This is proving to be an interesting year for the storm water and erosion control industry. Court rulings, new regulations and legislation, and weather have been unpredictable across the country during the first months of 2013, and sometimes it seems like there is no way to see where we are headed.
With this in mind, Storm Water Solutions brings you the fifth-annual SWS State of the Industry Report, which extracts data from a survey of randomly selected readers and breaks it down into trends of the current year and forecasts for the next.
For the fourth consecutive year, you rated regulations and compliance, the economy, and storm water management/flood control as the three topics most important to your organization in the coming year. Regulations and compliance remain the topmost concerns for the second year running. Low impact development (LID) founders at the bottom once again—a trend since 2011. This seems to indicate that we are considering the bottom line before considering the environment, without realizing that the two no longer are mutually exclusive. LID is becoming more affordable both in the short and long term, and is an investment worth thinking about—not to mention it can help to comply with regulations.
A close look at 2013 budgets shows that 55% of you are working with an organizational budget of less than $100,000—meaning there are more tightened belts out there than last year when 47% of you reported this budget. Nineteen percent have a budget of more than $1 million.
As to how this money is going to be spent, 42% of survey respondents plan new storm water construction in the coming two years, and another 31% plan to upgrade existing facilities within the same timeframe, showing more new construction in 2013 than in 2012, but fewer upgrades.
This year and the next will be bringing plenty of changes in regulations and legislation, and SWS is prepared to help you stay current and informed with a plethora of resources, including the print magazine, website, e-newsletters, webinars, social media pages and more. Keep in touch by e-mailing me at [email protected].
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