2.5 NEW STATE TNTTTATTVKS TO ADDRESS STORMWATER 

 MANAGEMENT AND SEDTMENT AND EROSTON CONTROL 



Findings and Concerns 



In order to ensure proper coordinated commitment to stormwater and 

 sediment management on the part of all involved agencies, municipalities 

 and property ovmers in the state, a consistent interagency approach needs 

 to be developed, preferably confirmed via legislative initiative. The state 

 regulatory programs now in place do not have jurisdiction over all 

 development situations in which runoff, erosion, and sedimentation cause 

 adverse water quality impacts. Nor are local municipalities for the most 

 part technically or flnancially equipped to deal with these issues in an 

 aggressive manner, although certain towns have made auspicious 

 beginnings. 



Whether implementation of controls is based primarily on networking and expansion of 

 existing state programs or on development of local regxolatory and planning initiatives, 

 specific state standards need to be established to ensure consistency, 

 predictability, and public accountability. At the same time, a grant-in-aid 

 program should be established to encourage development of targeted state- 

 local initiatives in critical areas. 



DEVELOPMENT OF A GRANT-IN- AID/LOAN PROGRAM 



Introduction 



As a component of state non-point source control initiatives undertaken 

 pursuant to the requirements of the Water Quality Act of 1987, Rhode 

 Island should develop a financial assistance program modelled on the Clean 

 Lakes Program as applied in other New England states. With respect to 

 coastal areas of the state, the grant/loan program would be targeted toward 

 application in confined embayments or small estuaries of the Bay where 

 non-point source pollutants contribute significantly to water quality 

 degradation. The program would serve to target implementation funding toward 

 resource areas severely affected by non-point source inputs, and in which strong local 

 interest and initiative could be built upon. 



Grants would be made available in very high priority resource areas 

 where control programs were in place and operating according to state- 

 established criteria. Low interest loans would be made available in high 

 priority areas where programs were being put in place, but were not yet 

 fully operating. Funding would be made available for research and implementation, but 

 would be restricted to control programs established on a watershed management basis. 



To encourage research and management integration, special funding 

 would be made available in two areas where shellfishing closures are 

 primarily attributable to non-point inputs. (ISDS impacts, as well as stormwater 

 runoff and sedimentation impacts, could be included.) In these case study areas, funding 

 would be provided for a one year intensive research and management effort, in which 

 controls would be put in place and results in the impacted shellfishing areas would be 



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