In the summer of 2011, the Environmental Finance Center began working with the Town of Berlin, MD – an Eastern Shore community with a population of approximately 4,000 – to complete a stormwater financing feasibility study. Along with an analysis of current and emerging funding needs and an assessment of possible revenue that could be collected by the formation of a stormwater utility, the EFC conducted community outreach that included a Stormwater Photo Contest.

The Environmental Finance Center (EFC) at the University of Maryland's Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) Financing project was designed to expand the ability and capacity of local governments and communities to achieve water quality restoration goals and priorities through more efficient stormwater financing. Specifically, through this project, the EFC worked with Anne Arundel County as one of three pilot communities on a four-phased process to assess and expand capacity to finance stormwater activities in a way that maximized environmental, economic, and social return on investment.