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Murderkill
Tributary Action Team
Progress Report
The
Murderkill Tributary Action Team was busy last year,
working to form a Pollution Control Strategy (PCS) to
recommend to the Department
of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). The
team expects to have a completed version published sometime
in the fall of 2004.
Since
the team’s
inception, members have worked to make recommendations to reduce
nutrient loads from agriculture, wastewater,
stormwater, development and the individual household actions
of the residents living in the Murderkill Watershed. There's
been a lot of success and some recommendations have already become
reality, including:
- In
September 2003 the Delaware
Nutrient Management Commission designated
the Murderkill Watershed as a “critical area” at
the team's request. (For more information, link
to our article on their action.) This
designation makes the watershed eligible for Clean
Water Act Section 319 grant
funds
from the
Environmental
Protection Agency.
- Proposed
a Section 319 Grant through the Kent Conservation District
to
(1) locate and prioritize farm fields for existing voluntary
state
and federal agriculture cost share enrollment,
(2) identify
farm fields that have recently transitioned to residential land uses,
(3) land use conversion study to highlight those farm fields
expected to transition to commercial and residential land uses over the
next ten years, and
(4) recommended siting of BMPs, including
buffers, for existing residential areas and farm fields expected to transition
to commercial and residential land uses over the next
ten years.
- Funding for a septic compliance/inspection pilot program.
- Performance standards for onsite wastewater disposal systems (OSWDS).
- Received 319 Grant for OSWDS repair for the Walnut Shade area.
- A
new Kent
County Subdivision Ordinance was passed which includes
provisions that:
- provide
for the use of stormwater BMPs;
- require
new OSWDS to be designed and installed using best available technology
in accordance with TMDL nutrient load requirements;
- onsite
spray
irrigation
must meet advanced treatment requirements;
- allow
regional planning commission to require passive open
space in
residential
developments;
- provide
for woodland preservation and tree plantings on non-wooded
sites;
- institute
100 foot buffer requirements for water
bodies and blue line streams,
- institute
50 foot buffers from non-blue line streams and drainage
ditches;
- development
projects within
a promulgated TMDL basin must
preserve or re-establish vegetative riparian buffers
in
order to reduce nutrients to comply
with TMDL
nutrient requirements.
- Stormwater monitoring project got underway.
- Distributed
Delaware Department of Transportation
(DELDOT) stormwater
public education publications.
- New
sediment and stormwater regulations encouraging “Green
Technologies” have been proposed.
The
Murderkill Team is working to finalize recommendations
related to development, individual household efforts, and to
prioritize recommendations. The team recognizes that
the solution to reducing nutrient loads in the Murderkill must
be
multi-faceted. Besides agriculture, wastewater, and stormwater,
reductions must be made through our own individual actions. Many
of us inadvertently
contribute to the nonpoint source pollution problem at home by:
- over-fertilizing
lawns and gardens
- applying
excess pesticides to plants
- not
cleaning up after pets
- washing
cars and conducting vehicle maintenance on impervious surfaces
then washing
soaps, detergents, grease and other chemicals into storm
sewers.
Plans
are also in the works for several outreach activities including
a canoeing/kayaking trip
along a portion of the Murderkill River this spring,
and the second Murderkill Watershed Festival. The first
Watershed Festival was held at Killens
Pond last May.
Murderkill
team members will report their
progress at the
2004 Statewide Tributary
Action Team Conference on March 13th at Saint
Andrew’s
School in Middletown.
The
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control will
also be busy over the next 6-8 months compiling data to support
the proposed recommendations and to determine if the team's recommendations
will meet the required nutrient reduction goals. An Agriculture
Workgroup will be convened for the Murderkill Watershed to identify
best management practices and determine how efficient they are
at reducing nutrient loads in the watershed. DNREC
will also estimate cost scenarios to meet the nutrient load
reduction goals in the Murderkill Watershed.
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