The Stormwater Blogs

StormCon ’09 Abstracts Are Due December 3

One more reminder for those of you who might want to submit an abstract for StormCon ’09: They’re due next week, on Wednesday, December 3. Most of us will just be getting back into the rhythm of work after the long Thanksgiving weekend, and the date is likely to sneak up on us, so I’m putting out the word once more before the holiday.

There are six tracks for next year’s conference:

A New Plan in the Everglades

Last Wednesday, Governor Charlie Crist of Florida announced a revision to the agreement between the state of Florida and U.S. Sugar, the company from which the state is buying thousands of acres of land near the Everglades. The original agreement, proposed last June, called for the state to purchase 187,000 acres of land and various assets from the company for $1.75 billion. U.S. Sugar would have continued to use the land and would have stayed in business for six years, after... continue reading

Down the Drain

The city of Lubbock, Texas, has just started requiring mobile car washers to have a permit to operate. Some see it as a way for the city to collect a $25 fee from these small businesses; others say it’s a way to ensure the car washers are at least aware of the need to avoid sending wash water down the storm drain.

Other communities around the country have enacted similar requirements—often controversial—and of course many cities have publicized the... continue reading

Gunk in the Ocean: Our Problem?

From a stormwater management perspective, it might not be our most pressing problem, but it’s a huge concern nonetheless, and it gets a lot of attention with the horrific photos that draw the public’s eye to it: debris in the oceans that comes from our activities on land.

We’re most aware of the marine debris problem when it makes its way back to us, as, for example, in the late 1980s when medical waste like syringes began washing ashore in New York and... continue reading

Save the Date: December 3 Is Closer Than You Think

Here’s a gentle reminder for those of you who might be thinking of submitting an abstract for next year’s StormCon conference in Anaheim: There are just over five weeks left. Sure, that seems like a long time, but with an election between now and then, and Thanksgiving just the week before the deadline, it’s easy to get distracted.

The deadline is Wednesday, December 3, and you can submit an abstract... continue reading

Watershed-Based Permitting?

You may have already seen parts of the new National Research Council report, “Urban Stormwater Management in the United States.” At EPA’s request, the NRC reviewed the EPA’s entire stormwater program—basically, everything EPA has done with it since 1987, when Congress brought stormwater in as part of the Clean Water Act. Not surprisingly, the NRC has some sweeping suggestions—logical ones, perhaps, but difficult to implement and in many ways... continue reading

Looking Outside Our Own Backyard

In the United States, dealing as we have been with our particular regulations—the Clean Water Act for more than 30 years, and, for many of us, Phase II of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System for the last five and a half—we tend to forget that not everyone is governed by the same rules and driven by the same concerns. “Stormwater” in other places has a very different connotation—or perhaps, by that name, none at all, not being... continue reading

The Clean Watersheds Needs Survey

Despite EPA’s efforts to increase awareness of the survey in the stormwater arena, there are probably many of you out there who haven’t heard of it, and more of you who have but just haven’t paid much attention. EPA conducts the survey every four years to gather... continue reading

Show Me the Money, If You Can Find It

If you’ve been watching the financial news in the past few weeks—and who hasn’t been watching, and checking their mutual fund and 401(k) balances more often than is good for their sanity?—you’ve probably thought about the implications of the economic crisis on stormwater funding, and potentially on your own job.

The editor of our sister publication, continue reading