STORM: Blue Ribbon for Blue Water

Rogue Valley Sewer Services wins EPA recognition for stormwater management excellence in large part through leveraging of assets and regional collaboration

The 2008 EPA First Place Award for Stormwater Management Excellence went to Rogue Valley Sewer Services (RVS) of Central Point, Ore.

Only one first place is awarded nationally, and it’s based on three criteria: innovation, cost-effectiveness and environmental benefits. RVS stormwater engineer Maynard Flohaug proudly recounts the successful strategy his team follows.

“A big part of our method involves what I call leveraging — using ideas already out there. So I’m excited to share what we’ve learned with others in the business, to give back in a way that can help others achieve what we did. Tapping into existing knowledge was a key factor, and so is contributing back to that body of knowledge.”

RVS is responsible for stormwater quality in the Bear Creek watershed, just upstream of the Rogue River watershed, a popular recreation area in southwest Oregon. The territory lies about 80 miles from the Pacific coast and 30 miles north of the California border, and is shielded by the Oregon Coastal Range.

West of that range, precipitation can be 30 inches or more annually, but RVS sees only about 18 inches. The temperate climate is ideal for agriculture. Bountiful vineyards dot the area. Soils have a high clay content, and the water table averages 10 feet, but the topography is flat, so erosion is rarely an issue.

This idyllic setting was, none-theless, subject to the same NPDES Phase II and MS4 standards that have challenged so many others. How RVS met the challenge is a lesson worth sharing. The EPA award cites several specific accomplishments, including:

• Becoming a Department of Environmental Quality agent for oversight of construction permits

• Designing the Rogue Valley Stormwater Quality Design Manual

• Starting a Capital Improve-ment Program (CIP)

• Creating a 1200C construction stormwater program

• Instituting erosion and sediment control certification classes.

Innovative collaboration

For stormwater purposes, RVS serves the cities of Central Point, Phoenix and Talent, and portions of Jackson County, including White City. For sanitary sewer service, the agency covers Jacksonville, Talent, Phoenix, Central Point and Eagle Point, as well as some unincorporated areas of Jackson County, including White City.

The first EPA stormwater award criterion is innovation, and RVS was recognized here for its success in establishing regional collaboration. RVS took the initiative to invite and integrate surrounding communities into its existing Phase II plan. Rather than having redundant efforts, especially in licensing and other EPA paperwork, RVS sought to combine what was essentially a unified regional effort under a single manager.

Acting as DEQ agent for the entire Phase II Region has significantly reduced red tape and, in the words of the EPA award announcement, “significantly reduced the amount of pollutants entering the Bear Creek and Rogue River watersheds.”

The CIP was created to enable retrofitting of stormwater control measures in existing residential and commercial areas. Three have already been completed, serving some 380 acres. Two more are planned for each year of the five-year plan.

The 1200C construction stormwater program makes RVS responsible for all construction oversight, inspection and enforcement within its Phase II area. It requires every construction project to provide a certified erosion and sediment control (ESC) inspector to ensure compliance before a permit is issued.

Of course, RVS provides the certification training, with 11 seminars to date and more than 200 “graduates.” Flohaug notes, “This is where we can be really proactive.” Yet another example of innovation, and cost-effectiveness, involves leveraging.

Building on successes

“By leveraging, I’m talking about not spending time and money reinventing the wheel,” Flohaug says. “Most any problem we run into, somebody else has already solved it. All we need to do is tweak it to fit our local conditions. Being able to call another engineer, knowing how to search online, and reading magazines like Municipal Sewer & Water help me tap into all this knowledge.”

The Rogue Valley Stormwater Quality Design Manual, one of many publications available on the RVS Web site, is an example of leveraging. RVS adapted information from the City of Portland’s Stormwater Management Manual, that city’s Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control Planning and Design Manual, and the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Hydraulic Manual. Some of this material was immediately applicable; the rest was modified as needed. As a result, the RVS manual was completed without spending significant time and money.

This also ties into the second EPA criterion: cost-effectiveness. Says Flohaug, “Why spend money re-engineering something when the work’s already been done? This isn’t plagiarism. It’s just using what other people have put out there. We’re all in the same business, we have the same goals, and we’re proud to share our solutions.”

The majority of RVS’ $370,000 stormwater quality budget is covered by a $1-per-residence stormwater quality charge, with a small supplement from state permit fees. Getting the most bang for those bucks is crucial. Leveraging makes that happen.

