Clean water and healthy forests: CLF looks upstream to reduce water pollution.

• Position: Conservation Law Foundation of new england

The March 2010 rainstorms that left devastation in their wake across New England were a wakeup call. Rainfall rushing off our modern landscape of pavement and cement overwhelmed our ancient water systems, flooding homes and businesses and causing a toxic mix of raw sewage and stormwater to pour into our rivers. In the aftermath of these storms--which will occur more often as the world warms--it is not only our property that bears the brunt of the damage, but our rivers, streams and lakes. To protect these lifelines of our region, CLF is changing the way we think about development, promoting new approaches to water management and instituting new levels of accountability for polluters.

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Stopping Stormwater Pollution at its Source

In New England, regulation and remediation of stormwater pollution has not kept pace with the development that causes that pollution in the first place. The big box stores, malls and movie complexes, among other types of structures, with their massive parking lots and football field-sized roofs, are a major source of stormwater runoff and pollution. These impervious surfaces collect oil, salt and chemicals that mix with water when it rains, creating a toxic brew that rushes off into drains, then into nearby streams, rivers and eventually our oceans. Yet, as privately-owned structures, these sources of pollution are not regulated under the federal Clean Water Act, meaning that owners can discharge polluted stormwater into local waterways without consequence.

To target this gap in the Clean Water Act, CLF turned to a little-known and rarely-used authority of the EPA called the "residual designation authority," or RDA. The RDA allows the EPA to regulate certain structures that aren't currently regulated under the Clean Water Act, if they determine that those structures are contributing to stormwater pollution.

CLF made history by filing the first-ever RDA petitions of this type for existing infrastructure in five watersheds surrounding Burlington, VT, as well as in the Charles River watershed in Boston and the Long Creek watershed in South Portland, ME.

Thanks to CLF's pioneering legal strategy, in 2009, the state of Vermont instituted a Clean Water Act residual designation permit that requires an additional 400 private institutions in Vermont to either design their own new stormwater treatment control structures, or, for smaller dischargers, to coordinate with those of larger municipalities. In...