In
2002,
fourteen municipalities in the Casco Bay watershed formed the
Interlocal Stormwater Working Group (ISWG) in order to collaborate on
selected requirements of federal and State stormwater regulations
mandated by Congress under the
Clean Water Act. By taking a regional approach to addressing
stormwater pollution, ISWG can both maximize the limited financial and
staff resources available and work on a geographic scale that is more
appropriate to managing stormwater.
The Casco Bay Estuary
Partnership (CBEP) and the Cumberland County Soil and Water
Conservation District supported ISWG's formation, and CBEP has
continued to fund education, research, training, and demonstration
projects. The ISWG is successfully collaborating to reduce
nonpoint source pollution from stormwater runoff and improve water
quality throughout the Casco Bay watershed and has been held up as a
model for municipal collaboration in the State of Maine.
The importance of cooperation that rests on a
foundation of existing relationships is hard to overstate.
Nowhere was that more evident than in the 2007 effort to address water
quality issues in the Long Creek watershed--a 3.5 square mile watershed
located within four ISWG municipalities. Long time members of
ISWG were key to developing an ambitious plan to restore Long Creek
through a locally administered public/private partnership to fund some
$5 to $6 million in watershed protections.
Publications
ISWG has identified the need for a locally-adaptable set of
guidelines to improve the quality of municipal stormwater
practices.
Toward that end, the group published two manuals that provide technical
standards and guidance on stormwater management measures:
