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Nearly twenty acres of exposed construction site soil in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed was placed under a protective cover of mulch and grass recently. What makes this unusual? It resulted not from enforcement action but a letter sent by the local watershed association. And even more unusual is that the letter contained a neighborly request; not a threat. This approach demonstrates that often developers want to be good neighbors and are willing to do their part when a concern is brought to their attention in a non-threatening way.
Cooperative Approach vs. Threats
In the past, watershed advocates would have started with complaints, then moved on to threats and even legal action to achieve the same result. After weeks or months of contention, the problem would get solved. With the approach used here, however, the problem was fixed quickly with minimal expense to the watershed group (and probably less expense to the developer). Of course, this cooperative approach doesn't work in all situations. It is, however, sufficiently successful that it should always be the first step taken to resolve a water pollution problem.
To judge how well cooperation-first works, take a look at these before and after pictures. Click the following link to see how a massive construction site went from an eroding mess to fully stabilized...
http://ceds.org/audit/MassiveSitePanoramas.pdf
Most States Require Quick Construction Erosion Control, Few Have Full Compliance
While most Bay watershed states (including Pennsylvania and Maryland) require that construction soils be protected with mulch and grass shortly after initial clearance, thousands of acres of building site soils instead sit exposed to erosive forces for weeks and sometimes even months. Given lower enforcement budgets in recent years (while workloads are increasing in some areas), the future does not bode well for keeping construction site mud pollution out of the Chesapeake and her tributaries.
Watershed Advocates Go From Reactive to Proactive
Because of a general decline in environmental enforcement over the past decade or so, Community and Environmental Defense Services (CEDS) developed a new approach that allows watershed organizations to be far more proactive in protecting aquatic resources. The approach, known as a Watershed Audit, begins with an assessment of compliance with existing clean-water laws such as construction site erosion and sediment control regulations. If the preliminary Audit shows significant noncompliance, then organizations work in concert with enforcement agencies but take the first step in urging the responsible party (aka polluter) to fix the problem cooperatively. When cooperation alone is not sufficient, a series of more aggressive steps are taken. The CEDS has found, however, that cooperation-first gets most problems solved.
Preliminary Audit of Your Watershed: CEDS Will Volunteer A Few Hours If You Will
CEDS would be happy to volunteer a few hours assisting you with a preliminary audit of clean-water law compliance in your watershed. Contact CEDS at 1-800-773-4571 or Help@ceds.org or Hanover Land Services, Inc. to discuss scheduling.
Article paraphrased with permission from CEDS
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