Frederick Announces Innovative Stormwater Management Prototype Project

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Photo courtesy of Frederick County Government.

State and local officials will hold a “tap-opening” ceremony at 10 a.m. on June 5 to launch an innovative project to demonstrate stormwater management options for property owners. The project is a collaboration of the Office of Sustainability and Environmental Resources, the University of Maryland Extension Services, and the Master Gardener Program.

“This project uses captured rainwater to feed beautiful gardens,” said County Executive Jan Gardner. “Eight different techniques to harvest rainfall are showcased so visitors can learn about methods that might work for them. Frederick County is leading by example with the management of stormwater runoff.”

According to a press release:

The demonstration gardens are considered the first stormwater management demo project in the mid-Atlantic region. The project will also provide educational opportunities for those who want to replicate similar projects.

The stormwater practices, used to capture and minimize erosion and reduce pollutants from entering the stream, are interweaved throughout the demonstrational gardens and, where appropriate, can be used for watering the gardens adjacent to the Extension Service Building through rain harvesting devices. The project complements the Master Gardener demonstration gardens and includes two tree box Filterras, a Micro-Bioretention, dry stream bed, two rainwater harvesting tanks, and riparian buffer plantings.

At the request of the Master Gardeners, the Office of Sustainability and Environmental Resources identified opportunities to provide stormwater management while also helping the County to meet its 20 percent restoration requirement as part of the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program implemented by the Federal Clean Water Act.

The County received $40,000 through a grant from the Maryland Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bay Trust Fund to help fund the project.

Read the full press release for more information.

Climate change is increasingly affecting animal populations, water tables, and septic systems, and the environment overall. These impacts lead to more instances of waterborne illnesses such as salmonella, dysentery, and vibrio as well as diseases carried by fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes such as Lyme Disease, dengue fever, and West Nile virus.

At this year’s MACo’s Summer Conference, MACo’s Health and Environmental Health Affiliates will host a panel discussion on what problems jurisdictions are seeing, how they should prepare for changes, and how public health and other partners can address these issues. The session, “The Climate-Health Connection Will Blow You Away” is scheduled for Thursday, August 15, 2019, from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm.

The MACo Summer Conference will be held August 14-17, 2019 at the Roland Powell Convention Center in Ocean City, Maryland. This year’s conference theme is “Winds of Change.”

Learn more about MACo’s Summer Conference: