Southwick DPW Director Randy Brown. (WNG File Photo)
SOUTHWICK – The town is making progress toward meeting the Environmental Protection Agency’s stormwater management requirements.
Tracy Adamski, Tighe & Bond vice president, advised the Southwick Select Board this week to keep moving forward, even on the small tasks.
“I think you started off really strong,” she said, “but I’d say you should do simple things like making sure all your documents are in place.”
When asked about doing the required sampling, Adamski said that would take resources.
Department of Public Works Director Randy Brown agreed and said the work done so far has been more general.
“We need our own resources to focus on what we need to do here,” he said.
Adamski said while the EPA has numerous towns that are lagging behind, she wouldn’t want Southwick to stand out for non-compliance of something such as not turning in a report.
“The EPA has a pretty substantial list of what they’re looking for,” she said. “You don’t want to become the poster of what not to do.”
Select Board Chairman Russell Fox said they want to meet all the requirements.
“Our intent is to comply fully,” he said.
Adamski presented a slideshow of what Southwick needs to do, which included a section on stormwater management in new developments as well as redevelopment.
She said doing simple cleaning of catch basins and staying on top of road maintenance would go a long way to managing stormwater runoff.
Adamski noted that since Southwick stopped using sand on the roads and is reducing its salt use, stormwater is cleaner. She also noted that because Southwick falls within the Connecticut River watershed area, it has to do extra outreach and eventually have a plan in place for nitrogen removal.
Fox asked Adamski what the state’s role was in stormwater management as the owner of College Highway maintenance.
She said the state is subject to the same requirements as the town.
Brown said the DPW will continue to tackle the requirements. A summer intern is working on mapping and Brown plans to hire a coordinator to work on stormwater management.
