Although public health and safety concerns have restricted the 2020 National Stormwater Symposium from taking place in person, the Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Virginia.) will ensure stormwater professionals still receive access to the critical information included in symposium programming. 

Register for a live workshop on maintenance-focused planning for stormwater infrastructure on April 15 and access highlights from the 2020 National Stormwater Symposium beginning April 16. Click here for more details.

Select symposium sessions covering a range of the stormwater sector’s most pressing topics have been recorded. Beginning April 16, access these recorded sessions online and pass short quizzes after each presentation to earn Professional Development Hour (PDH) credits.

“While for many of us business-as-usual may be on hold, we felt it was important to provide would-be symposium attendees with the information they need to perform their jobs better,” said Julianne Jones, WEF education and training manager. “WEF is excited to offer the Stormwater Digital Conference as well as a first-of-its-kind, webcast-based virtual workshop.”

Digital conference offers symposium highlights

For the digital conference, the National Stormwater Symposium Steering Committee selected five technical sessions representing a diversity of considerations for stormwater managers before, during, and after infrastructure construction. Digital conference offerings also provide important perspectives on such topics as public outreach, climate resilience, and how stormwater management approaches differ around the world.

The five digital sessions include:

Session moderators and presenters reflect the diverse makeup of the stormwater profession, including representatives from utilities, academia, and the private sector. Each session contains 3-6 subtopics that offer firsthand experiences about stormwater-sector challenges, opportunities, and innovations directly from the people driving them.

Participate in the digital conference to learn more about such topics as using technology to spur community volunteerism in green infrastructure maintenance, the latest updates on research initiatives that will help improve storm prediction and response, and the unique challenges of providing stormwater management at a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Registration for the conference is open now at a cost of $389 for WEF members or $589 for non-members. Access the digital conference beginning April 16 at the WEF website.

Live workshop on stormwater infrastructure maintenance

Despite the distance, the digital conference also provides an opportunity to compare notes with colleagues and learn new skills in a more hands-on manner. One of the symposium’s planned workshops, “Designing Successful Stormwater Facilities with Maintenance and Enforcement in Mind,” will take place as a live webcast, April 15 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern time.

The workshop, which includes lectures from infrastructure planning experts interspersed with small breakout sessions, offers a deep dive into planning for the long term while designing stormwater facilities and infrastructure. Topics covered include:

  • determining the correct facility type, location, design, and approach for specific circumstances and goals;
  • case studies of both successful and unsuccessful stormwater infrastructure projects for which maintenance concerns played a key role; and
  • considerations surrounding private stormwater infrastructure and working with homeowners to achieve broader stormwater management goals.

Registration for the workshop is open now at a cost of $99 for WEF members or $149 for non-members. Workshop attendees will receive a recording of the full workshop after it takes place.

Questions? Contact the WEF Education and Training team at Stormwater2020@wef.org.