Arlington County, Virginia
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Arlington County, Virginia Fiscal Year 2013 Annual Stormwater Management Program Report VPDES Permit No. VA0088579 2002 – 2007 Permit Cycle Submitted September 30, 2013 Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 3 Watershed management overview ............................................................................................ 3 Key accomplishments ............................................................................................................... 4 Program management .............................................................................................................. 6 2 STATUS OF THE STORM WATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM ............................. 8 A. STRUCTURAL AND SOURCE CONTROLS............................................................................... 9 B. AREAS OF NEW DEVELOPMENT AND SIGNIFICANT REDEVELOPMENT ................................ 9 Stormwater controls for new development/redevelopment ...................................................... 9 Erosion and sediment control during construction ................................................................ 10 Green building programs ....................................................................................................... 10 C. ROADWAYS ...................................................................................................................... 11 Street sweeping ....................................................................................................................... 11 Storm sewer maintenance and infrastructure management ................................................... 12 Roadway de-icing ................................................................................................................... 13 D. RETROFITS ........................................................................................................................ 14 ‘Smart growth’ as a BMP....................................................................................................... 14 Watershed retrofits ................................................................................................................. 14 Stream restoration .................................................................................................................. 17 NOx reductions ....................................................................................................................... 17 E. PESTICIDE, HERBICIDE AND FERTILIZER APPLICATION ..................................................... 18 F. ILLICIT DISCHARGES AND IMPROPER DISPOSAL ............................................................... 19 Pollution prevention ............................................................................................................... 19 Illicit discharge response ........................................................................................................ 21 Dry weather screening program ............................................................................................ 22 Floatables reduction .............................................................................................................. 29 Infiltration and inflow program ............................................................................................. 29 Household hazardous materials program .............................................................................. 30 Legal authority ....................................................................................................................... 31 G. SPILL PREVENTION AND RESPONSE .................................................................................. 32 H. INDUSTRIAL AND HIGH RISK RUNOFF ............................................................................... 33 I. CONSTRUCTION SITE RUNOFF .............................................................................................. 35 J. STORM SEWER INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT ................................................................. 36 K. PUBLIC EDUCATION .......................................................................................................... 36 Watershed Education ............................................................................................................. 38 L. WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PROGRAM ............................................................................ 43 M. MONITORING PROGRAMS ................................................................................................. 43 Dry weather screening ........................................................................................................... 43 Wet weather screening program ............................................................................................ 43 Industrial and high risk facility runoff monitoring program ................................................. 43 Watershed monitoring program ............................................................................................. 43 Macroinvertebrate monitoring ............................................................................................... 45 Bacteria monitoring ............................................................................................................... 49 Geomorphological monitoring ............................................................................................... 50 1 3 ASSESSMENT OF THE STORM WATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM ................ 53 Pollutant load modeling ......................................................................................................... 56 4 TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOADS ............................................................................... 56 5 PROGRAM RESOURCES ................................................................................................. 57 6 EPA REPORTING REQUIREMENTS ............................................................................. 58 APPENDIX A – ILLICIT DISCHARGE REPORTS AND INVESTIGATIONS ................ 62 2 1 Introduction This Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit annual report has been prepared by Arlington County’s Department of Environmental Services. It is required for compliance with the Authorization to Discharge under the Virginia Pollution Discharge Elimination System (VPDES) permit (VA0088579). The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) originally issued this permit to Arlington County on August 15, 1997, and renewed this permit for a second five- year term on August 28, 2002. The permit is now administered by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The County’s stormwater management programs are outlined in this report as required by the permit. Unless otherwise noted, this report covers Fiscal Year 2013: July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2013. Watershed management overview The population and development characteristics in Arlington County and their relationship to the County’s water resources systems can be briefly summarized with the following statistics: • 2013 population estimate: 212,900 people • 26.5 square miles • 8,033 persons/square mile • 42% impervious cover • 375 miles of mapped storm sewers • 28.5 miles of perennial streams Arlington’s key watershed management challenges are: • Legacy land use and drainage decisions make stormwater and watershed management in urban areas like Arlington extremely challenging • Existing development has a much greater impact on streams than new/re-development, since most development occurred before regulations that protect water quality and stream channels were implemented • Most County streams are in fair condition at best o Habitat and geomorphological impacts to stream ecology from severely altered watershed hydrology are at least as important as impacts from stormwater pollution o Impairments for waters on the state’s 303(d) list do not account for the physical impacts to local stream ecology from urban development and impervious cover o Infrastructure damage from stream degradation is significant • Redevelopment/retrofitting provides opportunities to improve watershed health over the long term but will not quickly or fully repair damage to stream ecology and urban infrastructure These challenges have led to the formulation of the following watershed management strategy for Arlington County: • Implement urban housekeeping ‘best practices’ (e.g., street sweeping, catch basin cleaning, storm sewer inspections, pollution prevention, etc.) 3 • Restore stream corridors to address geomorphological and infrastructure impacts and improve habitat and ecology • Reduce risks to public/private property from flooding • Maintain stormwater infrastructure • Identify opportunities for BMP retrofits to the landscape and storm sewer system over the long-term to reduce stormwater pollution • Require on-site stormwater controls for new development • Outreach and education • Effective and targeted monitoring programs that leverage volunteer and other resources Key accomplishments • The stormwater and watershed management programs initiated since the beginning of the County’s MS4 permit program have implemented proven pollutant reduction projects and programs. These efforts include stream restoration, watershed retrofits, street sweeping, re-lining sanitary sewers that cross streams, and storm sewer and catch basin cleanouts. • Highlights of key performance measures for Fiscal Year 2013 are summarized