Joining other local municipalities, Bedminster Township is acting to reduce sediment loading in its surface waters that derives from stormwater runoff discharges, thereby helping to protect not only those waters, but also other waters downstream.
The downstream waters include the Delaware River, which recently received national recognition for environmental quality.
A comprehensive, draft pollution (sediment/siltation/suspended solids) reduction plan for the township was presented at the board of supervisors’ Aug. 12 public meeting, by township engineer C. Robert Wynn, president of the Quakertown-based municipal engineering services firm that bears his name.
The presentation of the draft plan was the latest step in a process that began late last year, and has been hindered by the pandemic.
The township will now be moving forward with its engineer toward compliance with requirements from the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System’s permit application for the township’s owned and maintained Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4’s), a permit which will require approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Portions of the East Branch Perkiomen Creek and the Tohickon Creek within the township have state use designations of trout stocked, cold water, and warm water fisheries. The township has MS4’s located in urban area-designated sites near Dublin, in the Tohickon Creek Watershed (Deep Run sub-watershed), that have been designated as impaired with nutrients/siltation.
The purpose of the pollution reduction plan is to improve water quality discharging to those surface waters, in particular by reducing sediment loading. That is to be done through best management practices to both determine the actual loading, and also to provide options to reduce that load by 10% within five years. Particular targets for action include improving removal efficiency of total suspended solids from nine stormwater basins in five township developments, and also restoring a stream bank.
At the outset of the Aug. 12 meeting, supervisors honored retired Police Chief Mark Ofner for his 36 years of service to the township with a special plaque presentation. Later in the meeting, they appointed him “backup roadside mower.”
