Watershed Protection and Restoration Act

SB686, HB999: When it rains, stormwater pollution runs from our parking lots, rooftops, and other hard surfaces, washing out streambeds and choking all life in our waters. The backlog of green infrastructure repairs caused by stormwater runoff exceeds $20 billion statewide. This bill will require counties to implement a stormwater user charge on impervious surfaces. This will create a dedicated revenue stream and hundreds of jobs in Maryland repairing the damage done by runoff from existing properties.

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Environmental Challenge

In order to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams, each city and county throughout the region needs funding to invest in their communities to reduce the polluted runoff poisoning our waterways. The Watershed Protection & Restoration act will give these local jurisdictions a dedicated funding source to clean up their rivers and the Bay, create green jobs, and leverage additional dollars from the state and federal government for watershed protection and restoration. Current estimates set the backlog of necessary stormwater-related infrastructure repairs at over $20 billion statewide. The creation of dedicated funding sources for each local jurisdiction based on fees from the sources of pollution - hard surfaces such as parking lots, rooftops, and driveways that do not absorb water called impervious surfaces - will allow counties and cities to begin making serious improvements to water quality.

Bill Framework

The Watershed Protection & Restoration Act requires that local jurisdictions set up a stormwater user fee for residential and non-residential properties based on impervious surface coverage, and that the revenue generated from this fee be placed in a dedicated account for restoration improvements and activities such as stormwater capital projects, operation and management of stormwater facilities, administration of the program, and grants to non-profits for stormwater education and restoration work. In addition, the bill provides for the creation of a statewide database of impervious coverage by jurisdiction.

This legislation would:

• Create the largest pool of dedicated funds for polluted runoff restoration and protection in the Chesapeake region.
• Provide a source of matching funds for leveraging millions in federal and state dollars.
• Maximize restoration efforts by reliably tracking and measuring impervious surfaces, infrastructure repairs, and restoration.

For more information, please contact:
Erik Michelsen, South River Federation; erik (at) southriverfederation.net, 410-224-3802
Andi Galli, Clean Water Action; agalli (at) cleanwater.org, 410-235-8808