Tisbury MA Impervious Cover Disconnection (ICD) Project: An Integrated Stormwater Management Approach for Promoting Urban Community Sustainability and Resilience

A technical direct assistance project funded by the U.S. EPA Southeast New England Program (SNEP)

• Summary
• EPA's Project Team Consists Of
• Project Background
• Project Deliverables
• Proposed Project Schedule
• Contacts
• Project Partners

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Summary:

The Tisbury ICD Project arose in 2017 out of a request by the Martha's Vineyard Commission (MVC) to discuss environmental challenges faced by Martha's Vineyard including potential opportunities for EPA SNEP-funded technical assistance to address water quality impacts to Lagoon Pond resulting from uncontrolled nitrogen discharges. As a result of EPA's Sept 2017 meeting with MVC, EPA became aware of stormwater-related flooding and water quality problems in the Town of Tisbury. These problems represented an important, unique and challenging opportunity to address impervious cover disconnection (ICD) in an urbanized context – a further extension of work both EPA Region 1 and the UNH Stormwater Center had been conducting (e.g., EPA's Opti-Tool model; UNH's Berry Brook Dover, NH) but with the added complexity of addressing ICD-related flooding in an urban context having significant topological slope leading down to a business district located near the ocean. The business district experiences chronic (if not acute) flooding on a regular basis.

The goal of the project is to identify, assess and quantify opportunities for the disconnection of impervious cover (IC) within a geographically-constrained urbanized New England community located near the southern New England coastline. The community, the Town of Tisbury (Town), had requested assistance from the EPA Region 1 to address chronic (even acute) flooding and the generally poor transmission of stormwater runoff related to and resulting from IC and older stormwater infrastructure. An equally important project goal is building an understanding and capacity for integrating green infrastructure (GI) and other stormwater control measures (SCM) into municipal land use decision making. This collaborative project is intended to achieve innovative and cost-effective management of stormwater for a broad range of management objectives (e.g., volumetric control (flooding); reuse, resilience and sustainability; control of pollutants and protection of sensitive surface waters).

More information, including background information with links to pertinent information is provided in the documents referenced below. EPA welcomes the interest and input of all Martha's Vineyards towns / communities, as well as the general public that may be interested in stormwater and IC disconnection.

The Tisbury ICD Project was completed on March 27, 2020. The Technical Support Document (TSD) developed under Task 5 provides a best summary of the outcomes of the Project. Additional technical details may be located in the Task 4J Final Report or accessed via deliverables provided for individual project Tasks.

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EPA's Project Team Consists Of:

• Paradigm Environmental, Inc.
• The UNH Stormwater Center (UNHSC)
• Great Lakes Environmental Center

• The Martha's Vineyard Commission (MVC)
• The Town of Tisbury, MA
• Tisbury Waterways
• Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT):
  • Boston Office
  • Highway Division, District 5 Office

The overall organization of the Project (by Task) is set forth below, along with a proposed schedule. As they become final, Project Reports (deliverables) are provided below:

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Project Background:

• EPA Region 1's Performance Work Statement (PWS) (pdf) (686 KB)
• Tisbury Drainage Master Plan (pdf) (4 MB)
  • Appendix A (pdf) (10 MB)
  • Appendix B (pdf) (10 MB)
• USDA Soil Map Data (pdf) (14.8 MB)
• SW Tool Info
  • Stormwater Control Measure Nomographs with pollutant removal and design cost estimates – UNHSWC, 2018 (pdf) (2.9 MB)
  • Stormwater BMP Pollutant Removal Tools and Information
• Lagoon Pond TMDL (pdf) (1.8 MB)
• Massachusetts Estuaries Project – Final Report, May 2013 (pdf) (7.2 MB)
• Tisbury Coastal Resilience Planning Report (pdf) (14 MB)

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Project Deliverables:

[TBD] = "To Be Developed"

Task 0: Work Plan and Schedule (pdf) (339 KB)

Task 1: Prepare Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP)

• Original Signed QAPP (Nov 15, 2018) (pdf) (2 MB)
• Revision 01 (Dec 12, 2018) (pdf) (839 KB)

Task 2: Project Management and Administration

• Subtask 2A. Kickoff Meeting (pdf) (58 KB)
• Subtask 2B. Conference Calls, Meetings, Project Team Support, and Post-Project Webinar (Ongoing)

Task 3: Municipal Coordination Meeting (pdf) (12 MB)

Task 4: Stormwater Management Assessment for the Town of Tisbury, MA

• Subtask 4A. Watershed Characterizations through Geographic Information System (GIS) Spatial Data Analyses
  Subtask 4A. Technical Memo: Watershed Characterization Analysis Approach (pdf) (1 MB)

