Ocean Pines Stormwater Symposium
Commentary by Joe Reynolds

The Ocean Pines Stormwater Symposium is now history. It lasted approximately 190 minutes. Not overly lengthy, considering the OPA Board of Directors took 46 minutes of often painful discussion back in November before it voted to allow Director Mark Venit to even proceed with his plans for the project.

In the earlier 46-minute debate, Tom Sandusky said he was not interested in a symposium that would discuss "life on Mars." He challenged Venit to name one new technology that might help solve stormwater flooding in parts of Ocean Pines. Glenn Duffy said if the public were allowed to attend it might cause more problems than it solved. Skip Carey agreed. Venit insisted he would assemble a team of academics and engineering types who would provide insights into solutions that might help prevent areas like Boston Drive from becoming "islands" every time it rained.

When the crowd of 50 or so attending the symposium left and the lights went out at the Country Club, who was correct? From this vantage point, none of the combatants in the earlier debate could claim victory. Clearly, the symposium provided useful information but there were no technological breakthroughs, although some ideas presented by Nicholas De Gennaro, Ph.D., a marine and environmental construction consultant, were certainly innovative and contrary to conventional wisdom on dealing with stormwater. There was no discussion of life on Mars, and allowing the public to attend, and even ask a few questions at the conclusion, did not appear to cause any problems - although some might say that remains to be seen.

De Gennaro also made what was perhaps the most surprising remark of the day. He said we don't even have flooding problems in Ocean Pines, only "puddling" problems. Speaking last in the lineup of experts, De Gennaro suggested several approaches to moving water in the Pines, all variations on his idea of essentially filling in the ditches to form flatter swales with the idea of moving more surface water into the ground rather than allowing it to flow as surface water through the present ditch system.

While there may be some merit in further investigation of his ideas, those residents plagued by flooding after every moderate to heavy rain will probably not be pleased to hear their water problems are only "puddles." They will also be interested in his response to a question about expectations of residents if all his ideas were implemented, specifically if this would eliminate the "puddling" problem. His short answer was, "No."

Other presenters included Karuna Pujara, Maryland State Highway Administration hydrologist. Pujara opened her remarks by saying she would probably be telling us what we already knew -- and then proceeded to do just that.

Dave Blazer, Executive Director, Coastal Bays Program, gave his typically excellent presentation about environmental issues related to drainage. Gail Blazer, Ocean City Environmental Engineer, gave what was more or less a similar presentation, but with emphasis on what homeowners can do.

Bob Abele, a mechanical engineer and chairman of the OPA Marine Activities Advisory Committee, more or less reinforced the environmental comments by Blazer and Blazer, and emphasized the importance of individual action.

Worcester County's Sandy Coyman showed up, even though he apparently wasn't on the official presenters list. Coyman's excellent presentation was also more focused on the environmental issues than our "puddling" problems.

All in all, about 80% or more of the symposium was devoted to environmental problems. Educating the people of Ocean Pines about the environmental impact of stormwater runoff is important, but if there was any pre-symposium expectation within Ocean Pines, it was the hope this assemblage of experts would come up with some heretofore unimplemented solutions for our "puddling" problems. That did not happen. Let's face it - there probably is no solution to our "puddling" problem.

In the final analysis, was Venit's symposium worthwhile? Opinions will vary, but the answer from this observer is an unqualified "yes." If nothing else it focused this community's attention on our drainage problems for one entire morning, from both a "puddling" and an environmental standpoint. That alone was worth the effort. Thanks, Mark.