Can city calm stormwater system woes?

By Rachana Dixit

Published: September 1, 2008

When it comes to stormwater, Charlottesville officials are in agreement: serious help is needed.

“The system isn’t a self-healing system, and the projects are only going to get more expensive and the damage is going to get more extensive,” said Kristel Riddervold, Charlottesville’s environmental administrator.

Tonight, city staff will present a report on implementing a water resources protection program and seek direction from City Council, in hopes of lessening the runoff that jets into the city’s ailing water infrastructure and increasing environmental sustainability.

Stormwater runoff is water from rain or melted snow that flows over the ground and into the city’s stormwater system or directly into creeks and streams. In Charlottesville, it flows from smaller creeks — such as Rock Creek, Lodge Creek and Pollocks Branch — into larger creeks such as Moores Creek and Meadow Creek, and eventually into the Rivanna River.

About 50 miles of underground stormwater pipes and more than 4,000 stormwater structures comprise the city’s system, many of the pipes made from corrugated metal or terra cotta.

“In the city, the stormwater system has been put together in bits and pieces over a hundred years of development,” said Chuck Rotgin, who sits on the citizens advisory committee helping to craft the water protection plan.

He added, “We’ve been advised that there are a number of situations where pipe is 60, 70, 80 years old.”

Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris said many areas in the city do not adequately absorb stormwater, which strains the city’s infrastructure.

“We have a lot of impervious surface in the city where water hits a roof, hits asphalt and shoots straight into the storm system,” he said. According to city statistics, the city has 105 million square feet of impervious surface, allowing water to drain much faster into the storm system — possibly picking up toxins such as oil and pesticides on the way — instead of being absorbed into the ground.

“Because of the way we’ve changed the landscape, water that used to infiltrate into the forest now races off the landscape and into the streams,” said advisory committee member Ridge Schuyler of the Nature Conservancy.

Past studies have shown that Charlottesville’s water and sewer systems are in dire need of repair. In January, city utilities Director Lauren Hildebrand told councilors that the city needs to spend $18.8 million over the next five years to upgrade the water infrastructure system.

In addition, an outside consultant determined that Charlottesville needs to spend $26.7 million over the next five years to update the city’s sewer system and to have adequate infrastructure to support an expected increase in development.

“Things that are underground tend to get overlooked,” Riddervold said.

Riddervold added that enough information has been gathered to warrant moving forward. Norris said there are two components to consider when examining stormwater system improvements — how the system should be upgraded and how to treat the stormwater held on site. But as with any infrastructure overhaul, taxpayers are going to have to front part of the financial burden.

Once the best method is worked out, Norris said, “Then we have to figure out how to pay for it.”

The answer to that question remains a mystery. Norris said that last year staff came up with some proposals that would raise the average homeowner’s bill about $4 per month, but there is no consensus as to whether that proposal would be approved.

But Schuyler said that like a leaky roof, improvements can be delayed for only so long.

“Charlottesville’s an old city,” he said. “It was largely built up before we understood what the environmental effects were from our actions. But now we know.”