Vermont's Stormwater Pollution

When rain and snowmelt flows across rooftops, parking lots, streets, and driveways, it creates what is known as stormwater runoff. On its way to Vermont’s rivers and lakes, stormwater runoff picks up sediment, phosphorous, toxins, pathogens, oil, grease, and other pollutants that create a nasty brew that can severely pollute our waters. Dozens of streams in Vermont are so polluted by runoff from stormwater that they do not meet basic minimum water quality standards that require that Vermont’s waters be fishable, swimmable and drinkable.

While advances have been made in methods of treating stormwater pollution, it still remains the fastest growing threat to Vermont’s water quality. The stormwater permitting program at the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) began to atrophy starting in the mid 1990s. Funding and staffing shortages left the program all but abandoned, leading to the expiration of over 1,500 permits. Some treatment facilities were never built; others were left in a state of disrepair.

The Vermont Legislature passed legislation aimed at fixing the problem in 2000 and 2002, but no real progress was made to effectively solve the stormwater problem.

Watershed-wide stormwater permits (called Watershed Improvement Permits or WIPs) were drafted by ANR as authorized by the 2002 legislation, but were challenged by VNRC and the Conservation Law Foundation at Vermont Water Resources Board (Board). VNRC appealed the permits for the four polluted Chittenden County streams believing that the WIPs were woefully inadequate to bring Vermont’s waters back into compliance with water quality standards. The Board agreed—the permits were deemed illegal in June of 2003.

Throughout the summer of 2003, ANR sat idle, offering no legal alternative for the permitting program. Obtaining a permit was difficult, and Vermont’s polluted waters continued to get worse.

During the same time period, VNRC worked closely with business interests, municipal representatives, scientists, and other environmental groups to craft workable stormwater clean up plans. When the 2004 Vermont General Assembly went back to the drawing board to deal with the stormwater crisis, much of the work that had been generated by VNRC and others was plugged into the legislative solution.

The Vermont Legislature passed amendments to the stormwater law that includes many of the initiatives that VNRC help craft. While the bill was far from perfect it did include clear requirements that ANR implement cleanup plans for its stormwater impaired waters, something that has been advocated by the Water Resources Board since 2002.

VNRC will continue to be an active participant in crafting effective clean up plans and rules to implement Vermont’s stormwater program. Without a real commitment to cleaning up polluted waters, we not only compromise Vermont’s values, but we leave a shameful legacy of polluted waters to future generations.

Check our web page for updates on this issue and VNRC’s efforts and to ensure that Vermont’s stormwater polluted waters are finally restored.