| Dear Neighbor, I hope you are well! I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on several happenings in the district as well as Harrisburg.
As always, I hope you find this informative and useful.
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| Stormwater Management & Infrastructure Impact Hearing
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| On Monday I hosted a Stormwater Management & Infrastructure Impact Hearing at the Upper Providence Township Building. I sat next to my colleagues from the House Democratic Policy Committee to listen to community leaders, academics, and experts provide testimony on Montgomery County’s stormwater infrastructure and why updates are essential.
Betsy Daley, a long-time resident of our community, spoke first about losing her home due to Hurricane Ida. The flood waters turned toxic inside of her home, leaving the structure completely uninhabitable for over a year. While she is back in her family home now, many of her neighbors are still in the process of rebuilding and moving back in or have abandoned their property altogether.
Daley spoke of her PTSD caused by losing her home and her belongings in a single night, with her symptoms worsening whenever extreme weather events enter our region. Crystal Gilchrest, an engineer with more than 30 years of experience in the public and private sectors, spoke about the Perkiomen Stormwater Initiative she started to address the rising flood waters we face. Cathy Kernen, Collegeville Council President, discussed how the borough fares during extreme weather, specifically during Ida, and their rebuilding efforts.
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| Erin McCool of the Lower Providence EAC Chair emphasized the human toll that extreme weather leaves behind even as the clouds move on. Drew Shaw, the Environmental Planner for the Montgomery County Planning Commission reviewed the current stormwater management process and what areas need to be addressed and updated. Dr. Robyn Hannigan, President
of Ursinus College, along with Kate Keppen, Director of Sustainability at Ursinus, highlighted what resources colleges like Ursinus could provide the county and the state to build a stronger stormwater response. Lastly, Robert Pace, a Master Watershed Steward from the Penn State Extension, called for improvements to Pennsylvania’s Stormwater Management Act, Act 167.
While every testimony uniquely covered the crisis of stormwater management in a different light, each one thoroughly underscored the human cost created when we do nothing to address stormwater. Our region of Pennsylvania has experienced record flooding three times in the last 24 months and that has caused enormous damage to our homes, our families, our businesses, and to roads, bridges, and other various pieces of infrastructure.
Our community does not have to weather the process of rebuilding every time the Perkiomen Watershed floods. “We need to update FEMA maps and the regulations that give municipalities the ability to require more stormwater controls,” Gilchrest advised in her testimony. By updating the metrics and floodplain maps currently in use, our communities can better prepare for storms and help officials plan evacuation orders if necessary.
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| Pennsylvania is no stranger to running water. In fact there are over 85,000 miles of rivers, streams, and creeks that weave throughout the commonwealth, moving trillions of gallons of water every day. But when you add extreme weather to the equation, mass flooding is the result. Shaw pointed out that the Montgomery County “Hazard Mitigation Plan identifies flooding as the
number one threat” to our communities and needs our utmost attention. Pace added “that 4 months of rain that fell back in the early 1900’s is now compressed into about a 3-month period today,” meaning more rain water is flowing through our communities and often overwhelming the aging infrastructure that was not built to handle this increase caused by climate change.
We know climate change has a direct impact on Pennsylvania’s weather and overall climate, resulting in warmer days and higher precipitation levels. These two facets combined produce more turbulent weather patterns, leading to the accelerated deterioration of our environment, including but not limited to the riparian buffers along the creeks and streams, structural integrity of the roads, bridges and buildings that sit near the waterways, access to clean drinking water and proper treatment of wastewater.
I would like to give my thanks to the committee and staff who put this hearing together as well as the individuals that provided testimony on stormwater and infrastructure. Over the next few weeks I will be meeting with stakeholders interested in seeing upgrades to our stormwater systems that can protect our
communities from future flooding disasters. We will look at strategy and data collection options that we can use to update the flood plain and the metrics we use to determine storm outcomes. I will continue to provide you with updates as they occur as I move forward with this stormwater project. Stay dry and I’ll speak with you soon!
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