The Stormwater Report

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) earlier this month unveiled a newly renovated parking lot, featuring an array of green infrastructure measures and educational signage, at its headquarters in Reston, Virginia. ASCE Executive Director Tom Smith in a statement described the renovation as transforming a potential source of Chesapeake Bay water pollution into a […]

During WEFTEC Connect, experts leading national efforts to fill stormwater-sector data gaps, improve the sector’s financial stability, and identify common needs among different types of stormwater managers discussed the state of the U.S. stormwater sector in a series of webcasts. National Municipal Stormwater Alliance (NMSA; Alexandria, Virginia) Executive Director Seth Brown and Water Environment Federation […]

Among the greatest challenges for stormwater management organizations is their need to finance new infrastructure to comply with Clean Water Act requirements while also keeping service fees on ratepayers reasonable. Lacking a robust understanding of their community’s financial capability, or their ability to pay stormwater fees and other utility related bills without causing undue financial […]

The crew of the R/V Pelican, which serves as the flagship research vessel for the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON), set off on its annual voyage into the Gulf of Mexico on July 25 to measure the size of this year’s summer dead zone. Based on predictions made by the team in June that considered […]

According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF; Annapolis, Maryland), stormwater runoff is the only major source of pollution still on the rise in the 166,000-km2 (64,000-mi2) Chesapeake Bay watershed. As development continues across the six U.S. states touched by bay tributaries, runoff from paved, urban centers annually contributes immense amounts of nutrients, heavy metals, and […]

In urban environments, humans pave over landscapes that would otherwise absorb stormwater. However, it turns out humans are not the only species that disrupts natural hydrological processes as their habitats develop. By cutting trees, digging canals, and building dams, beaver colonies shape their forest dwellings in ways that transform flooding patterns, the local food chain, […]

Building seawalls around high-traffic coastal areas such as piers, boardwalks, and beachfronts often can provide suitable protection from storm surges, but this added security can entail a social cost. In many cases, seawalls obstruct ocean views. Even worse, while seawalls may confine floodwaters to the beach, they also can restrict convenient ocean access by pedestrians […]

At U.S. colleges and universities, tomorrow’s stormwater professionals continue to demonstrate how green infrastructure (GI) can protect water quality and mitigate flooding while improving local property values and quality of life. In March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the winners of its eighth-annual Campus RainWorks Challenge, which tasks teams of college students with […]

One of the greatest threats to the health of the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral system spanning more than 337,000 km2 (130,000 mi2), is the appetite of a reef-eating starfish measuring roughly 30 cm (12 in.) in length. Although the crown-of-thorns starfish is native to the Great Barrier Reef, it responds similarly to […]

In a new study published in the journal Global Change Biology, a team of researchers from 20 countries highlight a gap in scientific knowledge about how stormwater might affect phytoplankton growth and the health of lakes and similar freshwater bodies. Because climatologists expect climate change to cause more intense and frequent storm events, the global […]