After Ellicott City experienced severe windstorms recently, the Ellicott City Safe and Sound Plan’s enhanced stream inspection and debris removal program flood safety initiative reached the milestone of removing more than 100,000 pounds of debris from stream channels in and around the Historic Ellicott City watershed.
Howard County Executive Calvin Ball launched the program in December 2018. A key component of the Ellicott City Safe and Sound Plan was to remove debris from the county’s waterways that could cause blockages and constrict the flow of water in vulnerable stream channels, which would contribute to and possibly exacerbate flooding during severe storms.
“After taking office in December 2018, we launched the Ellicott City Safe and Sound Plan, including a comprehensive stream inspection and debris-clearing program,” Ball said. “During the last six years, we have successfully removed more than 100,000 pounds of debris from vulnerable waterways. This storm debris, if not removed from our waterways, can create detrimental blockages during our next major rainfall, resulting in flooding of our vulnerable stream channels. These waterway inspections and debris removal efforts are critical elements to ensuring the safety of our Historic Ellicott City residents, business owners, and visitors during severe weather events.”
The plan’s protocols call for debris to be removed after any rain event of two inches or more in a 24-hour period, or after one hour of sustained winds averaging more than 30 miles per hour. Before this plan was put into place, the standard was for waterways to be inspected only on a quarterly or semi-annual basis.
Now, following the clearing of debris, all vulnerable waterways are inspected within three business days, and all debris is removed within 14 days of the inspection.
Since this program was implemented, the county’s Department of Public Works has initiated 26 debris removal events and cleared more than 100,000 pounds of debris from stream channels in and around Ellicott City, working in partnership with Howard EcoWorks.
“Our first debris management efforts began in 2015 in response to the 2011 flood where debris blockages were determined to be a known contributing factor to flooding,” said Lori Lilly, founder and executive director of Howard EcoWorks. “As someone that is a big fan of low tech and low cost environmental solutions, I knew that we could implement a program with our green jobs program participants that would be cost effective while providing significant community benefit. I am so grateful that County Executive Ball institutionalized the debris management effort within the County’s Safe and Sound Plan and am proud of our collective milestone achievement of removing over 100,000 pounds of debris and bulk trash from our waterways!”
Those interested in following the progress of debris removal efforts can do so by clicking this link.
