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About the Baldwin County
Watershed Coalition
What's the Problem?
In Baldwin
County, increases in population over the past ten years have driven an
economic boom resulting in the construction of new
homes, roads and businesses. This rapid conversion of
land from natural to urban landscapes has meant an increase in
impervious or hard surfaces that cause rainwater to runoff of our roofs,
driveways, parking lots and sidewalks and into our streams, rivers,
lakes and bays.
Stormwater runoff threatens water bodies
in many ways. As land use in Baldwin County becomes increasingly urban,
increases in the volume and velocity of stormwater runoff causes
streambank erosion. Stormwater runoff is also the primary vehicle for
transporting sediments, excess nutrients, bacteria and other pathogens,
debris, and automotive and household hazardous wastes into Baldwin
County streams, rivers, and bays untreated.
Baldwin County’s estuaries (where fresh
water meets salt water) provide the economic and ecological engines that
power much of Alabama’s economies. If not managed to reduce its
velocity and pollutants, stormwater runoff will deteriorate the quality
of water in our waterways, negatively impacting our economy, our coastal
ecosystem, and most importantly our quality of life.
Throughout Baldwin County, which receives
an average of 66 inches of rain annually, increases in stormwater runoff
exceed existing infrastructure capacities, causing more frequent
episodes of flooding, sedimentation, debris polluted waters, habitat
destruction and decreasing aesthetics and property values. Local
governments face increased regulatory pressure and greater demands on
already limited public works budgets. Seeking a collaborative solution
to an environmental challenge that does not follow geopolitical lines,
Baldwin County and all fourteen of its municipalities have come together
to establish a mechanism for managing stormwater runoff on a regional,
or watershed scale.
What is the BCWC?
The Baldwin County Watershed Coalition (BCWC) is the
result of this collaboration, which includes municipal and county
representatives comprised of both staff and elected officials,
representatives of local environmental organizations, state legislators,
and representatives of local business and development interests. The
mission of the BCWC is to act as a voluntary, non-regulatory association
of local interests that will operate on a regional/watershed scale “to
support local communities in managing flooding, drainage, and issues
related to stormwater runoff in Baldwin County while preserving and
improving water quality and the use of our water resources.”
A public corporation currently under development by the BCWC would be
funded by a small, equitable user fee, based generally on area of
impervious surface (hard surface which does not allow water
penetration), with credits for innovative stormwater management
features. Its function will include watershed stewardship provision,
standards and criteria development, regulatory compliance coordination,
stream system management, and partnership in local stormwater programs.
In order to establish this public
corporation, the Alabama Legislature passed a 2008 local constitutional
amendment allowing Baldwin County residents to vote in a November 2010
referendum. The referendum would authorize the “formation of a public
corporation for the purpose of managing stormwater in the county.”
Minutes from the Steering Committee of
the BCWC:
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02.20.09
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03.20.09
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05.01.09
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06.19.09
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08.21.09
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09.25.09
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10.23.09
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11.20.09
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01.22.10
Who serves on the BCWC?
The Baldwin County
Watershed Coalition is made up of representatives from
municipal and county representatives comprised of both staff and
elected officials, representatives of local environmental organizations,
state legislators, and representatives of local business and development
interests.
To see a full list of Committee members, click
here.
To view an educational Powerpoint Presentation, click
Stormwater and Mobile Bay.
If you don't have Powerpoint on your computer,
you can click the following link to view the presentation (without animation and
with some compromised graphics) in .pdf format:
Stormwater and Mobile Bay.pdf.
Another Powerpoint
Presentation has been prepared to provide information about Baldwin
County Watershed Coalition efforts and activities. Click
here to view this
presentation.
to view the
Feasibility Assessment click
here,
or to
Frequently Asked Questions, click
here.
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