Stormwater Management is one of the 12 major tracks of technical content being prepared for WEFTEC Connect. The stormwater programming is broad and deep with 13 on-demand technical sessions — that’s more than 30 presentations — as well as several hours of scheduled content with interactive elements.

Developed by experts in the field, these presentations and events will provide access to the latest on funding and financing, flood management, green infrastructure, and more, in a format more convenient than ever before.

“WEFTEC Connect has much to offer stormwater professionals this year,” said Rebecca Arvin-Colon, senior manager of the WEF Stormwater Institute. “Covering everything from infrastructure design to outreach, financing, and regulatory concerns, this year’s technical program will be of interest to all segments of the stormwater profession.”

Stormwater On Demand

When WEFTEC Connect launches on Monday, October 5, attendees will immediately receive access to more than 100 On-Demand presentations. These sessions, which vary in length, are available to watch at your own speed for up to one year. Attendees also gain easy access to speaker information for all pre-recorded presentations, including biographies and contact details.

Topics for On-Demand sessions related to stormwater management run the gamut of sector issues, covering technical aspects such as designing climate-resilient infrastructure, social aspects like outreach and communication strategies, and economic aspects including infrastructure funding and financing. 

The 13 dedicated stormwater sessions available include the following:

  • Show Me the Money: Getting Funding and Spending It Effectively 
  • Understanding and Responding to Changing Precipitation Patterns: Forecasting and Modeling
  • Stormwater Rules! Making Codes and Ordinances Work for You
  • #StormwaterData: Using Technology to Inform Program Decisions
  • Evaluating Manufactured Treatment Devices
  • Is the Water Clean Yet? Measuring BMP Performance
  • Stormwater Utility Manager Hot Topics
  • Plan to Plan: Integrated and Master Planning Efforts for Green Infrastructure and Stormwater Management
  • A Tale of Three Cities: Green Infrastructure Incentives in Urban Areas
  • Improving Your BMP Designs From the Ground Up
  • Stormwater Hot Topics and Their Implications on the Future
  • When the Rain Comes Down and the Seas Go Up: Urban and Coastal Flooding
  • Stormwater Infrastructure: What Do You Have and How Do You Fix It?

Visit the Stormwater listing of the On-Demand Sessions to see links into the WEFTEC mobile app, which includes presentation and speaker details.

Stormwater on the Schedule

Some stormwater events also will be presented via Ask the Experts sessions, which occur at scheduled times and enable attendees to engage directly with presentation speakers in real-time.

Scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 7 from 4 – 5 p.m. EDT, Ask the Experts Session 7G: Stormwater and GSI: Hindsight is 20/20 – Looking Back to Move Forward will feature speakers working on the frontlines of large stormwater efforts. The last decade has seen the rise of several ambitious, large-scale stormwater programs that have played major roles in keeping their regions resilient.

Presentations featured in the WEFTEC Connect technical program will touch on green infrastructure, funding and financing, public outreach, and more. Image courtesy of Katrina Mueller/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

During this hour-long panel discussion, experts will describe lessons learned while coordinating stormwater efforts across a large area, creating stormwater-focused coalitions between local groups, and employing a diverse array of different stormwater management measures during the last decade.

Invited speakers include representatives from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the City of Atlanta Environmental Management Division, the City of Portland, Oregon, and the Chesapeake Stormwater Network (Ellicott City, Maryland).

Wednesday’s schedule also will include a 30-minute Stormwater Solution Session at 1 p.m. EDT. Solution Sessions include for a curated tour of technologies at the forefront of innovation featuring WEFTEC Connect exhibitors.

On Thursday, October 8 from 3:30 – 4:40 p.m. EDT, attend Ask the Experts Session 8F: Thinking Outside the MS4 Box: Alternative Strategies for Managing Pollutants in Stormwater to engage with nationally recognized environmental engineers on how focusing on source control can be a cost-effective way to meet local water quality goals. The presentation will draw on programs, projects, policies, and outreach initiatives from around the U.S., providing a representative sample of source-control implementation in many different types of communities.

As many in the stormwater sector know, one of the best ways to limit runoff pollution is to keep runoff from ever reaching waterways. For that reason, heightened public outreach, green infrastructure, and other source-control strategies are gaining significant traction among permittees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) program.        

The presentation is scheduled to include speakers from engineering firms Woodard & Curran (Portland, Maine) and Michael Baker International (Pittsburgh), outreach specialists from the Center for Watershed Protection (Ellicott City, Maryland) and Water Words That Work LLC (Frederick, Maryland), as well as representatives from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Get Connected 

Registration for WEFTEC Connect, taking place Oct. 5 – 9, is open now. Learn more about WEFTEC Connect at www.WEFTEC.org.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Justin Jacques is editor of Stormwater Report and a staff member of the Water Environment Federation (WEF). In addition to writing for WEF’s online publications, he also contributes to Water Environment & Technology magazine. Contact him at jjacques@wef.org.