With ongoing concerns over pollution and algal blooms in South Bethany’s canals, planned dredging of the canals this fall and early research into a possible tidal pump system to increase water flow in the canals, it was time for some expert input on the situation from the non-profit Center for the Inland Bays.
South Bethany Town Council members got that input at a June 22 special meeting/workshop, from CIB Science and Technical Coordinator Chris Bason.
One of 28 national estuary programs, the CIB had been consulted about the town’s investigation of the tidal pump system and filtration issues regarding the canals, and Bason’s mission on June 22 was to also provide some information on other ways to help the town and its canals in the interim.
“Education is big for us,” Bason said in leading off a presentation to the council members.
Canal pollution from many sources
Starting off with the facts, Bason noted the Russell canal as the worst-flushing of all the town’s canals. As a result, he said, nitrates, bacteria and generally dirty conditions built up in the 2-acre canal, also leading to poor levels of dissolved oxygen.
In comparison, the Anchorage canal is 63 acres in area, but with its urban setting along Coastal Highway also sees the bulk of its pollution from runoff. Bason said the filtration installed to help keep the highway runoff from polluting the canal — called a sediment forebay — is only 28 percent effective, because it’s just too small.
With that poor filtration ability and state control of the filter bay in mind, Bason said town focus should instead be put on improving the permeability of areas around the canals, noting that such improvements show a 1:1 ratio of reducing runoff, which in turn has a 1:1 ratio in improving pollution in the canals.
Bason also cited excess nutrients reaching the canal waters from rainfall, saying some 15 to 20 percent of nitrogen in the areas bays came directly from rainfall and indirectly from the Indian River Power Plant, auto emissions, poultry farms and other animal husbandry practices. But the town’s proximity to the ocean does serve as a buffer in that respect, he said.
Also contributing to pollution in the canals, Bason said, was “grey water” — from uses such as outside showers that flow into the canals, instead of into septic or sewer systems as now required by state law.
Bason said that whether such shower areas were piped directly to the canals (as some are) or merely allowed to drain into nearby yards and groundwater channels, the canals were being infused with grey water containing ammonium levels five times that found in rainwater, bacteria such as fecal coliform, and the excess nutrients that contribute to harmful algal blooms.
Some of the water “approaches raw sewage” in contamination levels, Bason told council members, and it all uses up precious oxygen. He recommended the council consider an ordinance that would specifically prohibit any new pipes going into the canal, as well as encouraging those who have installed them already to remove them and hook up to septic or sewer systems instead.
Of similar concern was roof runoff, which Bason said commonly contains harmful heavy metals such as zinc, copper and lead that accumulate in the sediment in the canals. “You don’t want to leave near an accumulation of that,” he warned the council. Roofs represent some 50 percent of impervious surface in the area, he noted.
As an effort at relieving the problem of roof runoff, Bason recommended rain barrels, which can be set up to catch roof runoff — including the most harmful first tenth of an inch, which Bason said contains most of the pollutants in the runoff. “It’s good if you can catch it,” he said, noting that the water could later be used to water plants and thus save on other water use. He said the systems are increasingly popular.
Bason presented a plan to encourage property owners to use rain barrels, saying the first half-inch of rain falling on a 1,000-square-foot home could be stored in four or five 55-gallon barrels, which could be camouflaged with shrubbery.
He recommended a cost-share program in which the town could share some 20 percent of costs of rain barrel systems, possibly supplementing that program with grants. Such a program could potentially cut the cost of four 55-gallon barrels from $600 to just $300. Emphasis could be placed on trouble areas bordering the canals, he said.
Permeable surface is key
Such an effort could be part of what Bason recommended as a multi-phase endeavor to increase permeable surface in the town and thus reduce runoff going directly into the canals.
In addition to the rain barrels, Bason recommended the town push for a number of efforts on its own property, on that controlled by the state and from private property owners in the town. Those efforts could include:
• The planting of native vegetation, which he said has larger root systems and thus increases the infiltration capacity of the ground.
• Addition of organic matter, such as mulch or sand, to increase absorption.
• Plantings in areas neighboring the highway, where he said the soil is very compacted.
• Requirements for permeable pavement options, which he said can be cost effective, at $1.50 per square foot for pavers compared to 50 cents to $1.50 per square foot for non-permeable asphalt.
• Redirection of gutters away from storm drains, to increase absorption in surrounding land versus speeding water flow to the canals.
