How to Make Lemonade from RDA Lemons: Establishing a Public-Private-Partnership and Utilizing Adaptive Management to Clean Up an Impaired Stream in Maine

In 2009 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) exercised its Residual Designation Authority (RDA) in the Long Creek Watershed, a commercial/retail district in the Greater Portland, Maine area. This precedent setting use of RDA led to the establishment of the Long Creek Watershed Management District, which implements stormwater permit requirements for 97% of the designated landowners in the watershed. These landowners cover 88% of the watershed’s impervious surface.The cooperative implementation of the Long Creek Watershed Management Plan (Plan) is the basis of the general permit requirements for the discharge of stormwater into Long Creek. The locally supported Plan was developed through a two-year stakeholder process that involved municipalities, transportation entities, Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District, DEP, EPA, local nonprofits, and small and large businesses. The general permit structure, an uncertain solution developed by MaineDEP and EPA, has proven to be an effective answer to the unwelcome citizen suit that spurred new permit requirements for over 100 businesses and public agencies.Creation and implementation of the Long Creek Watershed Management Plan will be reviewed and will include: (1) an overview of the process to develop a legal structure for cooperative implementation of the Plan; (2) a definition of RDA - what it is, how it was used, and the results from its use in Long Creek; (3) the crucial steps involved in establishing a working public-private partnership to develop a locally-supported management plan; (4) active adaptive management; and, (4) restoration successes and lessons learned including positive water quality results from the Long Creek monitoring program.