Washington and Lee’s eco-friendly stormwater management practices have been helping to combat pollution and flooding for years. Now, the university will reap the financial benefits.
Lexington City Council approved a new stormwater utility fee last month. The fee will raise funds to improve the city’s stormwater management and mitigate flooding, said City Manager Tom Carroll. While most Lexington property owners will pay the fee in full, the university will not have to pay as much because of its existing infrastructure.
The city will calculate the new fee based on a property’s square footage of impervious surfaces, or man-made structures that prevent rainwater from entering the ground. Also known as “hardscape,” impervious surfaces include everything from driveways to decks to the roofs of buildings.
Jane Stewart, Washington and Lee’s director of sustainability, said impervious surfaces can make it difficult for cities to handle serious rainfall without flooding.
“The more we develop, the harder it is to deal with,” she said. “When rainwater falls, it’s going to run faster. . . and it has fewer places to go.”
Stewart also said that impervious surfaces have negative environmental impacts. They cause water to pool up and erode the surrounding landscape. And water that has flowed along impervious surfaces can carry a number of harmful substances.
“It’s not treated, it’s not filtered,” Stewart said. “It’s bringing with it all the pollutants it picked up along the way.”
Beginning in July, Lexington property owners will be charged 30 cents per 250 square feet of impervious surface for the year, according to a report from the city manager’s office. The fee will increase to 60 cents for all following years.
But the new policy also offers an incentive: structures that are designed to filter or slow the release of runoff can earn credit for the property owner. Enough credit could mean up to a 50% reduction in the utility fee.
Carroll said his office has not yet calculated how much credit Washington and Lee will receive. But he said the university won’t be paying full price.
“Some of their properties. . . will get credit. Some will not,” Carroll said.
Carroll said there are limits on what counts for credit. Household solutions like rain barrels, which store stormwater for personal use, are insufficient. But large-scale infrastructure like retention ponds, or man-made ponds that temporarily hold water, will meet the criteria.
Stewart said the Office of Sustainability has worked with University Facilities to implement a number of stormwater management practices. She said all of the university’s newer buildings meet a silver standard in the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, which includes elements of stormwater management.
One such building is the Hillel House. According to the university website, the building was constructed in 2010 in compliance with LEED guidelines.
Stewart said the rain garden in front of the Hillel House is a visible example of the university’s efforts to manage stormwater. The garden slows the flow of runoff through campus, and it also removes many pollutants.
“Once the water gets where it’s going, it’s not as dirty,” Stewart said.
But Stewart said she welcomes Lexington’s stormwater fee despite what the university has already accomplished.
“I’d like to see the ordinance as another tool to help us as an institution,” Stewart said. “An incentive to do the right thing.”
Carroll said university students should care about the new policy because flooding issues will not be going away anytime soon, citing climate change as a cause of worsening flooding. He added that many cities across the country have already implemented similar fees.
Stewart said students who feel passionately about the issue can get involved through local initiatives like the Friends of Woods Creek, a project run by Rockbridge Conservation.
The Friends work to improve the vegetation around Woods Creek, removing invasive species and planting native ones. These new “riparian buffers” slow runoff in the same way as Hillel’s rain garden, mitigating flooding during heavy storms.
City Council passed the stormwater fee unanimously in its meeting on Dec. 19. It will take effect in July, and the first bill will be due June 30, 2026.