Charles County Government has received hundreds of drainage related complaints over the last few years from residents. This is not surprising since 2018 was the wettest year on record with more than 60 inches of rain that fell in Charles County, which is about 20 inches more than average annual rainfall totals for this area.

When extreme weather occurs, some residents may experience stormwater drainage issues and flooding that can impact their properties. There are numerous reasons why these kinds of issues can occur, such as: 

1. A residential development or property that was developed prior to current stormwater drainage regulations may not have any existing storm drainage infrastructure to capture stormwater runoff and convey it away from the development or property; or
   
   
2. A residential development or property may have existing stormwater drainage infrastructure in place, but it may have reached the end of its useful life, or surpassed it, and is now failing and in need of repair or replacement; or
   
   
3. A residential development or property may have existing stormwater drainage infrastructure in place, but it may not be adequately sized to handle stormwater volumes from extreme precipitation events.

The increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is expected to continue, and even worsen in the future, primarily due to climate change. Therefore, to improve climate resiliency throughout the county, Charles County Government and the Charles County Resilience Authority are working together to address this problem by creating a Residential Stormwater Drainage Improvement Program.

The intent of the Residential Stormwater Drainage Improvement Program is for Charles County Government to begin to address a widespread and growing problem of drainage and flooding issues on private residential property. The county is seeking to assume responsibility of stormwater drainage conveyance systems on privately-owned residential properties, and primarily those that drain a publicly-owned property or right-of-way.

This program will initially focus on manmade stormwater drainage conveyance systems (ditches, pipes, outlets, etc.) that generally meet the following criteria:

• Located on private property within an existing residential subdivision.
• Drain a publicly-owned right-of-way or property, such as a public road.
• Pre-date the County’s current Storm Drainage Ordinance.
• Not located within a County-owned easement.
• Have no maintenance agreement in place.

For Charles County Government to assume responsibility of these systems in perpetuity, residents and homeowner’s associations will be required to provide an easement to the county. This is to ensure that the County has access to the systems to conduct the necessary repairs and long-term maintenance.

The focus of this program will continue to evolve over time as the county gains a better understanding of the scope and complexity of the drainage and flooding issues. It should be noted that some systems on privately-owned properties will need to be addressed on a case-by-case basis if they have life safety issues or other extenuating circumstances.

Charles County is receiving approximately $31.7 million dollars through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The County Commissioners allocated approximately $16.2 million dollars specifically to address stormwater drainage issues on private property. A portion of the $16.2 million ARPA funds were used to hire a contractor to conduct an assessment and prioritization of known stormwater drainage issues within multiple existing neighborhoods throughout the county.

This project began in January 2022 and was completed in December of 2022. However, the majority of the $16.2 million ARPA funds will be used for a variety of residential stormwater drainage improvement projects, including beginning to make the necessary repairs to these systems in priority order, as identified by the assessment effort. It should be noted that there is not enough funding to tackle all the privately-owned stormwater drainage issues in the county. Funding from a variety of sources, including grants, will be necessary. 

From January 2022 until December 2022, a contractor completed an assessment and prioritization of privately-owned stormwater conveyance systems with varying degrees of drainage issues and flooding within multiple existing neighborhoods throughout the county. Visit the Neighborhood Prioritization Dashboard to see a list of neighborhoods that have been assessed through this effort.

As drainage problems are prevalent throughout the county it was necessary to devise a suitability model that could be applied equitably to all needs.  Therefore, the contractor, with input from the Resilience Authority, developed a suitability model to evaluate, rank, and prioritize each problem area under a suite of up to 10 criteria, including urgency of need and equity. The results reflect the incorporation of many factors into one model applied to all neighborhoods.

The Resilience Authority voted to accept the results of the prioritization on January 12, 2023. The Resilience Authority forwarded the prioritization to the Board of County Commissioners with a recommendation for the county to begin attempts to remediate these locations in priority order. On January 31, 2023, the Board of County Commissioners voted to approve the prioritization. While the intent of the county is to assist with the neighborhoods on the list, reality is that we’ll likely only be able to deal with one at a time. Until such point in time that we get to a neighborhood and acquire the right-of-way necessary to assume the drainage system, it remains under the current rules and regulations that exist within the county and is therefore a private concern. 

