Project location: Annapolis, MD

Problem:  Three destabilized culverts near the busy intersection at Hilltop Lane and Forest Drive in Annapolis were causing channel erosion and impaired water quality in Spa Creek, which drains to the Severn River.  Additionally, the waters around Truxton Park, a public water access point used predominantly by residents in nearby lower-income neighborhoods, had become dangerously polluted.

Project location: Annapolis, MD

Problem:  Despite the threat that polluted runoff poses to human health and the environment, many individuals are unaware of the problem and the role they can play in addressing it. The City of Annapolis recognized a need for greater education to empower residents to be part of the stormwater solution.

Project location: Annapolis, MD

Problem:  The watershed of Cabin Branch Stream contains the Annapolis Mall and associated commercial areas.  Due to a high concentration of impervious surfaces in this area, water quality in the stream has been deteriorating.

Project location: Annapolis, MD

Problem: Parking lots typically contain significant amounts of impervious cover, and they can be a major source of pollutants to nearby streams. The parking lot of Blackwall Hitch, a seafood restaurant in downtown Annapolis, drains directly into Spa Creek, a major tributary of the Severn River.  Prior to this project, pollutant-laden rainwater flowed from the parking area and surrounding streets into the Creek.

The City of Lenexa, Kansas, supports their Rain to Recreation program with a number of revenue streams. The systems development fee has been in place for more than a decade. This is a one-time fee paid by a developer at the time of permitting. The funds are used to recover the costs of expanding infrastructure systems to account for the impact of growth created by new and redevelopment. This case study describes the process of developing the fee and outlines the cost reductions it was able to produce.

In September 2010, the EFC worked with the Town of Ocean City to conduct a stormwater financing feasibility study. A grant was leveraged from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Chesapeake & Coastal Program in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with local resources to develop a sustainable financing strategy to support a comprehensive stormwater program over time. The study provided a set of recommendations to Ocean City officials for how the Town might implement a long-term strategy for financing stormwater management.

Lessons from Pennsylvania Communities Presented by the Environmental Law Institute and 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania.

This report presents an argument for a collaborative inter jurisdicational approach to stormwater investment to ensure efficiency, equitablity, and financial and environmental sustainablility. With 2500 municipalities, 67 counties, and thousands of authorities, the authors identify the immense challenge facing the state to protect its 83,000 miles of streams and reivers.

Created by Casey Trees, this 2014 Merit Award winner of the American Planning Association, provides a rich story of the Nation's Capital and its long relationship with its tree canopy, The handbook's details ways the City has linked its regulatory stormwater program to tree canopy health. Included in this case study are template questions and generalized advice useful to building any successful advocacy campaign. 

The Environmental Finance Center (EFC) at the University of Maryland began communicating with the Berkeley County Public Service Sewer District (PSSD) in May of 2014, brainstorming ways to develop a program to comply with the PSSD’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Phase II permit under unique and challenging circumstances. A project developed from this initial dialogue beginning in the fall of 2014, and focused on the EFC providing technical assistance to the PSSD on developing a County-scale stormwater management program with an associated financing strategy.

In 2012, Warrington Township, Pennsylvania passed a voter approved referendum committing $3 million to open space protection. The EFC worked with Warrington Township to identify ways in which the community could leverage its open space dollars to serve multiple community priorities and gain additional benefits the community had not identified.