ANNAPOLIS, MD (May 3, 2006) – Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. announced Board of Public Works approval today of $352,000 to treat 227 acres of business and residential land, built before stormwater management (SWM) ponds were required. Today’s actions are in the form of a direct state grant and an allocation from the historic Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund. The Board is comprised of Governor Ehrlich, Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp and Comptroller William D. Schaefer.

“Every grant and state loan dollar spent in such projects are an investment we must make,” Governor Ehrlich said. “They are an essential to Maryland’s aggressive stormwater management activities to reduce nutrients being discharged to the Bay.”

Excess nutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorus, lead to degraded water quality, which negatively impact the ecology of the Bay and its tributaries.

The project along Rockville’s Carnation Drive and I-270 will consist of adding water quality treatment to the forest and wetland enhancements to assist outdated stormwater management pond basins. These improvements will also trap trash, sediment, and pollutants that now pass through the existing facilities.

“The City of Rockville thanks the Maryland Department of the Environment for the grant assistance that will help the city meet its goals to improve local stream conditions,” said the city’s Director of Public Works Craig L. Simoneau. “The Carnation Drive SWM project will enable us to modernize two regional stormwater management ponds that were built in the early 1980s. These facilities provided quantity control, but recent MDE standards indicate that the ponds are ineffective at preventing downstream erosion. The retrofits will help the ponds trap more during storm releases and lessen erosion to the Watts Branch stream below.”

The city hopes to avoid the need to armor 1,000 feet of stream channel directly below the ponds with this project.

Total cost of the project is $470,000 of which more than $118,000 is the local share being paid by Rockville. The state’s participation in the project, through the Maryland Department of the Environment, is $352,000.

Construction is expected to begin in June, with completion not expected until July 2007.

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