharging watersheds.
Regulators Spat
While state and federal regulators have worked together with environmental advocates to document the Charles River’s phosphorus problem, the DEP believes that the federal government’s special designation for Franklin, Bellingham and Milford is “premature.”
“It’s premature for them (the EPA) to do an additional federal permit on top of the state’s program,” Burt said. “The state system should be allowed to work before there is a determination.”
But the EPA says its well within its authority to step in on the cleaning up the Charles River by starting with developments in the three MetroWest towns.
“It’s historical, long-standing practice. The federal government has always been in control of storm water management and the state has never sought approval to change that,” said William Walsh-Rogalski, the EPA’s counsel for special projects. “But we’re co-regulators because neither party has the upper hand.”
Despite their differences on the need for the EPA’s designation, Burt and Walsh-Rogalski stressed that the two agencies have worked cooperatively for years, detailing the problems in the Charles River and deciding what should be done about it.
Meanwhile officials on the town level in Franklin, Bellingham and Milford are concerned that having stricter standards will put them at an economic development disadvantage.
“If the environmental standards are different, and a business has to spend $100,000 to comply, what will keep them from moving four miles up the street to another community?” said Jeffrey Nutting, Franklin’s town administrator.
Franklin officials have told the EPA and the DEP that the regulations should be fair to all towns: it should either be two acres for all or five acres for all. The town has also asked that the new regulations go into effect only after properties change hands.
The one silver lining is that property owners do have some time to achieve compliance. The state will give property-owners in the three towns and statewide four and a half years to develop plans for any new systems and upgrades to existing ones, then up to 10 years to install them on their properties, according to Glenn Haas, the head of DEP’s storm water management program.
State and federal regulators will be mulling comments submitted by environmentalists, businesses, trade groups and municipal officials before they issue their new regulations, which is expected within the next couple of months.
Still property owners, like Egan at Carruth Capital, are not convinced.
“These regulations are like using a sledgehammer to drive a tack in,” he said.
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