Storm water public-partnership is ‘twofer’ for Prince George’s County, Maryland

Like a rewards program that pays double points, Prince George’s County, Md. will reap dual benefits from a “green infrastructure” partnership to clean up storm water runoff. It’s designed to benefit the environment and the economy.

The county has entered a $100 million public-private partnership (P3) with Corvias Solutions to create infrastructure including rain gar-dens, permeable pavement and green roofs. These green features — some 46,000 of  them eventually by 2025 — will absorb or filter pollutants from storm water, including nitrogen, phosphorous and sediment, before they can reach the Chesapeake Bay.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality has hailed the project as a “best practice” and “first-of-its-kind public-private partnership” for green storm water infrastructure. Nationwide, approximately $635 billion worth of  storm water- and wastewater-related improvements are needed over the next 20 years to comply with federal pollution discharge permits, according to the EPA.

“We’re in the early stages of  a growth industry,” said Adam Ortiz, director of  the county’s Department of  Environment, which negotiated the county’s Clean Water Partner-ship (CWP). “And it’s incumbent on people in our position to provide the R&D not just for ourselves, but so that overall the public sector can better provide services. We’re willing to learn and willing to share what we learn.”

Corvias Solutions was selected through a competitive process to do the work. It’s charged with retrofitting 15,000 acres by 2025 and maintaining that infrastructure for 30 years — starting with 2,000 acres over the next three years, Ortiz said. Corvias will manage contracting and can earn up to a 10 percent fee if  its performance goals are met. 

“Corvias is compensated in the partnership through a very simple computation structure,” said Tim Toohey, the company’s managing director. “It’s fee-based and the fee is performance-based. The contract also allows for adding additional scope to retrofit additional acres based on our performance and the county’s willingness to extend the scope.”

During the first three years of the project, Corvias will “race” against department of environment’s capital projects team, which will retrofit another 2,000 acres, and their results will be compared. “The assumption we’re operating under is that the P3 will be more efficient,” Ortiz explained. “If that’s true, we want to be able to learn exactly how it is efficient, and be able to learn so we can best use our resources going forward.”

Economic benefits to the county will flow from the creation of new jobs and a workforce for a new industry. Corvias has agreed to hire 80 percent of its workforce from the county and neighboring Washington, D.C. suburbs, Ortiz said. That’s particularly important to Prince George’s County, where more than half  of  residents leave the county daily to work in other jurisdictions, he added.

It’s a business model that’s designed to stimulate and expand the county’s tax base and create mentor-protégé networks between Corvias and the developing work-force, according to Roland L. Jones, director of the county’s Office of Central Services. The educational component of  the partnership includes an Urban Watershed Restoration Contractor Training Course at Prince George’s County Community College. The course provides instruction in the construction, operation and maintenance of storm water management options.

The ultimate beneficiary, the Chesapeake Bay, is the nation’s largest estuary, and 95 percent of Maryland’s land drains into it. Prince George’s County is home to more than 300 miles of streams and rivers, which makes this project significant to the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation. A spokeswoman said the organization is “very supportive” of Prince George’s county’s approach to reducing storm water pollution. “We do think it’s a model that others should look at throughout the watershed,” said Allison Prost, the foundation’s Maryland executive director. She also spoke favorably of the county’s level of community education and outreach, calling it a “standout.”

The EPA has created a guide to aid local governments in creating P3s to address storm water pollution: Community based Public-Private Partnerships (CBP3s) and Alternative Market-Based Tools for Integrated Green Stormwater Infrastructure.

“All jurisdictions are struggling with the same challenge, many of them are watching very closely how successful we are,” Ortiz said. “People are looking for fresh answers, and this may be the best one we have.”