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ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP Environmental stewardship is also an important component to the VAMHCS GEMS program.  For Earth Day, patients, visitors and staff can visit GEMS Earth Day

information tables at the Baltimore and Perry Point VA Medical Centers every April that feature information on our current stewardship and environmental compliance programs, as well as other

Earth-Friendly VAMHCS patient programs such as Horticulture Therapy.  In addition, the GEMS Program organizes voluntary employee shoreline cleanups at the Perry Point VA Medical Center

every year around Earth Day.  Employees come from all VAMHCS facilities to help keep our shoreline and campus clean.  Each year we remove several dump truck loads of plastics, tires, trash,

and miscellaneous metal waste from the shoreline of the Perry Point VA Medical Center. On a monthly basis, the VAMHCS diverts anywhere from 12 to 29 tons of waste from landfills to single

stream recycling, and 10 tons of organic waste to composting. ------------------------- STORMWATER MS4 PERMIT COMPLIANCE PROGRAM To regulate and improve the quality of stormwater runoff, the

Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) issued the 2018 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) General Permit for Discharges from State and Federal Small Municipal

Storm Sewer Systems (MS4). The Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System (VAMHCS) is covered under this permit for both the Loch Raven and Perry Point Medical Centers (VAMCs). The

Baltimore VAMC does not require coverage under this MS4 permit due to its location. However, the Baltimore VAMC is required to comply with similar stormwater permit requirements, such as not

putting anything into a storm drain except for rainwater, under the MDE HT stormwater discharge permit. The goal of the NPDES MS4 General Permit is to improve the quality of stormwater

runoff being discharged from state and federal properties and to meet the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established water quality

goals in 2010 for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and its tributaries through Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirements for reducing nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment. This TMDL is a

“pollution diet” for the Bay and applies to all the states within the Chesapeake Bay watershed including Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District

of Columbia. A Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) was developed by Maryland and lays out the approach the state will adopt to meet the Chesapeake Bay TMDL requirements. The VAMHCS owns and

operates storm drain systems at Loch Raven VAMC and Perry Point VAMC. The Loch Raven VAMC system is located within the Herring Run watershed and discharges to the City of Baltimore storm

drain system, and ultimately to the Chesapeake Bay. The Perry Point VAMC system is located within the Lower Susquehanna River watershed and discharges directly to the Susquehanna River and

Mill Creek, which flow to the Chesapeake Bay. To implement the permit requirements, VAMHCS has conducted an Impervious Area Assessment. The Impervious Area Assessment involves reviewing all

impervious, or paved, surfaces on both campuses and providing a plan to treat 20% of the currently untreated impervious area using MDE-approved best management practices (BMPs). VAMHCS is

also implementing the six Minimum Control Measures (MCMs) required by the permit. The MCMs are actions designed to reduce pollutant discharges to waterbodies in Maryland, including: * Public

or Personnel Education and Outreach * Public or Personnel Involvement and Participation * Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination * Construction Site Stormwater Runoff Control * Post

Construction Stormwater Management * Pollution Prevention and Good Housekeeping The permit also requires that VAMHCS submit an Annual MS4 Progress Report to MDE. The Annual Progress Report

contains information regarding MS4 activities that occurred and the progress VAMHCS has made in meeting the Chesapeake Bay TMDL requirements during the previous reporting year. Comments and

review of the VAMHCS Annual Progress Report are welcome and are part of the Public Involvement and Participation MCM. Anyone wishing to provide comments may contact the VAMHCS GEMS Program

Manager.