10:00 – 10:15 Recent Events
10:15 – 10:20 Upcoming Events
10:20 – 10:40 Dillon Park Rain Garden
10:40 – 11:00 Patriot Park Rain Garden and Shorescape
11:00 – 11:40 New Program Ideas
11:40 – 11:50 Presentation by Terracon on Brownfields Grant
11:50 – 12:00 Discussion on Brownfields Grant Impacts on Stormwater
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Attendance:
Name
Minutes:
Breann Liebermann
Amy Scaroni
Chuck Jarman
Geoff Smith
Benjie Smith
Teige Elliot
Alfred Conyers
Reggie Felder
Josh Castleberry
Recent Events
Notes from the Meeting
Organization
Carolina Clear
Carolina Clear
Clemson Water Resources Team
AECOM
AECOM
City of Sumter
Sumter County
Sumter County
Central Carolina Tech
The meeting started with a review of recent activities:

2013-2014 telephone survey results analyzed, Breann will send reports when available

Turkey Creek cleanup news story written by Jim Melvin, published on Clemson website and in Sumter Item

Community Based Social Marketing conference- March

Turkey Creek stream cleanup- March 14, thank you sign up for 3 weeks

Manchester State Forest cleanup- March 28

Rain Barrel Art Contest at Earth Day- April 18, 9 classes participated, 298 total votes, winners will receive pizza/icecream parties
Upcoming Events
Upcoming events are as follows:

Appearing on Making it Grow- April 21

Earth Day activity at Ebenezer Middle School- April 22

FOG outreach at Iris Festival- May 21- Amy will provide Breann with CC materials

4-H2O Camp- July 14-16, look into DNR Reel Kids fishing program or one of
Josh’s students could assist with fishing activity
Dillon Park Rain Garden
Chuck updated the group on the Dillon Park Rain Garden. He put together a packet with site photos, designs, project team, and water quality benefits. Using the IDEAL model, he

found that the sediment trapping rate is 94%, adding up to 1000 pounds per year. There will be minimal removal of soluble pollutants. For our workshop, he proposed a similar agenda to a Charleston bioretention installation and workshop, which had a 2 hour handson classroom session then 2 hours in the field during the installation process. Breann will send out a poll to decide on the best time for a planning meeting. At the planning meeting, we will set a date for the installation and workshop.
Patriot Park Rain Garden and Shorescape
Rain Garden
Chuck explained that the rain garden may already be clogging up. It needs a maintenance day, but we first want to ensure that it is functioning properly. Breann, Chuck, Alfred, and Reggie will visit the rain garden after the meeting to investigate. A new rain garden sign will be installed because the current sign does not have the proper plant species on it.
*Note: we found that the top mulch layer is too compacted. At the next maintenance day, we will aerate and mix the top mulch layer, possibly add a bit more mulch, and weed.
Plants are growing very nicely!
Shorescape
The shorescape needs some revitalization. Someone may be mowing it, as nothing much is growing, despite being planted last year. Amy mentioned we could install orange fencing until it grows up more. Breann needs to reach out to Steve Hostetler, who does the mowing, with additional info. Breann proposed expanding the shorescape, but we agreed we want to spruce up the existing shorescape first. Alfred suggested we could try to get grass to grow along bare spots and that the maintenance staff might be able to maintain it. Amy mentioned that in Richland County, they installed a 100-foot long shorescape that cost about $1200, and that was on the upper end of the typical price range. Chuck, Breann, Alfred, and Reggie will visit the shorescape after the meeting to investigate.
*Note: we found that it actually has not been mowed in awhile because there is dead plant material over a foot high. But not much from the plantings last year established. At our next maintenance day, we need to plant species that will do well here, possibly similar to what the rain garden has, because those established very nicely. We discussed doing a test-plot approach- trying out a few different strategies on different spots along the shoreline, and seeing which method performs best. We already know that the approach used on the current shorescape was not best, so we will try a new approach there. Breann will follow up with Claudia regarding what species to plant.
New Program Ideas
Stream Restoration- Turkey Creek
Geoff updated the group on the Turkey Creek Management Plan, which was completed in
2013. They are applying for a 319 grant to restore Turkey Creek. The goal of the

