HB2434 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 11204 JDS 21602 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
HB2434

Introduced 2/19/2009, by Rep. Elaine Nekritz

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act. Requires the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to adopt comprehensive storm water management rules that meet certain requirements by July 1, 2012. Requires the Agency, beginning in 2010, to implement a storm water permit fee program adequate to support the adoption and implementation of State storm water regulations as required by the Act. Requires the Agency to establish a Statewide standard for storm water management programs in order to transition toward the use of green infrastructure as the predominant storm water management strategy. Requires the Agency to review its rules on the distribution of money from the Water Revolving Fund and to endeavor to establish new criteria which prioritize the use of green infrastructure in all projects involving storm water management and water efficiency.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning safety.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act.

Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Agency" means the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

"Green infrastructure" means any storm water management technique or practice employed with the primary goal of preserving, restoring, or mimicking natural hydrology. Green infrastructure includes, but is not limited to, methods of using soil and vegetation to promote soil percolation, evapotranspiration, and filtration. Green infrastructure includes the preservation and restoration of natural landscape features, such as forests, floodplains, headwaters, and wetlands. Green infrastructure also includes rain gardens, permeable pavements, green roofs, infiltration planters, trees and tree boxes, and rainwater harvesting for non-potable uses, such as toilet flushing and landscape irrigation.

Section 10. Legislative findings.

(a) The General Assembly finds:

(1) that storm water, when not properly controlled and treated, causes pollution of the waters of the State, threatens public health, and damages property by carrying pollutants from our highways, streets, roads, parking lots, driveways, sidewalks, alleys, lawns, and other surfaces of low permeability into lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, and drinking water aquifers;

(2) that development often results in increased storm water runoff by increasing the size and number of paved and other impervious surfaces within the State and decreasing the amount of natural surface areas that naturally control storm water runoff through natural filtration and groundwater recharge systems;

(3) that current threats to the State's water resources include the effects of improper storm water management, such as pollution, increased water temperatures, flooding, groundwater depletion, loss of habitat, stream bank erosion, sewer overflows, basement backups, contaminated drinking water sources, and sedimentation of waterways; and

(4) that these harms can be minimized and water resources made more resilient through better management of natural infrastructure and expanded use of green infrastructure, often at comparable or lower costs than other approaches that provide fewer benefits.

(b) The General Assembly also finds that the benefits from the use of green infrastructure include:

(1) Cleaner Water. Green infrastructure reduces the volume of storm water runoff in combined and separate sewer systems and the frequency of combined sewer overflows, and it reduces the concentrations of pollutants in those discharges.

(2) Enhanced Water Supplies. Most green infiltration approaches involve allowing storm water to percolate through the soil where it recharges the groundwater and the base flow for streams, thus ensuring adequate water supplies for humans and more stable aquatic ecosystems. Other green infrastructure techniques that capture and reuse storm water also conserve water supplies.

(3) Reduced Flooding. Green infrastructure controls surface flooding and stabilizes the hydrology so that peak stream flows are reduced.

(4) Cleaner Air. Trees and vegetation improve air quality by filtering many airborne pollutants, thereby reducing the incidence of respiratory illness.

(5) Reduced Urban Temperatures. Trees and other vegetation create shade, reduce the amount of heat absorbing materials, and emit water vapor, which controls surface temperature, thus helping to alleviate the urban heat island effect. Limiting impervious surface, using light colored impervious surfaces, and green roofs also mitigate urban temperatures.

(6) Resilience to the Impacts of Climate Change. Climate change impacts and effects vary regionally, but green infrastructure techniques provide adaptation benefits for a wide array of circumstances by conserving and reusing water, promoting groundwater recharge, reducing surface water discharges that could contribute to flooding, and reducing storm water pollution and storm water flows into combined sewers that trigger overflows.

