Water connects us all. When it's clean, water is an indication of the health of a community, and so it has become a source of concern for many. Interest ranges from “new” regional citizen groups such as Freshwater Future to important legislation like the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Resources Compact.
One way to ensure clean water is to address stormwater runoff at a regional scale.
The mission of Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District is “understanding the value of clean water.” Multi-billion dollar sewer projects are expected to reduce incidents of storm and sewer water combining during heavy rains and snowmelt from 80 to four times a year with its Mill Creek Tunnel alone.
But, NORSD also recognizes a need for solutions that go beyond what pipes-so-wide-you-could-drive-a-truck-through-them can handle.
Urban sprawl has brought more flooding to our doorstep. And phosphorous-laden fertilizers from “conventional” farms continue to degrade the water quality in our rivers and our lake, says Jeff Reutter, director of Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory on Lake Erie. Pipes alone cannot keep up with the costs of sprawl and unsustainable farming. The District is working on plans for a “watershed-centered stormwater program”, it reports in its new newsletter. That includes assisting with projects that reduce pollutants from entering local waterways and educating cities in Northeast Ohio about “green infrastructure” options like rain gardens and rain barrels.
NORSD should help ramp up efforts like the city of Cleveland letting homeowners disconnect downspouts and direct them to rain gardens and rain barrels (both newly approved). If more cities in the Northeast Ohio region take Cleveland’s lead and pass “green” legislation, they can better partner with NORSD and the Environmental Protection Agency, which now requires smaller cities to handle stormwater. For example, NORSD might help the smaller cities tap into pilot projects in “green infrastructure” through EPA’s MS4 program which is “intended to promote a regional approach to stormwater management coordinated on a watershed basis.”
The most advanced thinking on stormwater management these days is based on a citizen participation model that calls for many, small, green solutions to reduce water rushing off yards and parking lots. Models can be found in cities like Milwaukee, which requires all new developments to submit a stormwater management plan (pdf), and Philadelphia, which established a “stormwater utility” to offer a systematic approach to green urbanism.
Proponents of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Resources Compact—which almost unanimously passed the Ohio House but is bogged down in the Senate—say it would renew our commitment to clean water and healthy ecosystems on a scale that matters most for the citizens of Northeast Ohio. Since drinking water for most of us comes from Lake Erie, which is supplied by the upper Great Lakes through the Detroit River, we need a mega-regional focus to improving the health of Lake Erie. If we don’t we “risk one of the region’s few competitive advantages—our abundance of fresh water,” Crain’s Cleveland Business editors wrote recently. The Great Lakes Compact is the topic of the next Midtown Brews discussion on April 3.
Freshwater Future, formerly Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat, is another resource for citizen-led activities that promote healthy watersheds in Northeast Ohio. The group supplies financial and technical support to river, wetlands, and Great Lakes water quality groups, and is a hub of advocacy and communications.
This is a good time for citizens of the Great Lakes Basin to think about our connection to fresh water—this Saturday, March 22 is World Water Day and the launch of the UN’s international Decade for Action on water. Cleveland might contribute to global water issues with its proposed fresh water institute—a center that can have global impact on the sustainability of freshwater while being financially self-sustaining and contributing to the economic development of Northeast Ohio.
