Hi OARS,

I’m Pam Rockwell, and a board member at OARS. I’ve been a water quality monitoring volunteer for OARS for most of my time living in Concord (almost 30 years!). I wanted to point out to our OARS Concord community that Article 16 on the 2024 Town Meeting Warrant could impact our rivers’ health. I encourage you to come to the Town Meeting on Monday, April 29, and support the establishment of a stormwater utility as proposed in Article 16.

Stormwater is now one of the main sources of pollution in our ponds, streams, and rivers. The pollutants come from many sources—nutrients run off lawns and fields and cause smelly overgrowth that destroys the local ecosystems of rivers and streams. Winter road salt damages aquatic habitats. In the summer, hot water running off pavement makes it hard for fish to thrive. Stormwater can infiltrate wastewater collection systems, adding significant cost and wasting energy. Global warming increases the intensity of rain events, further overwhelming our older stormwater drains and flooding roads and property. Crucially, stormwater is also the source of our drinking water—but only if allowed to soak into the ground.

Good stormwater infrastructure can solve these problems. Rainfall is best managed when it is absorbed into the ground, where it falls, recharging the local aquifer. However, impervious surfaces like roads, parking lots, cement patios, and roofs interfere with this natural solution.

Stormwater is regulated under the federal Clean Water Act. But there isn’t much federal funding for stormwater management. Our local tax dollars foot the bill, competing with schools, police, libraries, and other town services. In Concord, that has meant that maintenance of stormwater systems has been deferred. As a result, parts of our stormwater infrastructure have not been repaired until the culvert collapses, or sinkholes form. These emergency repairs end up costing more than proper maintenance would have, but it is hard to get the true cost of stormwater management into our Town budget when we are fighting for every tax dollar to maintain our schools and other priorities.

OARS has been working with municipalities to support stormwater solutions, including green infrastructure that filters stormwater and recharges our drinking water aquifers. Several communities in our watershed have adopted rules or bylaws requiring new development to manage all their stormwater on-site, such as with rain gardens and drainage swales that allow rainwater to recharge the local aquifer. 

Concord has implemented such a policy, but it is only for new development, so it doesn’t help the aging stormwater infrastructure already in place. Currently, our tax dollars fund stormwater management. Our tax structure does not care how well anyone manages the stormwater on their property. Hence, the new business that used innovative strategies to manage stormwater on their site contributes the same amount of taxes as the old business that covers their property with impervious pavement. And many property owners who contribute to the runoff in Concord are non-profits who pay no taxes at all. As a result, there is no financial incentive to manage stormwater effectively on existing properties.

This is why OARS supports the development of stormwater utilities, such as the Stormwater Enterprise Fund described in Article 16. Stormwater utilities have been successfully implemented in a number of our watershed communities. The municipality charges a fee based on the amount of impervious cover on the property, so the costs are proportionate. If you have a large paved parking lot, you will pay far more than if you have a small gravel driveway. For example, one of OARS’ staff pays $37 quarterly at his Westford residence. Those who manage their stormwater effectively on their property are rewarded with lower stormwater utility fees.

Concord Public Works needs a dedicated, stable funding stream to stay ahead of the storms. The Town needs a way to provide financial incentives to property owners to encourage local stormwater recharge and reduce the burden on storm drains and other Town-maintained infrastructure. Article 16 would establish an enterprise fund to allow Concord to charge a utility fee for stormwater management. This would be a regular utility bill, like our electric, water, and sewer bills. A Yes vote on the article would establish the funding stream, and the Concord Public Works Commission would spend a year setting a budget and establishing a fee structure, which would come before the Town meeting in 2025.  

I urge you to attend the first night of Town Meeting and vote affirmatively on Article 16.

Thank you,

Pam Rockwell

OARS Board of Directors' Clerk, Citizen Science Volunteer, and Concord Resident