Senate Transportation hears VTrans update on stormwater progress, TMDL deadlines and funding needs

Senate Transportation took up stormwater funding and compliance on Thursday, Jan. 16, hearing from Agency of Transportation maintenance staff about progress under the TS4 (Transportation Separate Storm Sewer System) permit and related Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plans.

Jen Callahan, who identified herself as working for the Agency of Transportation in the maintenance division in the pollution prevention and compliance section, told senators the agency has “reduced more than 28% of our target” as of the end of the 2023 construction season for the Lake Champlain phosphorus control effort. She said the agency is continuing project design and construction to meet multiple deadlines tied to flow-restoration and phosphorus-control plans.

The update matters because federal and state water-quality programs — implemented by the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) and reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — set numeric targets and deadlines that can require agencies to change practices, report annually and reapply for permits. Callahan told the committee the transportation-specific TS4 permit brings federal and state stormwater requirements together for the agency and is on a five-year renewal cycle administered through ANR.

Callahan described how stormwater responsibilities are distributed inside the agency: an environmental policy planner in intermodal policy; a stormwater engineer in the project-delivery/highway division who supports designers and project managers on scoping, design and permitting; a construction environmental engineer who oversees construction-level environmental commitments and best-management practices (BMPs); and the maintenance division — Callahan’s group — which inherits and operates permanent stormwater infrastructure.

She said the agency applies MS4-style minimum measures statewide as part of the TS4 permit, and cited other permit programs that affect work: the municipal separate storm sewer (MS4) program (for municipalities), the Multisector General Permit (MSGP) for industrial discharges, and the state operational permit that now covers projects creating at least a half-acre of new impervious surface (previously one acre). Callahan also noted the agency works on other watersheds and TMDLs beyond Lake Champlain, including work tied to Lake Memphremagog and nitrogen-focused requirements in the Long Island Sound/Connecticut River region.

On implementation timelines, Callahan told senators the agency must complete the flow restoration plans’ capital work “no later than December of 2032” and must finish the Lake Champlain phosphorus-control implementation by June 2036. She added the Lake Memphremagog phosphorus-control plan was being finalized for submission on April 1 (to ANR) and that implementation of that plan must be completed by September 2037.

Callahan listed watersheds for which the agency has developed flow restoration plans and where projects are at various stages of design or construction: Allen, Bartlett, Centennial, Indian, Moon (Moonbrook), Monroe, Potash, Ruggs/Stevens and Summerlin Brooks. She said some projects are nearing advertisement for construction and pointed to installed BMPs drivers would pass near I-89 in Williston as examples of projects that are already in place.

On the types of projects the agency favors, Callahan said road-drainage fixes, streambank restorations and erosion-control measures often provide a better “bang for the buck” than standalone stormwater ponds because they cost less to maintain and produce co-benefits for roadway resiliency. She also said the agency has tested sand-filter media amended with water treatment residuals in collaboration with the University of Vermont to improve phosphorus removal.

Tyler Hanson, who the agency identified as the maintenance-division staff member responsible for the stormwater section, told the committee he leads training of district and airport staff and that the maintenance group has a “small pot of money” used to help maintain compliance. Hanson said the agency uses both internal crews and outside contractors for equipment-intensive maintenance tasks such as vacuuming catch basins and removing trapped sediment.

Callahan told senators the agency receives some targeted funding for stormwater capital projects — citing a one-time $3,000,000 allocation from ARPA for projects included in the phosphorus-control plan — but said long-term capital needs remain substantial and typically are handled through the transportation capital budget process. She emphasized agency accounting challenges: stormwater work is integrated across project scoping, design, construction and maintenance, making it difficult to extract a single agency-wide stormwater spending line.

Committee members pressed on municipal coordination, training and measurement. Callahan said ANR maintains statewide tracking and produces an annual watershed-status report referenced to EPA, and she offered to coordinate follow-up requests to ANR for metrics such as the share of statewide stormwater responsibility attributable to transportation projects.

Callahan and Hanson flagged practical maintenance challenges to senators: structural BMPs have ongoing maintenance burdens; vacuum trucks and specialized contractors are in limited supply; and removed sediment must be characterized and handled in accordance with environmental controls (reused when appropriate, or disposed of if contamination requires it). They described ongoing outreach and project coordination with municipalities, regional planning commissions and watershed groups.

No formal votes or motions were taken during the update. Callahan closed by describing a published one-page water-quality fact sheet the agency prepares annually summarizing accomplishments and permitted reporting.

Looking ahead, staff asked for continued coordination with ANR on measurement and targets, and said remaining implementation will be carried out through a combination of capital roadway projects, targeted ARPA-funded work and maintenance activities intended to capture phosphorus credits through revised road-drainage practices.

The Senate Transportation committee received the report and signaled interest in further detail on municipal outreach and capital funding strategies.