Field tests of environmental systems to manage stormwater runoff in the Town of Brome Lake

To protect a natural environment featuring deteriorating ecosystems and water bodies, the Town of Brome Lake wants to test four innovative systems for managing stormwater runoff in a rural municipality setting. After many studies that enabled the municipality to understand the factors degrading the environment, the Town decided to undertake this initiative with the primary objective of mitigating the impacts of heavy rain and runoff from rain events below the 90th percentile. The simple but efficient systems tested combine techniques that include filling ditches, rain gardens, and plantings around property boundaries. In the short term, the initiative will focus on strategic urban and outlying areas around Brome Lake, within the Town’s territory. A monitoring protocol will be introduced to check system performance, particularly the capture of total phosphorous and suspended solids. The test will also develop a methodology for deploying the runoff management systems with citizens’ participation. The Town will coordinate and manage the overall project, including overall planning, monitoring and supervising operations, and coordination with municipal policies and bylaws. Renaissance Lac-Brome, a non-profit community organization, will participate in the testing by facilitating contact with citizens in the areas where the systems will be installed, documenting the citizen approach used, scientific monitoring of the results and coordinating write-up of the monitoring report. If the test is conclusive, the Town of Brome Lake will install similar systems in many other strategic areas to reduce phosphorus input into the lake and encourage citizens to do the same. The results will be of interest to other municipalities in the watershed that are looking for efficient, inexpensive systems to manage their runoff and protect their infrastructure. The systems tested have a sufficiently broad range to adapt to most situations, rural, suburban or urban, steep inclines or valleys. Other municipalities or RCMs looking for ways to prevent the damage caused by uncontrolled stormwater runoff could also use them. (Project description from original funding application)