Report Spells Out State of Sustainability in Howard County

The Howard County government is functioning in more environmentally sustainable ways since 2009, according to a report released April 25. 

In the annual report, compiled by the county’s Environmental Sustainability Board—a citizen body that oversees the county’s Office of Environmental Sustainability—all aspects of county government were rated as either the same as or improved since a similar assessment was conducted in 2009.

In spite of the progress, the board encouraged officials to strive for additional improvements, especially related to storm water—rain that runs off residential and commercial buildings, parking lots, streets, and compacted lawns—which it identified as the leading issue for Howard County.

“Flushing storm water off our properties into culverts has caused significant harm to our streams, lakes and the Chesapeake Bay," said the report. "This has resulted in the need to dredge our lakes, repair our badly scoured out streams and take major actions to restore the Chesapeake Bay."

The county’s FY12 proposed capital budget includes a twofold increase from $5 million to $10 million for storm water management. The county council will vote on the budget later this spring.

Howard County's financial commitment to storm water management has had a multiplier effect because it helped the county win matching funds from organizations like the Chesapeake Bay Trust, according to the report.

During a 2009 retreat with the county executive, the Environmental Sustainability Board introduced the concept of a user fee on storm water as the most effective means of complying with new federal regulations. Currently, storm water fees are used nationwide and in a few Maryland counties and cities, and are typically assessed based on the amount of impervious surface at each property. A bill has been introduced into the Maryland legislature each of the last two years requiring that local governments create such a fee, according to the report.

“Howard County is considering instituting a storm water fee that would be a model for other Maryland counties. The Environmental Sustainability Board commends the county executive on this initiative and is undertaking public education on this issue,” said Ned Tillman, who chairs the Environmental Sustainability Board, in a letter accompanying the report.

Transportation issues

The report includes results from a Sustainability Competency and Opportunity Rating and Evaluation (SCORE). SCORE rates organizations in terms of their financial, environmental and humanitarian practices, which collectively comprise what is often referred to as “sustainability.” SCORE then compares a specific entity with a nationwide benchmark to determine areas of strength and weakness.

The SCORE assessment revealed that Howard County was above average in every area except for transportation, and that it had either maintained or improved sustainability levels across the board.

Although the Environmental Sustainability Board report shows a nearly 10 percent increase in mass transit ridership from 2009 to 2010, transportation remains an issue.

The county’s Climate Action Plan, a separate report published in April 2010, determined that the high number of vehicle miles driven by residents who commute to Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia in large numbers was the single largest contributor to greenhouse gases in Howard County.

“This remains a big challenge based on our suburban commuter model requiring personal transportation. We need to evolve to a model where we live closer to where we work so that we can walk and bike more, and we need to expand mass transit so we can get to the cities with less environmental impact,” said Tillman. 

“Sustainability thinking has embedded most parts of county government, but storm water and transportation remain our biggest challenges,” said Tillman.