News & Notes January 2006

PACD Distributes $34,000 to Support District Water Quality Projects

PACD recently funded nineteen conservation district projects through an "open round" of the 2005-2006 Educational Mini-Grant Program. These projects, totaling $34,000, support educational efforts to improve water quality by controlling non-point source pollution.

2005-2006 PA Chesapeake Bay Educational Mini-Grants:

• Adams County Conservation District: National No-Till Conference
  
• Cambria County Conservation District: 2006 Cambria County Children's Water Festival
  
• Centre County Conservation District: Native Plant/Riparian Buffer Demonstration Gardens at the American Philatelic Society Headquarters
  
• Dauphin County Conservation District: Chlorophyll Test Meter: A Tool for Nutrient Management
  
• Dauphin County Conservation District: Stormwater BMP Demonstration Project
  
• Juniata County Conservation District: 3rd Annual Juniata County Farmer's Winter Meeting
  
• Juniata County Conservation District: Juniata CCD Website -- Phase One
  
• Northumberland County Conservation District: Contractor's Workshop
  
• Somerset County Conservation District: Somerset County NPS Pollution Educational Display Board
  
• Tioga County Conservation District: Nonpoint Source Pollution Education Program for Tioga County
  
• York County Conservation District: This OLDS House: Managing Your On-Lot Disposal System

2005-2006 Nonpoint Source Pollution Prevention Educational Mini-Grants:

• Bucks County Conservation District: Elected Officials Conservation Breakfast - Stormwater Management Issues
  
• Erie County Conservation District: Erie County Farmers' Gathering
  
• Erie County Conservation District: Tri-State Tillage Conference
  
• Indiana County Conservation District: Website Upgrade to Enhance Public Awareness of District NPs Programs
  
• Lancaster County Conservation District: Lancaster County Watershed Publication Update Project
  
• Montgomery County Conservation District: Best Management Practices for Homeowners Demonstration
  
• Northampton County Conservation District: Brochure: Green Lawn and Yard Practices for Homeowners in Northampton County
  
• Wayne County Conservation District: Coping with Your Streamside Property

Conservation Districts may still submit mini-grant applications for the open round. Projects are funded on a first come first served basis based on the application and available funds. Applications that do not receive funding during this open round will be considered this spring under a new round.

Funding for the grants is provided through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's Chesapeake Bay Program and Environmental Protection Agency's Section 319 Program. For more information visit the PACD website, www.pacd.org (click on grant assistance), or call Kathleen Banski, PACD Director of Administration/Education, at (717) 238-PACD (7223).

Berks County E&S Pilot Program
Berks County Conservation District to implement the erosion and sediment control (E&SC) plan and NPDES permit application review process initiative in 2006
by John Ravert, Berks County Conservation District Manager

During 2005 the Berks County Conservation District noted all the problems, both perceived and real, associated with the PA DEP delegated review of erosion and sediment control (E&SC) Plans and the processing of NPDES Permits. The problems were validated by the findings of an E&SC Task Force, convened by the County Commissioner/District Board member. In today's world there are "Top Ten Lists" for every subject known to mankind. Here are three of the most popular comments received relating to the District's review of E&SC Plans and the issuance of NPDES permits:

• The District's review is too lengthy and is holding up my project.
  
• The District staff is too picky and wants too much information.
  
• Now they want stormwater calculations and a plan for managing it after I'm finished with the project.

The Berks County Conservation District listened to the comments and decided it was time to address the longstanding concerns in a manner that would meet the rules and regulations and still allow contractors and developers to go to work, while protecting the environment.

A Pilot Team was assembled, under the leadership of Jack Deering with "Earth Management: The Team Concept©"; Stu Gansell, PA DEP Director, Bureau of Watershed Management; and John Ravert, District Manager with the Berks County Conservation District. The team included an earthmoving contractor, engineers, a homebuilder, academia, the Executive Director of the Homebuilders Association of Berks County, PA DEP staff, U.S. EPA staff, and of course, District staff.

The goal was to improve the process and to develop a system that would allow for better designed E&SC Plans, lessen the review time, and to allow all the parties involved with the project to provide input during the design. What resulted was a two-step process involving a Pre-Application Review Meeting (PARM) and a Final Review Meeting (FRM).

The NPDES Permit applicant and the E&SC Plan designer are required to attend the PARM and meet with the E&SC Plan reviewer at the District. Typically an E&SC Plan and the associated NPDES application are dropped off at the front desk, and the two parties never sit down at the same table to discuss the plan. After the PARM, the District issues a letter of substantiality, indicating the E&SC Plan is substantially adequate and the NPDES application is administratively complete. At this point the Permit applicant and the designer seek the input of the earthmoving contractor, who will review the substantially adequate plan and offer input into making the plan cost effective and able to work.

A familiar comment heard from earthmoving contractors is, "I can't build it this way," and "I wish I could have had a crack at designing this thing, because I could have saved time and money." Who better, than the guys who move the soil and construct the roadways, to provide their expertise in putting together a construction sequence that makes sense? There's a lot of experience riding on those tracked machines and to date it has not been fully tapped.

The major benefits of this new initiative are the face-to-face meetings between the permittee, designer, earthmover, and the Conservation District. These meetings afford the District staff the opportunity to discus the importance of minimizing accelerated erosion and the impacts of poorly treated stormwater on the quality of our waterways. It also provides an opportunity to discuss the elements of an NPDES permit and the responsibilities the applicant has assumed by cutting into the earth and developing a piece of property.

The Berks County Conservation District strongly advocates this new initiative and is willing to share the merits and structure of the initiative with all of the Districts across the state. It's time for a change in the way business is done in Pennsylvania.

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