Correspondent of the Day:torm Water Laws Provide Many Benefits

Stormwater Laws Provide Many Benefits
Editor, Times-Dispatch: How we can spend billions of dollars for research on energy and resource conservation, yet every time legislation is proposed to put new technology into practice, someone says it will cost too much or it isn't what is needed? The opposition is based more on what political contributors want -- to protect their profit margins without regard for the long-term benefits to the general population.

Opponents suggest the most expensive way is the only way and will only achieve limited results. Such is the case regarding the new stormwater regulations. They talk as if only the Chesapeake Bay will benefit (as if that was not enough). In fact, every water resource will benefit. The better the quality of source water, the less it costs to process for consumption.

Some would have us believe the regulations will add thousands to the cost of new homes. In reality, capping gutters and running flex pipe underground from downspouts to the storm drain would only cost a couple of hundred dollars. This alone would eliminate runoff from lawns and landscaping.

Commercial and higher-density areas present different challenges to handle runoff water. Structural best management practices (BMPs) need not be stagnant collection pools; they can be incorporated as water features with fountains -- allowing a more natural ecosystem that controls some of the undesirable side effects of BMPs. They can be used for landscape irrigation and could be solar-powered. The initial cost is easily recovered in utility savings over a short time. Many things could be done, but people aren't willing to make the changes needed to preserve the future.

With population growth and increased demand on our water resources, it is time to be proactive. Being reactive is more costly and being late will be fatal to both business and future generations.

Jim Slaughenhaupt.
Midlothian.