For the past three years, the Center for Watershed Protection (CWP) has operated a Circuit Rider program to provide technical assistance to municipalities in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania on reducing stormwater pollution. This work has included technical support to the Lancaster Clean Water Partners, working collaboratively with the Center for Water Quality Excellence to bridge gaps between agricultural and municipal stakeholders, and, most recently, engaging Strasburg Borough in a green infrastructure opportunity analysis.
This past Spring, CWP worked with the Strasburg Borough manager and ELA Group to conduct a stormwater management retrofit inventory across the entire Borough. Stormwater retrofits are structural stormwater management practices that can be used to address existing stormwater management problems within a watershed. These practices are installed in upland areas to capture and treat stormwater runoff before it is delivered to the storm drainage system. The goal in Strasburg is to reduce stormwater pollution in the Pequea Creek watershed, address local areas of flooding and local stream water quality impairments, and help achieve MS4 requirements.
CWP conducted stormwater retrofit field assessments, where field crews looked specifically at drainage patterns, the amount of impervious cover, available space, and other site constraints when developing concepts for a site. A total of 68 sites were visited with 26 stormwater retrofit opportunities identified at 20 sites. Each proposed project was ranked to help the Borough achieve MS4 water quality requirements and address known local flooding concerns on publicly owned land. In addition, CWP provided the Borough with an ArcGIS geodatabase containing shapefiles that identify the location of these sites and concept designs for top ranked stormwater retrofit opportunities. The work completed by CWP will be used by the Borough to prioritize implementation, integrate retrofit opportunities with capital improvement projects, and support the attainment of water quality goals within the Borough.
This work is funded by a grant from the Keith Campbell Foundation. To learn more about the Lancaster County Circuit Rider work, contact Ruth Hocker at rah@cwp.org.
