Today’s Guest Column
Let’s face it — by all accounts, Campus Creek is in poor condition. Years of development — both within the campus footprint and the greater Campus Creek watershed — have increased the impervious areas draining to Campus Creek and have significantly decreased the forest buffer that naturally protects the stream. The result is a stream with severely eroded banks, few ecological habitats and potential threats to infrastructure such as roads and water and sewer lines, which could become unstable as the stream shifts. Without restoration of Campus Creek, this area will continue to degrade and be a persistent source of pollution leading to the Chesapeake Bay.
This is far from a new campus issue — for more than a decade, there have been talks about restoring Campus Creek, but nothing has happened. Restoring the creek has been listed as a high priority in several studies including the campus’ Sustainable Water Use and Watershed Workgroup Report, Facilities Master Plan 2001-2020 and the FMP 2011-2030. For all this time, money has stood in the way of making this project a reality. But after years of university personnel pursuing funds to revitalize the creek, last year the state Department of Natural Resources decided to allocate $1.5 million to the project.
Unfortunately, this is not as simple as it seems. The $1.5 million was contingent upon this university developing a restoration plan, which would be done through an external contractor, costing roughly $400,000. Additionally, the DNR money was only granted for the fiscal year 2015, beginning July 1 this year and ending June 30, 2015, meaning that if we do not at least start using the funds by the date in June, then they will be revoked and allocated elsewhere. Unfortunately, facilities planning staff, who are working on this project, have not been able to secure funding for the restoration plan. Because we are already halfway through the allotted fiscal year, we could not get the restoration underway by the deadline. As such, facilities planning has asked the DNR to extend this offer to fiscal 2016, to which it has verbally agreed to but not officially committed.
However, facilities planning feels confident that the DNR will officially extend this offer, giving us another chance at this missed opportunity. In anticipation of this extension, facilities planning is seeking funds from the Sustainability Fund, campus stakeholders and off-campus grants.
Beyond all of the benefits that would accrue from restoring Campus Creek, we also would be putting ourselves one step ahead of the game in terms of complying with state permits. As efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay continue to increase, stormwater management permits are becoming increasingly tighter. For instance, under the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System program, this university will likely have to restore the creek to better manage its stormwater runoff. Will we stay ahead of the curve and abide by this law now with the help of the DNR? Or will we fail to take advantage of this opportunity and pay $1.5 million in the future to comply with the storm sewer system program?
The choice seems simple: Restoring Campus Creek will benefit the campus’s environmental footprint, save us $1.5 million in future expenses and help save the Chesapeake Bay. We’ve already missed the opportunity to restore the creek in 2015, but fortunately, we will likely get a second chance in 2016. Second chances do not come frequently in life, and if we miss this opportunity again, it will certainly be a mistake that the entire campus community will regret for years.
Ori Gutin is a junior environmental science and policy major. He can be reached at omgutin@gmail.com.
