Washington D.C. RiverSmart Homes Program Helps Protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed | Article

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States, stretching 200 miles from Maryland to Virginia. Home to more than 3,600 species of animals and plants, the Bay is a productive commercial fishery and a popular recreation spot for the 17 million people who live in the Chesapeake watershed.

Unfortunately, the environmental health of the Chesapeake Bay is threatened by pollution. While agriculture is currently the Bay’s largest source of pollution, stormwater is the fastest-growing pollution source. Stormwater pollution occurs when rain falls on impermeable surfaces like pavement and flows off into rivers and streams, carrying trash and pollutants such as fertilizer. Fertilizer contains high concentrations of nutrients like nitrogen or phosphorus, which can cause harmful algae blooms that reduce oxygen in the water and kill fish. In 2019, stormwater contributed 40 million pounds of nitrogen, 2.6 million pounds of phosphorus, and 1.7 billion pounds of sediment to the Bay. These numbers represent 16 percent of total nitrogen pollution in the Bay, 17 percent of phosphorus pollution, and 9 percent of sediment pollution.

To help clean up the Chesapeake Bay, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established a limit on pollution called the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) in 2010. The TMDL restricts annual nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution from the seven jurisdictions in the Bay's drainage basin, including Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

To meet the demands of the TMDL, city governments and environmental organizations are working to reduce stormwater pollution with holistic, nature-based solutions. “Bayscaping” uses native plants from the Chesapeake Bay region to increases the permeable green space available that can slowly absorb water and keep it from flowing into waterways. In addition to providing food and habitat for local wildlife, native plants have deeper root systems that can better filter water and reduce erosion than non-native plants.

The RiverSmart program in Washington, D.C., run by the Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE), provides incentives for home and business owners to implement green infrastructure like bayscaping on their properties.

The RiverSmart program offers a diverse range of stormwater retrofits for homes, commercial properties, and even school campuses. Besides implementing bayscaping, RiverSmart helps program participants install rain barrels, rain gardens, permeable pavement, and shade trees. These solutions conserve water while providing additional benefits to property owners, such as simpler maintenance and flood prevention.

Rain barrels, for example, prevent stormwater from flowing into waterways but can also store water for watering gardens or lawns. Arielle Conti, a DOEE environmental protection specialist, says that rain barrels are the most popular installation because of their simplicity and effectiveness.

Rain gardens are strategically placed gardens that collect and hold water flowing from a rooftop. Slightly sloped sides help to direct water to the gardens, where specialized soil increases drainage. Rain gardens are less expensive and require less maintenance than traditional landscaping.

Replacing a concrete pavement with permeable pavers reduces runoff and can protect property from flooding. Finally, shade trees can help to soak up rainwater with their leaves and roots while providing shade that can decrease cooling bills by up to 50 percent.

The solutions mentioned above can also be combined so that they complement each other. “You can install a rain barrel on the downspout and allow the overflow from the rain barrel to flow to a rain garden. Then, if you get a really big storm event, a bayscape can help manage the overflow from the rain garden,” Conti explained.

When property owners apply to the RiverSmart program, they receive a free stormwater audit to determine which of the retrofits would work best on their property. After the owner decides which retrofits they want to install, DOEE partners with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and Casey Trees to manage the installation process.

Program participants pay a small co-payment for each feature installed and then receive benefits in the form of discounts on their water bill. Alternatively, if participants want to install retrofits themselves, the RiverSmart Homes program provides rebates to offset the costs.

A house in D.C in the RiverSmart Homes program with a "bayscaped" yard. Photo Credit: RiverSmart Homes

To date, the RiverSmart program has successfully retrofitted more than 4,000 properties in the D.C. area and prevented thousands of gallons of stormwater pollution from entering the Chesapeake Bay.

In 2021, one of RiverSmart’s residential installations was recognized by the Chesapeake Stormwater Network (CSN), coming in second for the best residential stormwater management project. Joey Abrams, a homeowner in the Woodridge neighborhood, installed two rain gardens, a 120-square-foot bayscape, one rain barrel, and three shade trees in his yard.

After most of the work had been done, Abrams realized water from his next-door neighbor's large concrete patio was flowing through his property. Rather than ask his neighbor to address the issue, he addressed it himself by installing the second of his two rain gardens. As Conti pointed out, “it was a really creative solution and a very neighborly thing to do.”

All in all, Abrams’s retrofits capture over 2,850 square feet of stormwater runoff.

In addition to reducing stormwater runoff from residential and commercial properties, a major goal of the RiverSmart program is to educate D.C. residents about stormwater pollution and empower them to make a difference in their communities. Abrams, like others who have completed a successful RiverSmart project, has become a strong advocate for green infrastructure among his friends and family.

Jamie Alberti, director of the Green Infrastructure Program at the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, emphasized the community and environmental benefits of RiverSmart. “We're educating residents on issues of stormwater and how they can be part of the solution. They are doing important work to clean the Bay and when they tell their friends about the program, they are also agents of change.”

Author: Isabella Eclipse