DEM: Cumberland must do more to manage drainage

CUMBERLAND – Near the beginning of last year, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management contacted Town of Cumberland officials to notify them that the town’s unauthorized discharge of stormwater was in violation of its regulations.

Now, a month after an executive session meeting to discuss threatened litigation by RIDEM, Mayor William Murray is entering into a consent agreement with the Department, which has been in contact with public works director Robert Anderson and assistant town solicitor Christopher Alger.

“Basically, what they told us is they were going to impose a fine on the Town of Cumberland but instead of the fine, we could agree to purchase equipment to further [maintain] the stormwater system,” Alger explained.

The agreement requires the town to implement various procedures, purchase a mini-excavator (estimated at $55,000) and purchase a camera system to check the condition of drainage pipes (estimated at $46,000).

It states that “the parties agree an amicable resolution is in the best interest of the public and will more effectively preserve and enhance the environmental quality of Cumberland’s water bodies.”

Cumberland is by no means unique among Rhode Island municipalities in facing this issue.

The issues that multiple communities are facing stem from a 2003 permit on stormwater discharge from small municipal separate stormsewer systems, or MS4s. According to the consent agreement for Cumberland, the town obtained coverage under the permit in March of 2004 but failed to respond to RIDEM’s comments on its Stormwater Management Program Plan in June of 2005.

As a result, the town ceased to be covered under the permit. Alger said he couldn’t answer exactly why the town didn’t respond to the comments.

But he added, “Over several different administrations, I think it just got put into filing cabinets or whatever, and DEM hasn’t been particularly proactive about enforcing this permit against the town.”

It seems the state has started to step up its enforcement over the last couple years.

EcoRI News reported in June of 2016 that the Warwick City Council voted to adopt a consent agreement with RIDEM regarding the city’s failure to comply with the permit requirements for the MS4.

It reported that this past March, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza signed an agreement to invest in stormwater infrastructure because it was not in compliance with several provisions in its stormwater permit.

The consent agreement the Town of Cumberland signed requires the town to do the following by Dec. 1 of this year:

• Revise and/or amend its Stormwater Management Program Plan to keep track of procedures to inspect catch basins and manholes, trace the source of illicit discharges, maintain street sweeping records, implement an Erosion and Sediment Control Review and Inspection Program, and more

• Complete a dry weather survey of all outfalls

• Inspect all catch basins and manholes for sediment accumulation, and clean as necessary

• Submit documentation that the catch basins and manholes have been inspected

It also requires the town to do the following by various dates in 2018:

• Submit to RIDEM a GIS map of all outfalls, receiving waters and drainage systems

• Submit to RIDEM the annual MS4 Annual Report

• Establish an inventory of structural controls that drain to the MS4

• Purchase and put into use a mini-excavator, which “will be used to get into areas that would otherwise only be accessible with hand tools such as replacement of drainage pipes in wooded areas or areas where buildings are too close to allow for bigger equipment”

Purchase and put into use a camera system to check the condition of drainage pipes

The two purchases are referred to as supplemental environmental projects. If the town fails to complete an SEP, it must write RIDEM a check in the amount of the project credit, and it will no longer be under an obligation to complete the project.

Alger said that after the budget is approved in June, the town will identify an engineering firm to help it get in compliance with the agreement.

“The plan moving forward is to figure out a way that our current employees can keep us in compliance, because once we’re in compliance, the majority of the work is done,” Alger said. But he noted that there is a lot of paperwork on a yearly basis.

The Cumberland Town Council last week approved a resolution allowing the mayor to enter into the consent agreement.