Anne Arundel County’s Approach to Meeting MS4 and TMDL Requirements through Turnkey Restoration Projects
Erik Michelsen
Anne Arundel County and Wildlands Engineering, Inc.
Anne Arundel, MD
Abigail Vieira, PE
Wildlands Engineering
Charlotte, NC
Anne Arundel County Department of Public Works Bureau of Watershed Projection and Restoration has implemented restoration and preservation projects across the county to facilitate the recovery of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in accordance with the County’s clean water obligations under its Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit and the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). With the development of a Watershed Assessment and Planning Program, the County collected and analyzed data pertaining to stream and watershed baseline conditions, stormwater treatment areas, and septic and stormwater infrastructure to help prioritize restoration and preservation initiatives across the County, such as Total Maximum Daily Load (TMD) Implementation Plans. Through stormwater facility retrofits, stormwater outfall repairs, stream restoration, and other restoration projects (i.e., street sweeping and shoreline management), the County was able to meet over 50% of its 2026 impervious acres treated permit goals by the end of 2022, with a total of 1,535.4 acres of impervious surface treated to date. Anne Arundel County continues to work towards its permit goal of 2,998 acres of impervious surface restoration by 2026 through the implementation of turnkey water quality improvement projects, which allow the County to fund design-build-maintain contracts to private firms that results in the construction of cost-effective projects. One such project is the Hall Creek Stream Restoration Site, located in Friendship, MD. This project was contracted to Wildlands Engineering, Inc. in 2021 and will provide 137 impervious acres treated by the end of 2023. The project involves zero-order and traditional stream restoration along approximately 3,000 linear feet of stream length on several unnamed tributaries to Hall Creek. The project streams flow into Hall Creek and the Patuxent River before eventually reaching the Chesapeake Bay. The presentation will provide an overview of Anne Arundel County’s restoration program while highlighting the turnkey Hall Creek Stream Restoration Site.
About Erik Michaelson
Erik is the Deputy Director for Anne Arundel County’s Department of Public Works, heading its Bureau of Watershed Protection and Restoration. He works to facilitate the recovery of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries through supporting robust restoration projects and rigorous scientific monitoring efforts, bolstered by diverse stakeholder partnerships. Erik has an extensive background as a project manager for an environmental consultant then as the Executive Director for a non-profit, the Arundel Rivers Federation (formerly the South River Federation), and working for Anne Arundel County since 2014, as the County builds up the environmental assessments, restoration implementation, and ecological evaluation to support the County’s clean water obligations under the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit and the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). Erik also serves as Anne Arundel County’s Senior Environmental Policy Officer.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/erik-michelsen-93477a49/
About Abigail Vieira, PE
Ms. Vieira has experience as a water resources engineer in the Wildlands’ Springfield, VA office. As a water resources engineer, Ms. Vieira assists with project management, hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, design, monitoring of ecological restoration and stormwater projects, coordination with permitting agencies, and construction oversite.
