NORFOLK, Va. — Environmental protection efforts can help prevent pollution, flooding, and erosion, and ultimately promote sustainability throughout communities.
With that in mind, Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) has implemented strategies to prevent chemicals and other liquids from its bus fleet from mixing with the water that flows into storm drains.
"You're dealing with a lot of fuel. You've got a lot of fluids," HRT Communications Manager Thomas Becher said. "You've got a lot of water that, you know, once the buses are washed, for example. So, all these things... drain potentially into our beloved waterways."
HRT is working to mitigate the potentially harmful effects of unregulated stormwater runoff on ecosystems across the region, and those efforts are getting noticed.
The public transit agency earned two regional awards from Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) at the end of July for its policies designed to reduce the risk of pollutants from transit operations-- like oil, fuel, heavy metals, and debris-- entering local waterways.
"We have 290-something buses on both sides of the metro... and they come to our garages every day. And they often are there for routine maintenance, dents and scrapes, and that sort of thing," Becher said. "And so, with a massive fleet like that, unlike your little home garage, we have to really pay attention to the volume of rainwater, or stormwater rather, and how we treat that."
HRT's Southside Operations in Norfolk received a Platinum award, which indicates the fifth stormwater compliance honor in a row for the complex. Meanwhile, its Northside facility in Hampton earned Gold status for its fourth such consecutive honor from HRSD.
The recognitions stem from the public transit agency's efforts to help reduce pollution and protect the environment.
"We do have those protocols so that when there is liquid of any kind, that it is properly drained, it doesn't go into the stormwater drains," Becher said. "There's proper protocols for it to keep it out of our rivers, the bay, and ultimately the ocean as well."
HRT plans to continue adding and improving practices across its fleet, Becher said, that maintain sustainability and uphold the natural resources in communities across Hampton Roads.
"The word sustainability is in [our] mission," Becher said. "So, that means both taking care of our earth, [and] that means also making sure people use transit to reduce emissions, for example. So, that really aligns with what we do, but it's also part of being a good neighbor."
Becher said that training and education of its staff is a critical part of executing HRT's environmental strategies. The public transit agency has an environmental team that works alongside its maintenance crew to ensure all team members follow environmental procedures and that stormwater is always properly drained.
"If you think about fuel, if you think even about dirty water, I mean, really dirty water with chemicals in it, if you think about hydraulic fluids and all of the other things, oils, that go into maintaining our buses, if those were to go into the drains, we'd go backwards in time, before we, as a region, as a country hopefully, have made sure that none of this happens for our future," Becher said. "So, we [want to] do our part. It is relatively small, but then again, we do have a lot of buses. And so, what we do can make a difference."
HRT follows local, state and federal requirements, including having Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs) and Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) Plans in place under the federal Clean Water Act.
The public transit agency also has an Oil Discharge Contingency Plan (ODCP) under the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to keep oils and other vehicle fluids from reaching storm drains.