• Polluted stormwater destroys animal/plant habitats and threatens public health.                              
• The amount of stormwater runoff can be lessened by reducing impervious surfaces; dispersing versus centralizing stormwater conveyance and collection; and increasing groundwater infiltration.                               
• The quality of stormwater runoff can be improved by creating bio-filtration areas (e.g., rain gardens, stream buffers) designed to filter runoff from impervious sites.                              
• The primary approaches to controlling stormwater are through the use of best management practices (BMPs), smart growth techniques, and low impact development methodologies. A national menu of stormwater BMPs can be found at: http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/menuofbmps/index.cfm. 

A Solution: Leveraging the V-REMS Partnership’s Goal of Voluntarily Improving the Regional Environment beyond Regulatory Requirements
V-REMS partners have committed to work individually and together to voluntarily reduce their point and non-point source stormwater pollution.  Through V-REMS meetings and teleconferences, partners share with each other successful BMPs, new technology options, and lessons learned about reducing stormwater pollution from their respective facilities.  This exchange of information equips partners to educate their own organizations about the impacts of stormwater and build the business case for taking action to implement stormwater solutions.

• Eight V-REMS partners received Business for The Bay Excellence Awards in part for their “outstanding work in pollution prevention programs to help protect the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers.”                             
• Ukrop’s Super Markets installed a large bio-retention area acting as a filter for stormwater runoff, in front of its Forest Hill Avenue store in Richmond.  As part of the filter media they even used compost material from their central kitchen compost operation.                            
• Learning from Ukrop’s bio-retention are experience, the Defense Supply Center Richmond (DSCR), assisted by 15 boy scouts, was inspired to build three rain gardens (bio-filtration areas) along the edge of a large parking lot and a vehicle maintenance building.                            
• The Hopewell Regional Water Treatment Facility built a roof over its sludge storage pad to reduce stormwater contamination, enhance sludge handling, and improve worker safety.  The improvements increased the efficiency of the plant’s incinerator, allowing it to burn its own sludge more efficiently and accept waste from external sources – increasing revenue by $600,000 annually.                             
• More than six different V-REMS partners have instituted improved management policies for their hazardous chemicals or eliminated use of these chemicals.  If spilled into stormwater drains that lead to the Chesapeake Bay, these chemicals could have severe impacts on the marine environment.  Partners’ improvements reduce the risk that toxic chemicals will spill and enter the Bay.                              
• Fort Lee realized over a 65% reduction in the generation of hazardous waste, an 85.4% decrease in pesticide usage, and 26% reduction in water usage. Fort Lee has implemented over 30 BMPs ranging from landfill cap projects to bio-retention areas and stormwater separators.                              
• The City of Richmond implemented a discarded gas tanks recycling program which reduces the amount of residue oil in the tanks from coming into contact with stormwater.

*In some cases, the accomplishments identified are the results of individual V-REMS partners’ voluntary efforts.  In others, environmental projects were already in effect when organizations joined V-REMS and experiences were shared.