(7) Climate Change Mitigation Benefits. Green infrastructure reduces energy demands and, thus, greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the amount of storm water and related pollution needing treatment, reducing the amount of potable water needed, providing thermal insulation and shade for buildings, and mitigating the urban heat island effect. Vegetation and wetlands also provide carbon sequestration.

(8) Increased Energy Efficiency. By helping to lower ambient temperatures and, when incorporated on and around buildings, helping to shade and insulate buildings from wide temperature swings, green infrastructure reduces the energy needed for heating and cooling. Green roofs and shade increase the life span of roofs, thus reducing the need for production and transportation of conventional roof materials. Energy use associated with pumping and treating is reduced as storm water is diverted from wastewater collection, conveyance, and treatment systems. Greater energy efficiency reduces costs and the generation of greenhouse gases.

(9) Source Water Protection. Green infrastructure practices provide pollutant removal benefits, thereby providing protection for both ground water and surface water sources of drinking water. In addition, green infrastructure provides groundwater recharge benefits by putting storm water back into the ground, and it enhances surface water quality by redirecting the high volume and velocity flows that scour stream banks and muddy drinking water sources.

(10) Wildlife Habitat. Stream buffers, wetlands, parks, meadows, and other forms of green infrastructure increase biodiversity within the urban environment.

(11) Community Benefits. Trees and plants improve urban aesthetics and community livability by providing recreational and scenic wildlife areas. Studies show that property values are higher, violence is reduced, and crime is reduced when trees and other vegetation are present.

(12) Health Benefits. Studies show that people who have access to the open space provided by green infrastructure in their communities get more exercise, live longer, and report better health in general. Exposure to green infrastructure (even through a window) improves mental functioning, reduces stress, and reduces recovery time from surgery.

(13) Green Jobs. Designing, installing, and maintaining green infrastructure creates new jobs for architects, designers, engineers, construction workers, maintenance workers, landscapers, nurseries, and related services.

(14) Cost Savings. Green infrastructure saves (i) capital costs associated with paving, constructing curbs and gutters, building large collection and conveyance systems, and digging big tunnels and centralized storm water detention ponds; (ii) operating and maintenance expenses for treatment plants, pumping stations, pipes, and other hard infrastructure; (iii) energy costs for pumping water; (iv) costs associated with treatment during wet weather; and (v) costs of repairing the damage caused by storm water, such as stream bank restoration and flood damage.

Section 15. Performance standards and use of green infrastructure. The Agency shall, by July 1, 2012, adopt comprehensive storm water management rules incorporating the following minimum requirements:

(a) Performance standards for private and public land-disturbing activities, including development, redevelopment, and significant maintenance, replacement, and repair projects, that preserve to the greatest extent practicable, minimum water quality standards, minimum detention release rates, and the pre-development groundwater recharge and infiltration rates on site.

(b) A preference for the use of green infrastructure best management practices, strategies, and techniques to comply with the performance standards.

(c) A requirement to demonstrate, post-development, that the storm water management practices implemented at the site comply with the performance standards, and that post-development peak discharge rates do not exceed pre-development peak discharge rates.

Section 20. Permit fees. The Agency shall implement a storm water permit fee program, effective in 2010, adequate to support the adoption of storm water regulations as required under Section 15, and the ongoing administration and enforcement of those regulations, including funding for education, guidance, and other services to assist the regulated community in understanding and implementing green infrastructure strategies and techniques.

Section 25. Green infrastructure portfolio standard goal. The Agency shall establish a Statewide standard for storm water management programs (similar to the Illinois "Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard") to transition all such programs toward the use of green infrastructure as the predominant strategy. Over a period of years, the standard shall gradually increase the percentage of annual storm water runoff volume managed with green infrastructure.

Section 30. Water Revolving Fund criteria. The Agency shall review the rules on the distribution of money from the Water Revolving Fund and endeavor to establish new criteria that prioritize the use of green infrastructure in all projects involving storm water management and water efficiency.