Maryland County Receives Storm Water Management, Environmental Design Award

The Anne Arundel County Department of Public Works (DPW) won a 2015 Best Urban BMP in the Bay Award (BUBBA) from the Chesapeake Stormwater Network for Best Combination of BMPs in a Series Category.

The first place honor recognized DPW’s Stormwater Management and Stream and Wetland Restoration Project in Millersville, Md., and the implementation of several storm water management and environmental site design practices associated with the construction of the Central Utility Operations Facility.

“We are extremely proud to be recognized as an environmental leader by the Chesapeake Stormwater Network and for our commitment to environmental stewardship,” said County Executive Steve Schuh. “Awards like this demonstrate to the public just how committed our DPW engineers, staff and selected contractors are to the protection and restoration of our local waterways.”

In 2012, Anne Arundel County Department of Public Works completed a multi-year effort to redevelop its aging Central Water Facility complex in Millersville into a comprehensive campus that brought all water and wastewater operational units onto one site. The redevelopment project used a design approach which included a LEED Silver building and an integrated storm water management system. This comprehensive and innovative stormwater management solution eliminated stormwater pipes and drains—the first of its kind in the area—and utilized a series of upland practices including bioretention, cobble-bedded parking lot, conservation buffers, swales, step pool storm conveyance, native plantings as well as a regenerative stream channel to restore eroded Bear Branch and reconnect it back to its historic floodplain.

The project team consisted of DPW, Underwood & Associates, Biohabitats Inc., WGM Architecture and Interiors, Bay Eng., and Reliable Contracting.

Source: Anne Arundel County