Louisiana Declares Stormwater a Utility with Passage of HB 713
BATON ROUGE, LA — The Louisiana Stormwater Coalition (LSC) announced today that HB 713 authored by Rep. Jerome Zeringue and co-authored by Sen. Franklin Foil passed the Louisiana Senate without opposition making Louisiana the 42nd state to declare stormwater to be a utility.
“This is an exciting day for Louisiana. HB 713 was patterned after the one Florida passed 30 years ago that helped communities permanently fund stormwater management programs for litter abatement and flood prevention,” said Marie Constantin, co-founder of the LSC.
Under the new law, establishing a stormwater utility won’t be a mandate or a requirement for communities, but a local option. Because single use is on the rise and changing weather patterns are delivering larger payloads of flood-causing sediments and litter to communities and their watersheds through stormwater, communities that want a permanently funded Stormwater Management Program to manage litter and floodwaters will now be able to fund it on a utility bill.
The LSC describes the function of the utility as having two parts: Part A is money to deal with litter on the streets that clogs drainage systems, and Part B is money to deal with flood-causing sediments and litter in the watersheds.
“Look around. Litter in the form of single use items is increasing, not decreasing. We have never had the permanent funding needed to deal with it. But now it is in our watersheds, clogging the system, making flooding worse, threatening our health, and spoiling our wildlife and recreational lands. Because it’s not a mandate, communities can design a Stormwater Management program to meet their needs and fund it on a utility bill,” Constantin said.
Under a Stormwater Management Program, cities will have the ability to “customize” their program to address specific issues and needs. Below are items that can be included in a typical program:
Capital Improvements
Drain and canal maintenance
Sediment & litter trapping equipment
Green infrastructure & maintenance
Ditch cleaning & Inlet and liner repairs
Litter Ordinances, Enforcement & Fines (Litter Patrol Officers)
Recycling Best Practices
Street Sweepers
Purchasing and Maintaining Public Garbage Receptacles
Public Awareness Campaigns (public and school education/awareness; civic associations; apartment complexes)
Business Best Practices for the use of single-use items
Coalition member Renée Verma explained, “When a community brings a Stormwater Management Program online to address flooding and litter, essentially, they have created a sustainable program that benefits economic development, the environment and a community’s quality-of-life.”
Recently the LSC documented instances of dams made up of litter and flood-causing sediments in a well-known wetland --with core samples showing litter going down as deep as three feet. And in a nearby lake, they photographed death-by-litter where diving birds dove down for a fish and came up with their beaks tied shut with litter.
LSC co-founder Dr. Jeff Kuehny said, “Because this legislation gives us the same vehicle 41 other states have had for decades, Louisiana can not only reduce flooding, but bring thousands of spoiled acres of our Sportsman’s Paradise back online for hunting, fishing and eco-tourism. This is huge for our Sportsman’s Paradise.”
As part of the LSC’s stormwater feasibility study aimed at demonstrating that stormwater management works, they installed a litter capturing boom in the Bayou Fountain in July 2021 and raised the funds to professionally clean and maintain it. “In under eight hours we tied the boom to a tree, brought in 40 volunteers to clean old litter and partnered with BREC, PaddleBR, The City of Baton Rouge and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to create our city’s first litter free paddle trail,” said LSC co-founder Kelly Hurtado. “We will continue to advocate and educate on the benefits of stormwater management. Other states have been successful – so can Louisiana,” Hurtado concluded.
Now that HB 713 passed, it will go to the governor’s desk to be signed.
About the Coalition:
The Louisiana Stormwater Coalition is an all-volunteer, grassroots effort to increase awareness about the benefits of permanently funded stormwater management and how stormwater management programs will help solve Louisiana’s litter problems and prevent flooding. The LSC co-founders include Marie Constantin, Dr. Jeff Kuehny, Renée Verma and Kelly Hurtado.