New Resource to Guide Clean Water Project Maintenance in Vermont Now Available

By Jill Sarazen, Green Infrastructure Collaborative Coordinator
June 01, 2025

Nutrient pollution is a primary water quality challenge in Vermont. Nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen originating from the land can carry to waterways via surface runoff. All parts of the landscape across the state can be sources of sediment and nutrient pollution, including forested lands, developed areas, and agricultural lands. Once in our waterways, excess nutrients can be harmful to aquatic and human health and encourage the formation of harmful cyanobacteria blooms.

Clean waterways in the Lake Champlain Basin and Vermont are key priorities for LCSG and Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) staff. The State of Vermont has been making great progress on developing and implementing clean water projects including Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI), natural resource restoration, and agricultural conservation practices. To learn more about the State of Vermont’s investments in clean water efforts, see the 2024 Clean Water Initiative Performance Report.  While these implemented projects are effective, they can deteriorate if they are not properly maintained. LCSG’s Green Infrastructure Coordinator has been working with practitioners around the state to incorporate maintenance into GSI education and training. These projects can provide many benefits in addition to reducing pollution, including habitat restoration, carbon sequestration, and flood resiliency.

In the spring of 2025, the Vermont DEC and Lake Champlain Sea Grant released the first version of the DEC Clean Water Projects Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Manual. This resource provides clear and consistent standards for regular inspection and maintenance of clean water projects in Vermont, including timelines and tasks by project type. This information can be used to inform O&M plans, scheduling, and budgeting.

“VT DEC is excited to see the O&M manual finalized and released to be used by all our clean water partners," says Rachel Buchanan, Environmental Analyst with VTDEC. “The O&M manual was 5 years in the making and included input from over 20 technical experts to complete, and showcases the importance of O&M best practices to ensure our clean water projects continue to work to achieve Vermont's water quality goals.”

Regular O&M helps to keep clean water projects in working condition and in turn the project functions to protect our water quality. Maintenance can look like a variety of tasks to upkeep the project such as removing sediment build-up, removing trash or natural debris from the practice, replanting dead vegetation as applicable, or mowing around the practice to maintain function and access.

Contents of the Manual:

  • Introduction to Operation and Maintenance
  • Overview of the project sectors and practice types
  • Inspection and maintenance considerations
  • List of common equipment and materials
  • Suggested routine maintenance schedules
  • And more!

This is the first version of the DEC O&M Manual that the DEC hopes will be improved over time as more people use it. Please provide feedback and suggestions for improvements using the feedback form available on the DEC Verification and O&M webpage.

The manual is available on the DEC Verification and O&M webpage.