State by state, the requirements for stormwater management and erosion control are trending toward diversity.

With local climate, soil types, and rainfall averages driving many of these requirements, there is likely to be less continuity in environmental requirements in the future because of local environment and population. Coastal areas and high-density populated areas seem to have more stringent requirements.

While the specific methods of stormwater and erosion control are not beyond the scope of most civil engineers’ capabilities, the continuing disparities among state and local requirements makes meeting these standards more difficult.

Government Projects Add Another Layer
When working on federal projects, stormwater and erosion control project team members face challenges in meeting yet another layer of requirements. Although not required, the federal military installations try to be a good neighbor by abiding by local and state regulations.

In Department of Defense projects, for instance, the local and state stormwater and erosion management requirements must be met. Additionally, the military installation on which the project is located may have its own requirements and/or best management practices. In most cases, the installation will defer to the state as the authority on the set up of erosion control. Any added requirements will be in line with, or more stringent than, the state’s.

There may also be particular methods preferred on one base versus another.

For instance, one installation may prefer straw bale check dams, while another may call for silt fences. It can become a balancing act to try to please each entity while still meeting legal requirements. The soil types and rainfall characteristics of the area often dictate these erosion control methods.

Military installations often have an environmental department that becomes involved in the design process, feeding information and guiding the design team through their needs and unique challenges.

These environmental personnel—often six to eight dedicated to a particular project—can be almost as big as the design team. They are there to assist, but can also make meeting the requirements more challenging.

Regionalism in Requirements

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of working on Department of Defense projects is that the design team has to adapt and understand numerous states’ stormwater and erosion control requirements.

For a 500-acre tank range project at Fort Benning, Georgia, a major environmental challenge involved wetlands on one side and state waters on the site.

Since wetlands are present on the site, it effectively reduces the amount of usable area. The design team was forced to look at alternate layouts that work with the terrain in order to minimize earthwork and cost while still providing a useable facility that maintains line-of-sight between the firing positions and the target emplacements.

A balance between cost, environmental impacts, and functionality must be maintained.

Although the project is not increasing the impervious surface, it does require some clearing and replacement with grass. There are standoff distances from wetlands that must be maintained. The area also features some string buffers on the state waters that need to be considered, along with an elaborate sedimentation control requirement.

Georgia, however, is a state on the stricter end of stormwater and erosion control requirements. Thus, the same standards will not be applicable at an installation in another state.

California is a state with some of the strictest standards. At Camp Roberts, an eight-acre Urban Assault Course with five different stations, one challenge is that the disturbance of more than five acres requires a variety of paperwork that must be approved by the state before work can commence on the project.

In the Midwest, however, state requirements tend to be more relaxed. At one Army Reserve Center project in Omaha, Nebraska, the 30-acre development will  increase the impervious area with parking lots and two buildings, but other than detention basins, there are few state specific requirements for stormwater runoff or erosion control.

In general, states on the West and East Coasts typically have the most restrictive requirements – although some inland states are beginning to follow suit.

A Question of Sub-Consultants
For full design projects, it is now necessary in many cases to hire sub-consultants. In at least one case – Georgia – these sub-consultants are required to be state-certified, and must stamp and approve all design drawings.

Hiring sub-consultants can add to the cost of a project, but this is often less expensive than staff who are unfamiliar with each state’s specific requirements.

Local consultants are more familiar with their state’s documentation and submittal process and often already have relationships with local and/or state reviewers. Because of their local proximity to the project, they can also provide necessary site visits and act as a liaison.

Perhaps the most critical key to success is an early start on project planning. By getting as much detailed information as possible from the client, the design team’s ability to develop plans that will meet state requirements becomes less burdensome. Then, plans can be submitted for approval with time to adapt and still keep the overall project on time and under budget. SLDT