Charles County Government will be working towards beginning the process of making the necessary repairs to privately-owned stormwater drainage conveyance systems in priority order. It may take approximately 1.5 – 2 years to complete the design/engineering and address funding for the needed improvements.

Therefore, it may take at least three (3) years for the first project to break ground. However, it should be noted that the length of time to complete each project will vary greatly based on the complexity of the improvement.

Further, in order for Charles County Government to assume responsibility of these systems, residents and homeowner’s associations must provide an easement to the county. This is to ensure that the county has access to the systems to conduct the necessary repairs and long-term maintenance.

What is an Easement?

An easement is a right granted from a property owner to another for a specific use of a portion of the owner's land. Utility operators (gas, electric, sewer, etc.) often have easements for the purpose of installing and maintaining their utility lines and structures.

As with most utility easements, storm drainage easements are permanent and run with the land (i.e., survive any sale of the property). They generally require the property owner to give up certain rights, such as building permanent structures (additions, decks, certain types of fences, etc.) within the easement to allow for proper function of the system and unimpeded maintenance access.

What are Drainage Easements?

A Drainage Easements is an easement that is provided when a development plan directs the discharge of water through the project. 

Drainage easements are provided for open or closed systems located outside of the County right-of-way. These easements are provided for all man made systems or natural systems that have undergone improvements which will require monitoring and maintenance.

A natural water course, channel, stream, creek, low, gully, etc... where no improvements have been made or no improvements or maintenance will be required will not have drainage easements provided.

Public and Private Drainage Easements

A "Public Drainage Easement" is a drainage easement extending from an existing or future County or State right-of-way, carrying water from said right-of-way, conveying water through a residential subdivision (single family or townhouse).  

These easements are maintained by the County.  Easements in a residential subdivision draining to a County right-of-way not conveying "public" water shall be specified as a "Private Drainage Easement" unless otherwise specified by the County.

 A "Private Drainage Easement"  is provided where drainage improvements have been made and the easements do not convey public waters (waters from a County or State right-of-way). These easements are privately (not County) maintained.

Please check the dashboard to see if your neighborhood is on the list that Charles County Government has identified with varying degrees of drainage issues and flooding.

If your neighborhood is on this list, you do not need to take any further action as we are aware of your issue.

However, if your neighborhood is NOT on this list, and you are experiencing a problem with an existing stormwater drainage conveyance system, please contact the appropriate entity or representative noted below: 

If you are experiencing an urgent issue and need someone to check it out immediately, contact the Codes, Permits, and Inspections Division at 301-645-0692 and ask to speak with Inspections. You may also report a drainage issue using the Report a Structure or Property Complaint web form. 

NOT PREVIOUSLY INSPECTED: If you have a drainage issue that is NOT urgent, AND you have never had the issue inspected by a County Inspector, please contact the Codes, Permits, and Inspections Division at 301-645-0692 and ask to speak with Inspections. You may also report a drainage issue using the Report a Structure or Property Complaint web form. 

OR

PREVIOUSLY INSPECTED: If you have a drainage issue that is NOT urgent AND you have already had the issue inspected by a County Inspector, please contact engineering staff by phone at 240-776-6703 or by email at DraininageImprovementProgram@CharlesCountyMD.gov.

If your project does not qualify for this program or your neighborhood is not ranked as a high priority,  Charles County Government offers a petition process to enable the homeowners to apply for county assistance in completing a major project, whereby the county completes the repairs and finances the debt for the homeowners to pay back over time. For more information on the petition process please see Article II, Construction, Extension and Acquisition of Water or Sewer Systems or Stormwater Management Areas of the Code of Charles County.