• Planting of “rain gardens” to help remove heavy metals in places where rain might otherwise be standing, using amended soil for permeability, a layer of mulch and native plants. He warned such measures might not be inexpensive, costing as much as $5,000 to $10,000 to a commercial property owner but serving to improve pollution and perhaps the aesthetics of drainage areas.
Along with those elements, Bason said the town would likely need to consider some big-picture solutions as a whole package, including enacting simple ordinances to help prevent pollution of the canals, education of the citizenry and a low-impact development retrofit strategy such as the rain gardens and native plantings.
Selling the plan
He said the town would likely have to become a leader in such pollution-control strategies to help build support from other neighboring municipalities, from the county and eventually to get state and federal support — a move that could help in the big-picture scenario of the tidal pump project. And it would have to start with the town’s individual citizens, he said.
“It has to be sold to people,” Bason told the council members. “You have to say, ‘This is the only way we’re going to get the canals clean.’”
Council members were friendly toward the ideas Bason presented, latching onto the idea of native plantings and rain gardens as something compatible with recent beautification initiatives.
Coincidentally, Bason is the husband of landscaping designer Chantal Bouchard, who was hired by the town this year to coordinate beautification efforts. Bason noted that his ideas of good plantings might differ from his wife’s, focusing less on beautiful flowers and more on plants that would help prevent pollution flowing into the canals.
But the council members expressed a willingness to explore possible planting options — perhaps even the planting of the Coastal Highway median — with appropriate agencies.
“Beautification is more than just pretty flowers,” Councilman Jay Headman said. “It can also help with infiltration and pollution in the canals.”
Councilman John Rubinsohn agreed, saying of the idea of natural plantings and rain gardens along the canal and highway, “It would change the look of the town. It would look more natural and rustic. But I think it would look good and would reduce pollution.” He championed the idea of a test planting area off the Anchorage canal.
Dredge won’t solve the problem
Mayor Gary Jayne noted that, contrary to some perceptions, the planned canal dredge was only for navigation purposes and would not serve to significantly improve the pollution problems in the canals. The dredge will only increase canal depth to 4 feet, based on the level of the bordering bay, and will be kept at least 8 feet from the edges on both sides, for safety reasons.
Jayne also said a comparison between South Bethany’s canals and similarly dead-end canals in Rehoboth Beach, where fish-kills have happened in the past, was not quite accurate. He said the Rehoboth canals were known to contain deep holes where oxygen problems were thought to develop, versus the flat bottoms of South Bethany’s canals.
Permeable surface issues on horizon
Jayne also noted efforts coming from the town’s Planning Commission to mirror work on permeable surface issues in Fenwick Island — namely restrictions on permeable surface under the town’s building code.
The proposed regulations would prohibit impermeable surface such as asphalt or standard paver installations outside the building envelope of a home, excepting a 4-foot-wide walkway. (A 3-foot walkway is permitted in Fenwick.) Councilman John Fields said such an ordinance could appear on the council’s July agenda.
Tidal pump progress
Headman said recent efforts to move forward with the tidal pump project had involved setting a statement of work from which the town could proceed to get some early engineering plans and estimates for the project.
“At this time, we have no idea how much it will cost,” he warned. “But we have moved a very long way in a very short period of time.” He noted that the concept had been proven to work and was a simple design, but conceded, “There are issues.”
Those issues include the potential need to close Coastal Highway to lay the pipes needed to flush the canal waters to the ocean and thus create better circulation.
Fields was unconvinced of the proof of the concept from a computer model, he noted, and recommended a single such pipe be laid as a test project to prove it in real use.
But other council members emphasized that the project was far short of the point where such a test would even be feasible. Rubinsohn said he believed the town’s citizens were under the impression the project was much further along than it is, while Headman praised the work as the town’s effort to take “a look a cleaning up the problem.”
Acknowledging the scope of the project, Councilman Richard Ronin allowed, “This is too expensive for us to handle. We would be a test case. Someone else will have to pay for it.” Jayne agreed, saying the town would at some point be taking information to the state and possibly the Army Corps of Engineers to propose the project and look for funding.
Also at the June 22 workshop, council members voiced support for allowing a property owner to add a stone fence adjoining one already built that is not in compliance of current town code. Jayne noted that the town council is empowered to permit what might otherwise be a extension of a non-compliance, provided the project is outside the town right-of-way, which the fence in question would be.