Hot Topics Involving the Wicomico River & Watershed

These are topics involving the Wicomico River and the Wicomico Watershed including campaigns, city and county legislation, and common terms used when talking about the river and watershed.
Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP):
  • Each county within Maryland must create its own WIP submitted to the state of MD, Wicomico County's WIP was sent to the EPA in March 2014, the same month Wicomico County started to implement their WIP
  • These plans will be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency which created the mandate
  • Wicomico County has been having meetings to talk about the WIP
  • Projects have already been started in Wicomico County and the City of Salisbury to help with the WIP
  • Wicomico County has paid $25,000 to join other counties being represented by in court to sue the EPA saying that the WIP is unlawful, to read more click here
  • Click here for information from the Maryland Department of the Environment 
  • Click here for information from Wicomico Environmental Trust
Critical Area Act (CAA):
  • The Critical Area Act was created to protect water quality, conserve habitat, and accommodate growth within 1,000 feet of tidal waters and tidal wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Coastal Bays and their tributaries which includes most of the Wicomico River
  • Land within the CAA are given land designations that restrict their uses: Intensely Developed Areas (IDA), Limited Development Areas (LDA), and Resource Conservation Areas (RCA)
  • IDA requirements include promoting public recreational access to waterfront, use of non-structural means of shoreline stabilization, 100 foot undisturbed forested buffer requirement for new development, and 10% reduction in stormwater pollution for new activity
  • LDA requirements include existing areas of natural habitat should be conserved, incorporation of wildlife corridors into development plans, forest coverage must be maintained and if trees are cut then an equal amount of trees must be planted, lot coverage is limited to 15% of the site, and no development on slopes greater than 15%
  • RCA requirements include breeding, feeding, and wintering habitats for wildlife must be preserved, forest and woodland areas should be conserved for water quality benefits, no new commercial, industrial and institutional facilities are allowed, establishment of habitat protection areas around rare species, and all development should comply with regulations of LDAs
  • The CAA limits development within 100 or 200 foot buffers from tidal and wetlands
  • Click here for the Bay Smart - an easy read for more Critical Area Act information
Impervious Surfaces Tax (Rain Tax)
  • This is a form of stormwater remediation fee
  • Impervious surfaces includes parking lots, walkways, and roofs
  • Rainfall that hits these impervious surfaces run off of these areas with high speed carrying pollutants (trash, oil, road salt, fertilizer, pet feces, etc.) into nearby waterways
  • Run off is the only major source of visible pollution for the waterways in Wicomico County
  • 10 out of 24 counties, including Wicomico County, in MD are mandated to have this tax although it is up to the county to impose it
  • Some counties have the tax at $0.01 for all impervious surfaces while others have it at $15 per 500 feet of impervious surfaces
  • Salisbury proposed a $5 quarterly fee to homeowners
  • Salisbury has proposed a unspecific fee for businesses, churches, and other commercial and industrial buildings based on the amount of impervious surfaces that they have
  • These fees would pay for upgrades to the city's stormwater infrastructure which is over 100 years old
  • The fees would also help pay for maintenance of the stormwater infrastructure and would provide funding for grants that home owners and  businesses could apply for to help with improvements on their property
  • Click for here more information
Dredging of the River
  • Every couple of years the Wicomico River must be dredged using a hydraulic pipeline dredge to allow for barges to be able to pass from Upper Ferry to Salisbury, MD
  • These barges carry many different items including building materials and oil
  • The dredging produces dredge spoils (the mud, silt, sand, shell, gravel, and other things brought up from the bottom of the river) and the placement of these spoils is controversial because they could contain contaminants and are currently being placed at Sharp's Point, owned by Wicomico County
  • The dredging consists of removing approximately 100,000 cubic yards of material
  • The average dredging rate is at least 2,500 cubic yards per day
  • The Army Core of Engineers oversees this process
  • The cost of this process is estimated to be between 1 million and 5 million dollars
  • The next anticipated dredging will take place in the Fall and Winter of 2014
  • Click here for more information
The Attorney General's Wicomico River Audit
    • In July 2013 the Attorney General conducted his audit on the Wicomico River
    • The report includes active enforcement and pending matters including the Delmar Wastewater Treatment Plant, Contamination of residential wells, Salisbury Wastewater Treatment Plant, and Market Street Stormwater Restoration Project
    • The Attorney General talked to many people and organizations during his visit including the Wicomico County Council, Salisbury's Mayor and City Council, Salisbury Univeristy Professor's, Wicomico Environmental Trust, Wicomico Creekwaters, the Ward Museum,  and the Lower Shore Land Trust.
    • The report also mentions the Impervious Surfaces Tax, removing failing septic's, pollution from trash and automobiles, smart growth, the benefits to living shorelines, the dredging of the river, and the Conowingo Dam.
    • To read to Attorney General's Report (pages 14-21 are about the Wicomico River) click here