During a recent Water Environment Federation webcast, “Evaluating Stormwater Outreach: Is Anyone Listening?” many viewers asked where they could get a sample outreach and education plan. Developed in California, the Model Urban Runoff Program is a how-to guide for addressing polluted urban runoff in small municipalities with populations less than 100,000. For more, see the […]
More cities are signing on to Minnesota’s GreenStep Cities— a voluntary program designed to help cities adopt sustainable practices. In order to become a GreenStep city, municipalities must adopt a certain number of best practices. The 28 best practices are divided into five categories, one of which is environmental management. Efficient stormwater management falls under […]
Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) announced its 2012 Regional Green Roof Initiative. The district will provide funding of as much as $54/m2 ($5/ft2) of approved green roof projects within its service area. Milwaukee is home to many green roofs, including the largest in Wisconsin covering 4645 m2 (50,000 ft2) of roof space. Built by Milwaukee-based […]
New York City’s Department of Environmental Conservation recently purchased 485 ha (1,200 ac) of land within the Catskill Mountains to protect the New York City watershed. The purchase cost the city $5.6 million from its Environmental Protection Fund. The land originally was slated for a ski resort, time shares, a golf course, and other development. […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has formed a workgroup with the Association of Clean Water Administrators (Washington, D.C.) to develop a 10-year vision and goals for the agency’s total maximum daily load program. Tentatively, the group expects to release a draft early this year, with a finalized version by June. Through the vision, the program […]
Nancy Stoner, acting administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, recently visited Florida’s Sarasota Bay. The Sarasota Bay Estuary Program succeeded in meeting water quality standards, after being listed as nutrient impaired. The program achieved a 64% nitrogen reduction from 1988 and has restored critical marine habitat. Stoner visited several projects aimed at reducing nonpoint […]
According to a preliminary report by nonprofit research group RTI International (Research Triangle Park, N.C.),nutrient trading could reduce the multibillion-dollar costs of restoring the Chesapeake Bay by 25%. The report, given to the Chesapeake Bay Commission on Jan. 5, stated that achieving nutrient reductions through agricultural best management practices would be significantly less costly than […]
By mid-February, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is scheduled to release a final construction general permit (CGP) for 2012. It will not include numeric turbidity limits, and states not using EPA’s CGP will not be required to incorporate the limit and associated monitoring requirements into their permits. EPA stayed the numeric turbidity limit of […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Jan. 31 that additional time is needed to develop the stormwater rulemaking schedule, pushing the release back from Jan. 30 to March 16. This short-term extension gives the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (Annapolis) and EPA officials more time to negotiate the terms of the rulemaking schedule. Considering this […]
The Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.) Stormwater Committee presented the group’s Strategic Plan for Stormwater to the Committee Leadership Council at the WEF Midyear meeting in New Orleans on Jan 26. This plan provides a listing of the Committee’s vision and mission statements as well as an outline of goals and prioritized strategies for […]
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