The Stormwater Report

Effective stormwater management goes beyond utilities and regulatory agencies. Individuals need to participate, too. Helping these stakeholders understand the importance of stormwater and the forces that drive is an effort that can begin at home.  In April, Popular Science featured a simple, 10-minute experiment aimed at helping children better understand precipitation and the importance of stormwater management. The simple demonstration requires only water, food coloring, shaving cream, and common […]

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.  Select symposium sessions covering a range of the stormwater sector’s most pressing topics have been […]

During the last week of January, the importance of individual contributions to stormwater management took center stage in Phoenix, Ariz., as messages urging locals to avoid littering, to properly dispose of hazardous chemicals, and to clean up after their pets were posted throughout the city. The messaging was part of the City of Phoenix Water […]

New visualization tool mixes FEMA data with video-game technology to model flood damages before they occur The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offers a long list of tools and datasets to help U.S. residents understand their specific property’s risk of experiencing severe flooding. However, terms like 100-year flood and storm surge do little to […]

To take full advantage of permeable pavement, a green alternative to traditional concrete or asphalt pavers that collect and filter stormwater runoff, infrastructure planners must take many site-specific factors into account. A new guide to permeable pavements written by researchers from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF–IFAS; Gainesville) helps developers, […]

Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Va.) members in the stormwater sector are at the forefront of innovation in low-impact development and urban resilience. Next week — May 8 to 10 — WEF will provide an opportunity for these members to deepen their skillsets, share successes and lessons learned, and form relationships with other experts at […]

The University of Minnesota (UMN; Minneapolis) is leading the way on innovation in stormwater management. University planners and students are thinking outside the box to protect water quality in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. In February, student newspaper Minnesota Daily reported that UMN will incorporate a state-of-the-art stormwater reuse system into its latest construction project. […]

Massachusetts environmental regulators are making it easier for 260 municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) permittees in the state to meet public outreach and education requirements set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) partnered with the Massachusetts Statewide Stormwater Coalition, a group of representatives from 94 municipal […]

The Water Environment Federation (WEF) today announced the winners of its sixth annual stormwater video competition. The StormTV Project is a video contest recognizing innovative stormwater practices, programs, products, and public outreach. The 2017 StormTV Project received 40 submissions and had 25 expert judges review the vidoes. The judges — primarily members of the WEF […]

If you’re an urban stormwater manager considering new green infrastructure, you want to make sure you choose the design that will retain the most runoff for your specific site without breaking the bank on construction. For bioretention planters and other designs that tend to be small, mobile, and effective at reducing inflow to storm sewers […]