Md. County Pushes Ahead for Unique Storm Water P3
November 21, 2014Bowie, MD — Corvias Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Corvias Group, today announced that it has signed a first-of-its-kind, community-based, public-private partnership (P3) with Prince George’s County (the County), Maryland. Corvias Solutions is a privately-held company that partners with public sector institutions to solve their toughest environmental, energy and infrastructure challenges. Their partnership with the County, called The Clean Water Partnership, addresses environmental regulatory requirements for stormwater management, while also strengthening local economic development.
“We applaud Prince George’s County for pioneering the next evolution of the P3 as a cost effective solution for meeting the regulatory requirements under the Federal Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL),” said Tad Davis, Managing Director of Corvias Solutions. “As a privately-held company, we can tackle Prince George’s County’s stormwater challenges in a way that traditional companies can’t. In fact, we believe that our innovative P3 model will ultimately help redefine how stormwater challenges are addressed across this country.”
Prince George’s County Department of the Environment (DOE) Director Adam Ortiz agreed, saying, “Both the private and public sectors have strengths that we can leverage for the common good. Through this partnership, we will meet our clean water requirements with more speed, more jobs and more savings, while establishing Prince George’s as an industry center for stormwater.”
Corvias’ experience in implementing innovative, community-based P3s is being applied to stormwater as part of a pilot P3 program with Prince George’s County, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Maryland Department of the Environment. The pilot was designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of P3s in addressing complex infrastructure challenges, such as stormwater.
Under the terms of the 30-year partnership, the County will invest $100 million in the initial three-year retrofit and Corvias will manage the design, construction and long-term maintenance of stormwater management systems for up to 4,000 acres. As an added requirement, the program will also drive local economic development by using local small and minority-owned businesses for at least 35 percent of the total project scope.
Corvias’ pioneering alternative delivery model combines innovative design, access to private financing, construction and long-term project management to help public sector clients successfully meet their regulatory requirements and solve their most complex infrastructure challenges. The benefits are significant and include accelerated project timelines, reduced costs and surety of execution. Corvias’ community-based P3 philosophy also delivers long-term benefits to local communities, including economic investment, job growth and new opportunities for local, small and disadvantaged businesses.
The EPA created the Bay TMDL to ensure that pollution control measures needed to restore the Bay and its tidal rivers are in place by 2025. Under the TMDL, practices must also be put in place to meet 60 percent of the necessary pollution reductions by 2017.