Vail plans voluntary stormwater protection program
Other communities in watershed to also benefit

By Laurie DiBattista, Colorado NPS Connection associate editor

The thriving community of Vail is working on a proactive stormwater management program to protect Gore Creek’s water quality.  The pilot program will serve as a model for other municipalities in the Eagle River Watershed, according to program designers.

What makes the program unusual?  That it’s being done on a voluntary basis.

With a year round population of 4,800 residents – swelling to 35,000 during the winter holiday season – the town need not comply with Colorado’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) program.  That program requires municipalities of over 10,000 population to establish stormwater pollution prevention programs to protect local water resources.

Bill Carlson, Vail’s environmental health officer, and Kristen Bertuglia, who recently stepped into the new position of environmental sustainability coordinator for the town of Vail, are spearheading the program.

With over a dozen construction cranes hard at work in Vail, redevelopment of the mountain resort community is clearly evident.  “Vail’s redevelopment projects are tearing down old properties and rebuilding taller properties.  We’re experiencing a huge redevelopment period that started four years ago and will end the middle of the next decade,” Carlson said.

Increased development and population growth can potentially increase polluted runoff into Gore Creek – and the Eagle River, which it feeds into.  Stormwater discharge can carry sediment, nutrients, metals and fecal coliform.

“Gore Creek is a Gold Medal trout fishing stream and it’s essential that we maintain the ecological integrity of the creek.  So we want to be proactive and not wait to be permitted," Bertuglia said.  “Unless there’s a (stormwater) program in place, it’s a matter of waiting for the inevitable” decline in water quality.

There’s also a much bigger picture:  Other communities in the Eagle River Watershed including Avon, Edwards, Eagle and Minturn, stand to learn a lot from Vail’s test project.

“Once Vail’s program is in place, we think we can work our way downstream,” said David Fulton, executive director of the Eagle River Watershed Council.  “After the hard work’s done in Vail, we can shop it to other communities, which can adapt it to suit their needs.  It’s very much a domino effect.”

Fulton called the effort “forward thinking”, saying that “though no one community reaches the 10,000 population threshold for MS4, collectively we know we are impacting the Eagle River.”

Vail’s proposed Stormwater Protection Program aims to be consistent with both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s stormwater guidance and regulations.  It will be reviewed by the town’s planning and environmental commission, then voted on by the town council.

Carlson believes that by protecting local water resources, Vail will also benefit economically by maintaining Gore Creek as a high quality, cold water aquatic system.  “We depend, in part, on robust fishing and the creek’s pristine, natural beauty for our economic sustainability.”

For more information about Vail’s stormwater protection program contact Bill Carlson at 970-479-2333, or Kristen Bertuglia at 970-477-3455.