Lancaster County Pennsylvania Municipalities are implementing Pollutant Reduction Plans to Comply with MS4 Permit Requirements and Improve Water Quality in Local Streams and in the Chesapeake Bay

This presentation will showcase the different strategies MS4 municipalities in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, are taking to implement stormwater projects to achieve required pollutant reductions as cost-effectively as possible. Some of the methods include securing grant funding, using municipal public works staff to implement projects, establishing Municipal Authorities and enacting stormwater fees, working with private landowners, and partnering with the agriculture community. In September, 2017, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) required Municipal MS4 Permittees to prepare and submit pollutant reduction plans (PRPs) for locally impaired waters and for the Chesapeake Bay. Municipalities are required to demonstrate pollutant reductions, measured in pounds per year as follows: 10% sediment; 5% phosphorus, and 3% nitrogen. These reductions must be achieved within 5-years of the PRP approval, which ranges from June 2023 through August 2024. PADEP selected sediment as the primary target for pollutant reductions and indicated that if municipalities achieved required sediment reductions then the phosphorus and nitrogen loads were assumed to be met. In Lancaster County, municipalities planned to implement the following projects: 17.13 acres of urban riparian buffer (24 projects) 59,105 linear feet of stream restoration (63 projects) 37 bioswales/bioswale retrofits 60 detention basin retrofits 10 raingardens When implemented, these projects will achieve 5,211 tons/year sediment reduction (10,423,460 lbs) at an expected cost of more than $50 million (based on $5.00 per lb of sediment reduction). While several municipalities worked together to implement joint projects within the same watershed, the majority are working individually on projects within their own jurisdiction — which places a heavy financial hardship on the community. For many, the expected costs to fund stormwater projects to comply with the PRP exceeds $500,000. This presentation will summarize the strategies that five municipalities, West Hempfield, Paradise, Rapho, Ephrata, and Manor Townships, are taking to achieve required pollutant reductions as cost-effectively as possible. Participants will learn the benefits and challenges of each strategy through case-studies and project analysis.