Environmental benefits

The third EPA criterion is benefit to the environment. What-ever the level of innovation and cost-effectiveness, the bottom line must be cleaner water, and RVS has exceeded EPA standards in this arena.

Attacking stormwater pollution at its source is an established, cost-effective strategy. The Oregon Environmental Council (OEC) already had a program in place to provide homeowners information and designs for residential stormwater control. Rain gardens, bio-swales, green roofs and pervious paving are all proven solutions. There was no need to allocate local resources for this education. RVS simply points inquiring minds to the appropriate OEC contacts — yet another example of leveraging.

No stormwater treatment plants are foreseeable, as the system is working just fine. RVS installed four water-quality monitoring stations, and has taken over responsibility for 12 existing stations in adjoining municipalities. More are planned.

“Lack of any comprehensive education or enforcement programs was our biggest hurdle,” says Flohaug. RVS finally turned that around last year. After extensive R&D, the agency created a series of informational brochures, training manuals, and design guides, all now available on the Web site.

Flohaug continues, “2008 was when we started seeing a difference, like reductions in waste from filters and catch basins, more cooperation from developers, and more public awareness. We could easily see the difference in stormwater quality. It was measurable.”

Useful manual

The EPA singles out the Stormwater Quality Design Manual as one of the key factors in RVS’ award. Created for developers, it provides not only design requirements but also a variety of options for stormwater quality. Written for engineers, it helps to establish annual goals and focuses on the proper design and installation of stormwater quality-control measures.

“These people are smart, but most have no experience in stormwater quality engineering,” Flohaug says. “They want to do the right thing, but they need somebody to tell them how. Our design manual and certification classes were the solution.” To date, some 230 developers, contractors and inspectors have been trained and certified.

Other educational resources are designed for public consumption. Many people assume that stormwater is treated. “That’s just not the case,” Flohaug says, “and we needed to change that perception. People need to see that, if you’re going to dump antifreeze down a storm drain, you might as well just dump it into the river.” The RVS Web site provides several brochures to make that point, including “Creeks and Concrete Don’t Mix,” “Painting Without Polluting,” and “Oil and Stormwater.”

Outreach to area schools is another strategy. RVS built a watershed model to take into classrooms. It demonstrates clearly how what goes down the storm drain ultimately ends up in the river. “We can drop a little dye into the system, representing motor oil, and the kids can see where it goes,” notes Flohaug.

Reusing the wheel

Flohaug repeatedly emphasizes the importance of not reinventing the wheel and, instead, using existing solutions to solve problems. As with patents, true innovation can involve the creative use or modification of an existing product or process. But doing so requires real problem-solving, and the motivation to try new ideas.

“It just doesn’t make sense to spend money doing research about what works, when that research has already been done,” Flohaug explains. “We just have to adapt somebody else’s solution to our specific needs.”

Communication between stormwater personnel in cities sharing the RVS Phase II Permit has been a key factor in their mutual success. Says Flohaug, “It’s nice to be able to just call up one of those guys and ask them how they solved the same problem.”

A survey of RVS assets would include the usual assortment of stormwater quality systems: filters, traps, catchment basins, rain gardens, permeable paving, maintenance vehicles, GIS and a team of well-trained personnel. Routine maintenance is handled by two vacuum trucks from Vac-Con Inc. on International chassis and two camera vans from RS Technical Services Inc. with OmniEYE zoom cameras. RVS uses Pipe Operating System Management (POSM) software for cataloging, planning and scheduling.

More than hardware

Behind the hardware are management, engineering and maintenance teams skilled in collaborative problem-solving and willing to pitch in wherever needed, regardless of job description. Flohaug notes, “I really have to brag about RVS. The teamwork, attitude and motivation here are amazing. I’ve been in this business for close to 35 years, and this is the best place I’ve ever worked.”

The good work and planning continue. A recent pilot project involves retrofitting parking lot catch basins with filters to segregate all the pollutants typically exuded by motor vehicles, one of the biggest loads on the system. “We’ll be monitoring this closely,” says Flohaug, “as we’d like to know exactly what’s in that runoff and how to deal with it most cost-effectively.”

Innovation, cost-effectiveness and benefit to the environment are the keys to stormwater management. RVS is on track to continue its award-winning performance. Can the agency repeat and earn another EPA first place? If other agencies leverage what they learn from RVS, it could be a much tougher competition.



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