The Friends of the Winooski River: Blog

Improving the water quality of Joiner Brook in Bolton

July 11th, 2017

Students at the Smilie School in Bolton will learn about stormwater runoff and work with the Friends of the Winooski River to help protect nearby Joiner Brook from polluted runoff.  Stormwater runoff carries pollutants such as phosphorus, pathogens, motor oil, pesticides, and lead to streams, rivers, and lakes.  These pollutants degrade water quality, negatively impacting animals and plants and can make human contact with the water unpleasant or a health risk.  Like the Smilie students, everyone can help reduce polluted stormwater runoff and make our waterways cleaner and healthier.   Homeowners can install rain barrels, reduce pesticide and herbicide use or replace lawn with trees and shrubs that will absorb water.  Schools and businesses can manage runoff from their roofs and parking lots so it soaks into the ground or is filtered before it runs into the closest stormdrain.  You can learn more about stormwater on our website.

This summer, the Friends will begin construction of three stormwater mitigation practices at the Smilie School with the goal to improve the water quality of Joiner Brook, a tributary of the Winooski River.  The 3+ acre property includes impervious roof surfaces, a gravel parking lot, and a gravel access road –all of which generate stormwater runoff.

Stormwater runoff carries pollutants such as phosphorus, pathogens, motor oil, pesticides, and lead to streams, rivers, and lakes. Phosphorus is of particular concern since elevated phosphorus in Lake Champlain has resulted in algal blooms that threaten the health of other aquatic organisms and are sometimes toxic to humans and other animals. Urban stormwater runoff carries more phosphorus per acre of land than agricultural runoff.

The practices for Smilie School include a rain garden at the school’s entrance, a stormwater bio-retention area designed to capture stormwater from the school’s roof, and renovation of the river access road to limit vehicular traffic, reduce compaction, and encourage infiltration of runoff. The old road will be replaced with a footpath that will extend a small existing nature trail at the school, thereby improving outdoor education and recreation opportunities.  Each of these practices will filter the water by soaking it into the ground, reducing stormwater runoff volume, sediment and associated phosphorus, as well as other pollutants.  This project will engage students and school community members in an educational activity related to the practices. Students and/or parents will plant the raingarden and bioretention areas while learning about the function and purpose of these practices and ways to reduce stormwater runoff at home.

Implementation of the proposed practices is expected reduce stormwater volume by 11,845 cubic feet and will improve water quality by reducing the annual sediment and phosphorus load by an estimated 75 and 0.2 pounds respectively.

The Smilie School stormwater project was initiated in 2015 when the Bolton Conservation Commissioners approached the Friends of the Winooski River to partner to mitigate stormwater runoff impacts at the school. Clogged stormwater drains and sediment deposits in stormwater conveying ditches near Joiner Brook attested to the sediment load generated by the school parcel. In the spring and summer of 2016, the Friends worked with the school and Stone Environmental to develop a stormwater master plan for the school campus. The resulting plan, funded by the Lake Champlain Basin Program, recommended several practices to stem runoff volume and/or improve runoff water quality.

Last fall the Friends worked with Smilie School staff to choose three of the practices recommended in the stormwater master plan to bring to reality. Complete construction designs for the chosen practices were developed by Stone Environmental and approved of by the school district’s facilities manager and the Smilie School principal.

Smilie School also plans to pursue a fourth practice, relocation of the trash dumpsters away from a stormwater drain thus avoiding contributing “dumpster juice” to Joiner Brook via the stormdrain system.