Vermont Towns Learn To Control Stormwater Pollution

National Wildlife, June-July, 2000

Stormwater runoff laden with dirt, litter, fertilizer, oil and heavy metals is a significant source of pollution throughout New England's Lake Champlain Basin. Yet, many local officials are ill-equipped to deal with pressures to convert open land to roads, parking lots and other hard surfaces that dramatically increase stormwater runoff.

To give those officials the tools they need to make sound land-use and transportation decisions, NWF's Northeast Natural Resource Center recently conducted stormwater management workshops in six Vermont communities.

The sessions focused on techniques for including water-quality protection in review of land-use applications and provided model language that can be incorporated into town plans and land-use regulations.