Rebecca MacLeod, a member of the Town of Bath Streetscape Committee and vice president of the Warm Springs Watershed Association, leads a walking tour of downtown Berkeley Springs, WV, to showcase rain gardens, planter boxes and permeable pavers. (Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay)
The role of local elected officials in the Chesapeake Bay watershed is a big one. Not only must they address the needs of their constituents, they also direct the day-to-day operations of their communities, including street and sewer maintenance, parks and recreation, emergency services and much more.
They also should be good environmental stewards. Decisions made by local officials impact not only the health and vitality of their community but also their local waterways and the greater Chesapeake watershed.
Members of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Local Government Advisory Committee (LGAC) understand this connection. They have been appointed by their governor (or District of Columbia’s mayor) to share their views, insights and experiences with state and federal decision-makers, as well as to enhance the flow of information at the local government level. One way they do this is through peer-to-peer learning opportunities.
These exchanges, called the Wandering Waterways series, provide hands-on opportunities for local officeholders to learn about regional conservation efforts and empower them to take on environmental challenges in their own communities. Hosted by LGAC members, the events foster peer-to-peer connections and provide resources for implementation of environmental solutions.
This summer, the Wandering West Virginia’s Waterways tour took 18 local elected officials, representing 12 municipalities, to Bath (also called Berkeley Springs, the seat of Morgan County) for a tour of new stormwater infrastructure behind the Widmyer Elementary School and at the Greenway Cemetery. These projects address severe stormwater runoff, flooding and erosion issues.
“[Neighboring] Berkeley County is a rapidly growing area, so stormwater management is critically important to the development of the region,” said tour host James Barnhart, a Berkeley County commissioner and LGAC member.
Led by Rebecca MacLeod, a Town of Bath councilwoman and vice president of the Warm Springs Watershed Association, the tour began with a visit to the “Town of Bath Streetscape.” The downtown area was built on the floodplain of Warm Springs Run, a Potomac River tributary. It was often inundated during periods of heavy rainfall and suffered hazardous sidewalks during icy winters. In 2012, a major flood submerged much of the area, damaging homes and businesses, and covering streets and storefronts with mud and debris.
To divert stormwater and mitigate flooding, the Warm Springs Watershed Association established a green stormwater control system consisting of rain gardens, permeable pavers, planter boxes, a bioswale and a tree trench. Runoff from severe storms is collected by the rain gardens on Congress Street and soaked up by the permeable pavers and a tree trench on Washington Street.
Next, elected officials explored the lush wetlands behind Widmyer Elementary School just outside the town limits. The school was also built on the Warm Springs Run floodplain, its grounds displacing what once had been wetlands. Without the wetlands to manage drainage, stormwater runoff from the surrounding hilly terrain made for frequent and severe flooding at the elementary school and downstream at Berkeley Springs High School. In 2009, the Eastern Panhandle Conservation Agency, in partnership with the watershed association and Morgan County School Board, reestablished the wetlands, providing an outdoor learning area for students.
The last stop of the tour was the hilly, 29-acre section of Greenway Cemetery, just south of town and across the main drag from the high school. The cemetery’s extremely steep slope causes stormwater flows “so severe that on one occasion a recently buried coffin was washed out of the grave and transported to a neighboring lawn,” said Kate Lehman, president of the watershed association. “While this was a one-time event, erosion has long wreaked havoc throughout the area, especially on the three roads in this section of the cemetery.”
The watershed association responded in 2012 and 2015 by installing green infrastructure to reduce stormwater that was rushing downhill toward Warm Springs Run. Diverters, made of recycled conveyor belts, were installed to channel runoff into French drains and grassy bioswales lining the cemetery’s northernmost road. A rain garden installed at the foot of another steep slope collects and filters rainwater, diminishing flooding and providing food and habitat for wildlife.
After learning about the stormwater best management practices and green infrastructure solutions implemented in Berkeley Springs, many attendees were inspired to address similar issues in their own communities. “I [was] familiar with Berkeley Spring’s Streetscapes,” said Mona Becker, mayor of Westminster, MD, after the tour, “but I wanted to learn a little bit more about how they were implemented and where they got the funding from, because I’d love to see something like that take place in Westminster.”
Since its pilot in 2019, the Wandering Waterways series has brought elected officials together in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania to learn how their peers are tackling environmental challenges — with strategies that range from green infrastructure and innovative agricultural practices to clean water initiatives and solutions to localized flooding. By bringing Wandering Waterways to Delaware in 2022 and West Virginia in 2023, the LGAC team has made significant strides in peer-to-peer education and information-sharing.
This fall, Wandering Waterways will be in New York partnering with the Upper Susquehanna Coalition, other organizations and New York state officials at Binghamton University during the 2023 Upper Susquehanna Watershed Forum.
If you are interested in learning about the Wandering Waterways series, email [email protected].
Kayli Ottomanelli is the local government projects associate for the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay.
The views expressed by columnists are not necessarily those of the Bay Journal.