Who Pays for Stormwater?

After years of successfully controlling water pollution from factory pipes, stormwater runoff is now the nation’s number one source of water pollution. About 10 years ago, the federal government required states to tackle the problem, but did not provide a budget. In fact, the EPA has cut more than $600 million in the last two years from fiscal assistance states count on to finance improvements required by law.*

While unfunded federal mandates are nothing new, many protest paying to address our stormwater problems. Most arguments revolve around this being a “new” expense. In reality, stormwater is an old problem receiving new attention. Previously, stormwater costs were been bundled with other items, so the individual costs were hard to calculate. But given the vociferous protests, many seem collectively unaware that we’ve been paying all along. Here’s where our money goes.

Before we drink water from rivers, lakes, and wells, we have to make it safe and tasty. Taking out stormwater pollutants like sediment, oil, fertilizer, pet poop, and pesticides are just the first step. Even “healthy” water can be cloudy, taste “funny,” or—in the case of algae blooms—have a bad odor. Part of every water bill reflects some costs paid for stormwater.

If your drinking water comes from a lake, it may hold less water now than when it was built. Sediment, stormwater’s number one ingredient, erodes from construction sites, agricultural areas, and even overburdened streams. A 1987 World Bank study found reservoirs globally are losing 1 percent of capacity annually. In the U.S., a 1988 report estimated the annual depleted storage costs at $2 billion. Dredging is not cheap and, in times of drought, even small percentages can be crucial. The next time you see a failing silt fence, it’s something to think about, isn’t it?

If you live on a lake, you may become intimately familiar with stormwater’s impact on property values. Clear water has value, and a study done in Maine showed water clarity accounted for anywhere from three to fifteen percent of property values. Owners will feel the bite if they drop, but the community tax base will collectively take the biggest hit.

Of course, the same communities house businesses catering to those on, around, or in the water. Polluted stormwater runoff is the primary cause for swim advisories and one of many reasons for fish advisories. When people can’t swim or fish, they stay home with their disposable income or take it where the water is good.

Even without a water view, homeowners still pay for stormwater. North Carolina is getting new floodplain maps, and some folks woke up in the same old place to find they live in a “new” floodplain. Part of floodplain growth is better mapping and part is because of simple stormwater physics. When rain can’t sink into developed areas like roads, roofs, and parking lots, more and more of it runs off. The result is larger floodplains and new bills for flood insurance. (You did know your homeowners insurance doesn’t cover that, right?)

We also pay for stormwater whenever we eat shellfish. It was never cheap, but have you seen today’s prices? North Carolina temporarily closes many shellfish beds each time it rains because of stormwater pollution. Stormwater is the same reason other shellfish beds are permanently closed. What of the people who make their living off the shellfish industry? They’re paying for stormwater, too, in reduced profits and lost jobs.

Infrastructure is always a big-ticket item, but North Carolina’s bill has not really come due. That’s too bad, because construction costs are skyrocketing and most of our storm drains and culverts date from the Eisenhower administration. The North Carolina Rural Center’s survey of North Carolina municipalities estimated stormwater needs between now and 2030 at 1.47 billion. What’s more, so little is known about our aging stormwater systems, the final costs will probably be higher.

Of course, we pay for stormwater we don’t manage, too. When parking lots replace grassy fields, it doesn’t take an engineer to know yesterday’s 40-inch pipe just isn’t getting the job done. Local urban floods are the result and we see those more now than ever before. What did not flood yesterday, floods today; who pays for that?

We even pay for the stormwater we did not mean to manage. “Inflow” is a technical term for the stormwater entering sewers through flooded manholes or through aging pipes. Because the pipes carry both sewage and stormwater together to the wastewater treatment plant, we needlessly pay to treat this stormwater. In one North Carolina town, Fremont, almost half of the volume going to the treatment plant is stormwater. Everyone in Fremont with a water bill pays for that stormwater.

Event towns without floods or pipe problems still pay when overburdened streams succumb to “channelizing.” Here, rushing water erodes side banks and scours creek bottoms. The first result is more sediment in the water, loss of wildlife habitat and—if that creek runs through your backyard—loss of land. If your creek bank erodes a half a foot a year, how much land will you lose before your mortgage is paid? And who is paying for it?

Then there are the costs you can’t tally in a balance sheet. No more lazy afternoons spent swimming or fishing because the water is bad. You can’t reach your daughter’s piano recital because the road is flooded. There’s this big mess we’re leaving for our kids to clean up? Can we really put a price on these?

Making stormwater costs a separate line item doesn’t make them higher, but it does make them more apparent. Next time someone complains about the “new” stormwater bill, tell them we’ve been paying all along, it’s just that we are finally starting to count the costs.

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