restoration project would be to stabilize the banks, increase habitat and biodiversity, and to get sediment through the system instead of clogging. They need to work with the
Corps, because it is under their jurisdiction. They’d like to increase vegetation along the banks, but the Corps normally requires scalping it every year. The city and county jointly applied for a grant which is due next month.
Flooding around Turkey Creek is being examined as a separate issue. There is a large piece of property in the flooding area that they proposed to build a constructed wetland on, but it is now for sale. They are looking into a flood hazard mitigation grant through
FEMA.
Ditch management/bioswales
Breann proposed installing a bioswale to combat the water quality issues that traditional ditches present. There are lots of failing ditches that don’t drain. The issue with turning a traditional ditch into a bioswales is access- most of the ditches have very steep banks.
The other issue is ownership- DOT owns many of the roads.
Livestock Management—Septic Systems
Livestock management is an issue that the consortium has discussed for a few years.
Most of the larger farms are outside of the MS4 boundary, but may be contributing to water quality issues. We discussed advocating for livestock fencing to keep livestock out of streams, but Geoff pointed out that unless that became mandatory, practices would most likely not change. Amy mentioned that as an initial step, Breann could discuss practices with the livestock agent that covers Sumter County. Geoff mentioned that bacterial TMDLs are linked to wildlife and septic system maintenance. It would be worthwhile to focus first on pet waste and septic system maintenance (and other POCstrash, sediment) and then to tackle livestock management later on. Most residencies outside the city limits have septic systems. Septic system maintenance is tricky because oftentimes people are under the assumption that if nothing is going wrong, they don’t need to maintain it. We mentioned that trailer parks might be particularly troublesome because of the high volume and low income. There also may be less knowledge of necessary maintenance. DHEC is supposed to cover septic education and maintenance but they don’t. There are grants available.
Car wash stations
We discussed car wash stations and their disposal of wastewater. There may be a few older stations that are not tied in to the sanitary sewer system. Amy mentioned that
Carolina Clear has car wash station materials that Breann could distribute. Chuck brought up that fire stations love to wash their trucks, and that water goes to storm drains. He mentioned a fire station campaign that had been done about sustainable practices. Amy asked if charity car wash fundraisers were common in Sumter. If so, we could possibly work with them to instead offer vouchers for local car wash stations.
Water body signs

Breann showed the group water body signs that had been installed by another consortium in Darlington County. The signs name the water body, the consortium, and the county and also have a neat graphic. We all liked the idea of installing these types of signs in
Sumter City and County. The only existing signs we have like this are for Cowasee (put up by NRCS) and for Turkey Creek. We will need to talk to our local DOT rep and let them know exactly where we will be putting them up ahead of time. We’d like to put these signs up for Turkey Creek, Shot Pouch Creek, Nasty Branch, Pocotaligo, and possibly a few others. We will include creek name (and not watershed) to keep the signs simple and easy to read. We will inquire about using the same graphic that Darlington
County used.
Presentation and Discussion by Terracon on Brownfields Grant
Tice Welborn from Terracon had inquired with Claudia about assisting Sumter with a
Brownfields Assesment Grant. He arrived with his supervisor at 11:40 and gave a brief presentation on what constitutes a Brownfields site, the available grants, and examples of successful Brownfields remediation projects. He also discussed implications for stormwater at Brownfields remediation sites. He mentioned that Sumter would be a great candidate for a Brownfields assessment grant, but did not discuss specific sites in Sumter.
Alfred mentioned that he knew of one Brownfields site in the county. Breann will follow up with Claudia/the Planning Dpt and with Tice if there is any interest.
The meeting concluded at 12pm. The next meeting will be held in July.