StormCon in Anaheim: Two Months and Counting

You still have time to make plans to attend StormCon, the North American Surface Water Quality Conference & Exposition, which takes place this year from August 21 to 25 in Anaheim, CA. We’ve expanded the program this year, adding new conference tracks and an entire conference-within-a-conference on Wednesday, August 24. And, as always, the exhibit hall will have the latest stormwater technology and equipment on display for you to examine, with more than 170 exhibitors participating this year.

Seven Tracks and a New Symposium
This year there are seven conference tracks in the usual Tuesday through Thursday StormCon program. Each track includes a series of 30-minute presentations by leading experts and practitioners–117 presentations in all. Five tracks will be familiar to past attendees: BMP Case Studies, Green Infrastructure (formerly the Low-Impact Development track), Stormwater Program Management, Water-Quality Monitoring, and Advanced Research Topics. The two new tracks this year are Erosion and Sediment Control and Industrial Stormwater Management.

We’re excited this year to offer for the first time a one-day conference called “Preparing for the Rising Tide: Coastal Protection Symposium.” Taking place on Wednesday, it offers a series of 30-minute presentations on infrastructure protection in coastal areas–cities, ports, and industrial complexes–in the face of sea level rise and potential shoreline changes.

More information on all of these sessions is available online at www.StormCon.com. You can download a PDF of the printed conference program, and more detailed information on the individual presentations is available at www.stormcon.com/downloads/SC11_sessions.pdf.

Get Your Questions Ready
Two events are open to all attendees. One is the opening general session on Tuesday morning, with a panel of experts to address “Changing the Rules: How Will New Stormwater Regulations Affect Municipal Progams?” We’re also very happy to bring back the popular EPA session. Jeremy Bauer of EPA’s Office of Wastewater Management will discuss the new stormwater rule and take questions from the audience. More details on his presentation will be available soon at www.StormCon.com.

Certifications and Pre-Conference Courses
As you’re probably aware, the number of professional certifications available in the stormwater arena and related fields is growing, with ever-more-specialized certifications emerging to correspond to the complexities of jobs and responsibilities in the industry. Exams for several of these will be administered at StormCon–as well as full-day review classes, which you can take regardless of whether you’re taking the exam at the same time.

In addition to exams previously available–the Certified Professional in Storm Water Quality (CPSWQ), Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control (CPESC), Certified Erosion, Sediment, and Storm Water Inspector (CESSWI), and Certified Inspector of Sediment and Erosion Control (CISEC)–a new offering this year is the Certified Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Specialist (CMS4S). The review courses for all these certifications take place on Sunday, August 21, and the exams are administered on Monday, August 22.

Note that to take any of these exams, you must meet the requirements of, and have approval from, the organization that sponsors it; the deadlines for applying are coming up shortly. You do not need prior approval to attend the review sessions, though–you just need to register for the session you want to attend.

For California attendees, Training for Qualified SWPPP Developers (QSDs) will be offered. This course meets the training requirements of the new California General Permit for a person responsible for writing or amending a stormwater pollution prevention plan. California’s new CGP goes into effect on September 2, 2011.

A diverse range of pre-conference courses, for which you can earn continuing education units, is also on the schedule. Larry Coffman will once again offer a comprehensive LID workshop. Robert Pitt, John Voorhees, James Bachhuber, and Caroline Berger will teach an overview of WinSLAMM, and Jerald Fifield will teach a technical assessment course for construction-site BMPs. Thomas Low and Paul Crabtree will teach a new course on Light Imprint.

Please take a look at www.StormCon.com for more information or to register online. Hope to see you in Anaheim!