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City promoting eco-friendly initiatives
Jennifer and Casey Williams of Huntington stand next to one of the rain barrels around their home that they installed to lessen the impact of storm water on the city's aging infrastructure.
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HUNTINGTON -- Whether it's connecting a down spout to a rain barrel or turning paved surfaces into grassy areas, the city of Huntington is promoting green infrastructure initiatives as a way to lessen the negative effects of storm water.
And some residents and businesses are buying into the new approach.
Every time a heavy downpour moves through Huntington, a few of its main arteries are swallowed by water, making driving a nuisance at best and a potential life-threatening situation at worst for motorists. Basement flooding is another common problem, particularly in the city's Southside neighborhood.
The reasons behind Huntington's storm water woes are two-fold, city officials say. First, a large portion of Huntington's sewer system, much of which is a century old, consists of lines that carry both storm water and sewage. The combined lines often overflow during heavy rain, which prevents the city's wastewater treatment plant from treating the water. Instead, millions of gallons of untreated water flow into streams, rivers, basements and streets.
Secondly, decades of development in the city's watershed has steadily increased the rate at which storm water runoff and pollutants enter the city's sewer system.
Huntington is one of hundreds of cities across the country that has been mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to address both issues. During the past 20 years, the EPA has amended the Clean Water Act to require the separation of combined sewer systems and force some cities based on size and population density to submit long-term storm water management plans to address mapping, collection systems and the elimination of illicit discharges, among other things.
Storm water management
Huntington is one of 40 cities in West Virginia that must develop a storm water management plan. These plans have to address six elements: Public education and outreach; public participation and involvement; illicit discharge detection and elimination; construction site runoff control; post-construction runoff control; and pollution prevention and good housekeeping.
Cities that are ahead of the curve -- namely Beckley, Morgantown and Hurricane -- have created storm water utilities and imposed a fee to pay for costs associated with treating storm water runoff, said Sherry Wilkins, an environmental resource specialist with the state Department of Environmental Protection. The fee rate usually is tied to impervious surfaces on one's property.
Hurricane, for example, charges residents within its watershed, regardless of whether they live inside or outside city limits, $18 a year for treatment of storm water. It charges commercial customers $6 per 1,000 square feet of impervious surface.
But these cities also are using the public participation and involvement component of their plans to promote the benefits of green infrastructure initiatives, Wilkins said. Hurricane has conducted public workshops about rain barrels and now sells them with installation kits for $35.
In Beckley, citizens have facilitated the formation of a local watershed group to focus on plants and vegetation and storm water reuse methods such as cisterns and rain barrels as ways to reduce runoff.
Although Huntington has yet to establish a storm water utility or fee structure, it hasn't been for a lack of trying. On three separate occasions between 2002 and 2008, ordinances creating a storm water utility and fee were introduced to Huntington City Council. The proposals never gained any traction.
Kit Anderson, Huntington's assistant public works director, said a utility and fee for storm water is still an option as the city puts together its management plan.
"But instead of putting all of our eggs into one basket, we're trying a piecemeal approach that involves green infrastructure," Anderson said. "Part of the challenge is looking at the impact of storm water beyond our own property.
"For too long the problem has been putting down large asphalt parking lots without thinking about the ramifications downstream. Once it's off your property you seldom think about it. Changing that mindset is our goal."
Business takes action
Anderson points to Rubberlite, Inc. as a business that exemplifies this strategy. The company, which makes custom foams for a variety of industries, is about to begin a 50,000-square-foot expansion of its plant on Guyan Avenue in Highlawn. The project will incorporate several features to reduce the rate at which storm water runoff flows into the city's sewer system, said Keith Kerns, the company's plant engineer.
That could include storm water planters, turning impervious surfaces on its property into greenspace and installing French drains that capture runoff and allow it to percolate into the ground, Kerns said.
"We try to follow environmentally green concepts and efficiencies in every aspect of our business, and we feel that doing the same from a storm water perspective makes sense for us and for the sake of the businesses and homes near our location," Rubberlite President Allen Mayo said.
The storm water additions will add to the cost of Rubberlite's expansion, but Mayo views them as smart business decisions that put his company ahead of the curve. Huntington has two plans of attack when it comes to addressing storm water, he explained. It can separate its combined sewer system, which will take decades and millions of dollars. It also can establish a fee structure to make residents and businesses pay for treating storm water. The latter is likely to come first, he said.
"If there is a fee imposed somewhere down the line, we will have already lessened the burden," he said.
Residential steps
On the residential front, Huntington is using the Community Gardens program at the Barnett Center as somewhat of a pilot project. The city purchased three rain barrels from the city of Hurricane and placed them at the Barnett Center so residents can learn about their benefits, said Jennifer Williams, the program's coordinator.
Williams and her husband, Casey, purchased three more barrels to use at their home in the 700 block of 11th Avenue. They disconnected their down spouts from feeding into the city sewer system and routed them directly into the 55-gallon, blue barrels. There is a spigot at the bottom of each barrel so they can use the water for the garden in their side yard.
Casey Williams said the barrels and root system from their garden have changed the drainage pattern in their yard. No longer do they have to worry about basement flooding or water that pooled in their yard and became a breeding ground for mosquitoes, he said.
"It's also very cheap and the right thing to do from an ecological standpoint," Jennifer Williams said. "You get a feeling that you are contributing to the community's overall well-being. I know what we're doing makes a small difference, but what if everyone in our neighborhood used two or three rain barrels?"
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