Fulton County Soil and Water Conservation Report November 2002
by Alan Toney, Chair of the Fulton Soil and Water Conservation District
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division has proposed that the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation District's (SWCD) role be greatly reduced when they combine the Erosion & Sedimentation law with the Stormwater part of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) law. The latest version of the proposed changes would eliminate the SWCD's role in reviewing local governments. It would also remove the land disturbance plan review process entirely.
Mr. Reheis (Director of EPD) has stated that he thinks the developer's engineers can be trusted to create plans that will do the job without any review. In our (Fulton County SWCD) experience, about 90% of the plans reviewed by the Soil and Water Districts are sent back for changes. Sometimes, the problems are minor, but often we find serious omissions and shortcomings that need to be corrected. There is nothing magical about engineering firms - they make mistakes just like everyone else. It is naive to believe that they will not be inclined to error on the side of saving money for the developer, at the expense of protecting water quality and downstream neighbor's property.
Last summer EPD did some high profile site visits to see how many employees they would need to police construction sites. When they visited sites, they did not interact with the developers. They simply sent a letter about three weeks later with a notice of problems and fines. Didn't they care enough to suggest changes face-to-face? What if it had rained?
When the Soil and Water District Supervisors walk a site, we always do it with the developer and any of his professional staff that he might want present. We discuss every problem we see, and by the time we leave the site everyone is wiser. The developer knows exactly what needs to happen and what is expected of him in the future. Surprising often, we make suggestions that actually save him money - making the visit a win-win for everyone.
It has been 30 years since the Clean Water Act was passed and since EPD was created. Over the years, EPD has been fairly ineffective at enforcing the E&S law. They have always used the excuse of being under-staffed, however, when you consider how much the urban Soil and Water Districts have accomplished with ½ of a staff erosion specialist's time and 5 citizen supervisors, EPD should be embarrassed. I submit that EPD doesn't have enough experience to do the job by themselves and their recent actions seem to support my conclusion.
Everyone who cares about water quality should look long and hard at the proposed changes to the law.
Last updated: 06 Dec 02