On Monday, January 26, Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) released revisions to a proposed permit for the management and oversight of municipal stormwater systems. The agency touted the draft as offering municipalities and institutions less costly and more flexible requirements for compliance.

State officials and representatives from some of those municipalities still voiced concerns and objections to DEEP’s attempt to protect Connecticut’s waters at a lower cost than was originally estimated from an earlier, poorly received proposal.

DEEP Commissioner Robert Klee said that after carefully reviewing those draft requirements with earlier concerns of local officials in mind, the agency developed new approaches to achieve environmental and public health objectives with lower costs for municipalities.

“We believe cities and towns can realistically and cost-effectively implement the type of revised requirements we are now proposing — which will safeguard the quality of our waters and aquatic life and make certain they are attractive and safe for people to enjoy for swimming, fishing, and boating,” Mr Klee said.

Objections and observations concerning the revisions were soon to follow from First Selectman Pat Llodra, Senator Tony Hwang, and a representative from a consortium representing the state’s smaller towns.

Mrs Llodra previously said that if the new regulations were installed as proposed, Newtown would have to join the majority of towns and cities across the state currently in violation of existing stormwater rules.

“The draft of the revised permit shows that the commission has addressed some of my concerns,” Mrs Llodra said after reviewing proposed changes.

The first selectman observed that the draft language rolls back a street sweeping requirement to an annual protocol, which is Newtown’s current practice.

“A leaf management plan is now called for instead of the requirement that municipalities do leaf pick-up; and the proposed cleaning and monitoring of catch basins has been scaled back to a level more consistent with our current policy,” Mrs Llodra said.

She said the original proposal related to these three aspects alone would have placed significant financial burdens on Newtown.

“I am pleased that we have made this progress in influencing the development of policy that was so ill-conceived,” she said. “We are committed to the overarching clean water goals and will continue to execute responsible environmental behaviors.”

Mrs Llodra said Newtown works to remain compliant with DEEP and EPA regulations, and officials will continue to improve local stormwater practices.

“Newtown is proud to be among the municipalities that already comply with strict standards,” Mrs Llodra said. “We ask only that action to enhance standards be undertaken with our involvement and with consideration for the financial burdens we must place on property owners in order to fund new requirements.”

Smaller Town Concerns

Cities and towns that operate stormwater systems are required to register for a General Permit with DEEP that establishes operating requirements for them. DEEP initiated a process to revise requirements of this General Permit, which was first put in place in 2004, to meet water quality objectives of the US Environmental Protection Agency and to incorporate “best practices” for management of stormwater.

Permit requirements for stormwater systems have been put in place because waters they discharge carry contaminants — everything from oil and gasoline residues to excess nutrients and bacteria from animal feces — into lakes, rivers, streams, and Long Island Sound, a DEEP release states.

This has a significant impact on water quality and is a major reason why many water bodies are classified as impaired and unsuitable for fishing and swimming. The issue has become even more central to the environmental quality of Connecticut, through the growth and development of the state.

This development has increased the amount of area with hard and impervious surfaces, where stormwater systems have replaced the natural infiltration processes that allowed stormwater to be absorbed back into the ground.

This means increasing amounts of polluted stormwater runoff is being carried into our waterways — degrading water quality, threatening recreational opportunities, and putting habitats and aquatic species at risk. 

Connecticut Council of Small Towns (COST) Executive Director Betsy Gara said although DEEP has made some positive changes, the proposed permit continues to impose significant new stormwater management requirements on all of Connecticut’s small towns.

“While we support efforts to address stormwater issues to improve water quality in our communities, these requirements will require a huge investment from our towns at a time when local budgets are already strained,” Ms Gara stated in an e-mail to The Bee. “As an intervenor in the matter, COST will continue to negotiate changes to the draft General Permit to address municipal concerns.”

In particular, Ms Gara said COST members are very concerned that the proposed General Permit continues to exceed federal requirements without any evidence that such requirements will improve water quality.

In addition, the revised permit continues to require:

*Costly monitoring, testing, and permit administration

*Unachievable illicit discharge detection and elimination (IDDE) requirements. The proposed General Permit shifts responsibility from DEEP to individual municipalities to enforce EPA standards without providing municipalities with any assistance or funding.

*New or updated land use regulations and other ordinances

*Comprehensive municipal stormwater plans

*Public education and outreach campaigns

*Mandatory formal training programs

Senator Hwang Objects

State Senator Tony Hwang, whose district includes Newtown, said the “unwieldy financial burdens of these regulations” (if approved), along with possible future cuts in municipal aid to balance current and projected state budgets, amount to “a double-whammy to municipal leaders and taxpayers.”

Sen Hwang said he is working on a bill to provide “fiscal note analysis” on the proposed revisions.

“The cost ranges [in the revisions] to provide new services are remarkable,” he said. “I appreciate that DEEP has come back to the table and listening to input.”

The senator said he already reached out to DEEP Commissioner Klee about the revisions, saying: “Nice work, but more still needs to be done.”

DEEP has shared the proposed new requirements with those formally participating in the matter and is seeking to collaborate with them to finalize the new permit.

Agency staff, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, COST, the Town of Willington, and the Connecticut Fund for the Environment plan to discuss the status of talks and the most appropriate next steps at a February 4 meeting with the hearing officer assigned to this issue.

Referring to comments from COST, Sen Hwang said he is concerned the DEEP is looking to overlap federal EPA permitting language that is also still in draft form.

“COST tells us those EPA draft permits are not approved, but we’re already referencing them in our revision,” he said. “In addition, the revisions still require towns to develop outreach and policy output that constitute an unfunded mandate that shifts cost burdens for these programs to municipalities.”

Sen Hwang noted that the EPA also does not require states to cover smaller communities in its stormwater directives.

“You know, if we’re going to raise the bar to this extent, what does it mean for cities and towns? If you raise the bar on requirements that fewer than 25 percent of towns currently follow,” Sen Hwang said, “it defeats any clean water goals these new regulations are supposed to improve.”