A stormwater conveyance system, also known as a storm drainage system, is any manmade open or closed system designed specifically to convey stormwater runoff through a residential development across more than two properties to an acceptable outfall. Examples of conveyance systems include inlets, pipes and ditches.

Picture of a Storm Drainage Inlet

 Picture of a Storm Drainage Pipe 

Picture of a Ditch and Storm Drainage Pipe Underneath a Driveway

Charles County Government and the Charles County Resilience Authority hired a contractor in January of 2022 to conduct an assessment and prioritization of privately-owned stormwater drainage conveyance systems with varying degrees of drainage issues and flooding within multiple neighborhoods throughout the county. The contractor, with input from the Resilience Authority, developed a suitability model to evaluate, rank, and prioritize each problem area under a suite of up to 10 criteria, including urgency of need and equity. The assessment and prioritization process was completed in December of 2022.

The Resilience Authority voted to accept the results of the prioritization on January 12, 2023. The Resilience Authority forwarded the prioritization to the Board of County Commissioners with a recommendation for the county to begin attempts to remediate these locations in priority order. On January 31, 2023, the Board of County Commissioners voted to approve the prioritization. While the intent of the county is to assist with the neighborhoods on the list, reality is that we’ll likely only be able to deal with one at a time. Until such point in time that we get to a neighborhood and acquire the right-of-way necessary to assume the drainage system, it remains under the current rules and regulations that exist within Charles County and is therefore a private concern. 

Charles County is receiving approximately $31.7 million dollars through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The County Commissioners plan includes approximately $16.2 million dollars specifically to address the stormwater drainage conveyance issues on private property. A portion of ARPA funds will be used to pay for the assessment and prioritization project that was completed in December 2022.

The remaining funds will be used for a variety of stormwater drainage conveyance projects including beginning to make the necessary repairs to these systems in priority order, as identified by the hired contractor. However, it should be noted that there is not enough funding to tackle all of the privately-owned stormwater drainage issues in the County. Funding from a variety of sources, including grants, will be necessary. If you wish to see how Charles County is spending ARPA funds, please click here.

Charles County Government is initially seeking to assume responsibility of stormwater drainage conveyance systems on private property within existing residential subdivisions that predate the Storm Drainage Ordinance, and consequently have no county-owned easements or maintenance agreements. A stormwater drainage conveyance system includes components of the system that would collect and convey water to a separate stormwater management facility providing for water quality treatment and/or water quantity control. However, stormwater management facilities (i.e. ponds or similar treatment facilities) will be considered on a case by case basis as they relate to overall stormwater management systems. Conveyance systems will be assumed in priority order, as identified through the assessment and prioritization effort that wrapped up in December of 2022.

For further information on this program, see Program Overview above. Residents and homeowner associations will be required to provide an easement to the county to ensure access to the stormwater drainage conveyance infrastructure to conduct the necessary repairs and long-term maintenance. Additional information about stormwater management and easements on private property can be found here. 

Charles County Government will not be assuming responsibility for stormwater drainage conveyance systems in the Town of La Plata or in the Town of Indian Head.

It will be necessary for the county, or its contractors, to evaluate the problem during one or more storm event(s) to determine the cause. The county is responsible for drainage issues within county-owned rights-of-ways and off-site areas within a county-owned easement. Drainage issues that occur on private property, homeowner association property, or within easements not owned by the county are the responsibility of the owner of that property or easement. An assessment and prioritization effort was recently completed for a significant list of drainage problem areas in multiple neighborhoods throughout the county. The next step is for the county to investigate the cause of these problems, in priority order, and determine the appropriate solutions. If it is appropriate for the county to assume the system and fix the problem, this will be determined at that time.

While we have provided as much information about this program as we can, we understand that there may still be additional questions. Therefore, you may reach out to engineering staff by phone at 240-776-6703 or by email at DrainageImprovementProgram@CharlesCountyMD.gov if you have questions that have not been addressed through this webpage. However, if you have specific questions about your property, please be aware that we may not be able to answer these.