Groups Petition EPA to Protect Rivers, Coastal Areas From Polluted Runoff

Conservation groups filed petitions urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to exercise its authority to safeguard rivers, lakes and streams from polluted runoff from existing commercial, industrial, and institutional sites that are currently failing to adequately control their pollution. Polluted runoff—rainwater that picks up oil, dirt and toxins while flowing over streets and parking lots—is a leading cause of water pollution in the U.S.

Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and American Rivers, along with Anacostia Riverkeeper, Anacostia Watershed Society, Blue Water Baltimore/Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper, California Coastkeeper Alliance, PennFuture, Potomac Riverkeeper and the Shenandoah Riverkeeper, jointly filed the petitions calling on EPA to exercise its authority under the Clean Water Act, known as Residual Designation Authority (RDA), on a regional scale spanning EPA Regions 1 (New England), 3 (Mid-Atlantic states) and 9 (Southwest states and California) to manage runoff from sources that are already contributing to violations of state water quality standards.

These regions, which are home to some of the nation’s most iconic and threatened water bodies, could provide replicable leadership for the rest of the country. The petitions seek to hold commercial, industrial and institutional facilities accountable for controlling runoff that carries toxic pollutants, including lead, zinc, copper, nitrogen and phosphorus, off of their roofs, parking lots and sidewalks into nearby waterways when it rains or floods.

Much of untreated polluted runoff comes from sites such as acres of shopping mall parking lots, industrial rooftops and other commercial surfaces that were built decades ago. However, many of these sites are not currently responsible for reducing their runoff pollution. Yet, because city storm sewer systems have pollution control and cleanup obligations, taxpayers often are responsible for paying for infrastructure improvements to manage runoff. CLF, NRDC and American Rivers are asking EPA to grant their petitions so that the costs of managing this pollution will be more equitably distributed and that these sources take responsibility for the pollution they generate.

The petitions are consistent with similar recent initiatives. In 2009, after years of advocacy, New England-based Conservation Law Foundation secured two RDA permits for sources of polluted runoff, both of which require sites to be improved to reduce their share of storm water pollution into five impaired brooks in Burlington, Vt., and urban Long Creek in Southern Maine.

The current petitions, like the ones previously filed by CLF, demand that EPA issue a permit to sources of storm water pollution requiring them to reduce their impact to currently polluted waterways. That can be done by using techniques like green infrastructure to reduce runoff. Green infrastructure refers to solutions like permeable pavement and green roofs, which allow polluted runoff to filter into the ground instead of rushing off into nearby streams. If granted, the petitions could serve as a model for cost-effective clean water safeguards throughout the country to restore our nation’s waters for swimming, fishing and wildlife.

Source: Conservation Law Foundation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, American Rivers