• Subtask 4B. Opti-Tool Analyses for Quantifying Stormwater Runoff Volume, High-Flow Rates and Pollutant Loadings from Watershed Source Areas
  Subtask 4B. Technical Memo: Opti-Tool Analysis Memo (pdf) (2 MB)

• Subtask 4C. Develop High Runoff Flow Rate Metric(s) to Evaluate Source Area Contributions and GI SCM Reduction Benefits
  Subtask 4C - Opti-Tool Application to Outfall Nos. 2 and 7 (pdf) (2 MB)

• Subtask 4D. Develop Planning Level GI SCM Performance Curves for Estimating Cumulative Reductions in SW-Related Indicator Bacteria
  Subtask 4D: EPA Region 1 Policy for Application of Bacteria Performance Curves (pdf) (224 KB)
  Subtask 4D: Technical Memo on Development of Bacteria Performance Curves (pdf) (3 MB)

• Subtask 4E. Identify Green Infrastructure Stormwater Control Opportunities and Potential Management Strategies for Tisbury
  Subtask 4E. Municipal Coordination Meeting Presentation (pdf) (6 MB)

• Subtask 4F. Conduct Field Investigations to Further Evaluate Community GI SCM Opportunities and Strategies

• Subtask 4G. Develop GI SCM Conceptual Designs (pdf) (6 MB)

• Subtask 4H. Quantify Benefits for Municipal Long-Term GI SCMs Implementation Strategies (pdf) (5 MB)

• Subtask 4I. Develop Streamlined Technical Support Document to Quantify Benefits of GI SCMs for IC Disconnection
  Refer to Task 5 below

• Subtask 4J. Final Project Meeting and Final Project Report
  Task 4J – Project Final Report and Appendices (pdf) (6 MB)
  Appendix A – Technical Information for Use and Application of Performance Curves for Indicator Bacteria (pdf) (322 KB)
  Appendix B – Technical Support Document (pdf) (554 KB)
  Appendix C - An Inventory of GIS Datasets (pdf) (145 KB)
  Appendix D - Summary of HRU Area, Runoff, and Total Nitrogen Loads (pdf) (186 KB)
  Appendix E - Locally Identified Priority Areas (pdf) (243 KB)
  Appendix F - Concept Designs (pdf) (12 MB)
  Appendix G - Summary of Previously Calibration SWMM Buildup and Washoff Values for E. Coli and Enterococci (pdf) (102 KB)
  Appendix H - Opti-Tool SCM Performance Curves for E. Coli (pdf) (1 MB)
  Appendix I - SCM Design Configuration for the Performance Curves (pdf) (41 KB)
  Appendix J - Method For Determining Stormwater Control Design Volume Using Long-Term Cumulative Performance Curves (pdf) (337 KB)
  Appendix K - Tisbury GI Implementation Strategies by Zoning District (pdf) (4 MB)

Task 5: Develop Streamlined Technical Support Document for Developing Long-Term Community SCM IC Disconnection Strategies
Task 5 Technical Support Document (TSD): Next-Generation Stormwater Management (pdf) (475 KB)

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Proposed Project Schedule:

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Contacts:

USEPA Project Leads
Ray Cody ([email protected])
Surface Water Branch
Phone: (617) 918-1366

Mark Voorhees ([email protected])
Newt Tedder ([email protected])
Suzanne Warner ([email protected])
NPDES (Stormwater) Permitting

USEPA SNEP Coordinator:
Karen Simpson ([email protected])
Watersheds and Nonpoint Source Unit
Phone: (617) 918-1672

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Project Partners:

Town of Tisbury
John "Jay" Grande
Town Administrator
51 Spring St.
P.O. Box 1239
Vineyard Haven, MA 02568
Phone: (508) 696-4200
https://www.tisburyma.gov

Melinda Loberg
Town Selectman

Ray Tattersall
DPW Director

Martha's Vineyard Commission
Adam Turner
Executive Director
33 New York Avenue
P.O. Box 1447
Oak Bluffs, MA 02557
Phone: (508) 693-3453
https://www.mvcommission.org

Sheri Caseau
Water Resources Planner

Tisbury Waterways Inc.
Gerard Hokanson
President
P.O. Box 4375
Vineyard Haven, MA 02568
Phone: (774) 563-5616
http://www.tisburywaterways.org

MassDOT

Boston Office
10 Park Plaza
Suite 4160
Boston, MA 02116
Phone: (857) 368-4636

Hung Pham
Stormwater Coordinator
Phone: (857) 368-8831

MassDOT Highway Division
District 5 Office
1000 County Street
Taunton, MA 02780
Phone: (508) 884-6633

Pamela R. Haznar, District Project Development Engineer
Andrea L. Coates, District Environmental Engineer