StormCon, the only North American event dedicated exclusively to stormwater, is now accepting abstracts for the 2017 conference. The deadline to submit an abstract is Wednesday, December 7, 2016.
StormCon will take place in Seattle, WA, August 27–31, 2017. The conference venue, the Meydenbauer Center, is actually located in Bellevue, WA—home of one of the nation’s first stormwater utilities in the early 1970s.
We’re seeking presentations in six conference tracks, described below. Presentations are 30 minutes long. Conference attendees include municipal stormwater and public works managers, industrial stormwater managers, engineering consultants, regulators, and others concerned with stormwater and surface-water quality.
If you have an interesting project, a successful stormwater funding or outreach program, new research to share, or lessons learned that could help others in the field, please consider submitting an abstract. You can see the full call for papers here and the online abstract submittal form here.
These are the 2017 conference tracks:
BMP Case Studies
This track presents examples of how structural and nonstructural best management practices (BMPs) are being used—with case studies and performance data—including combinations of BMPs to achieve water-quality goals. Presentations must not promote or endorse any proprietary BMP, technology, or company, nor should they simply describe the features of a product; however, examples of BMP installations with data on the effectiveness of a particular system will be considered. Topics in this track include:
- Filtration systems
- Retention and detention systems
- Advanced applications and treatment trains
- Post-construction stormwater management
- Urban retrofitting
- Inspection, maintenance, and repair of BMPs
Green Infrastructure
This track includes low impact development (LID) techniques as well as smart growth and other green infrastructure practices. These practices strive to maintain or mimic the predevelopment hydrology of a site by infiltrating, storing, filtering, and evaporating stormwater runoff rather than moving it offsite to a centralized stormwater system. Areas of focus for this track include:
- Infiltration and bioretention practices
- Rain gardens
- Green roofs
- Porous pavement
- Community-wide and watershed-scaled water-quality approaches
- Green infrastructure for infill development and redevelopment
- Green infrastructure to reduce combined sewer overflows
- Rainwater harvesting and stormwater reuse
- LEED-certified projects
Stormwater Program Management
This track covers many aspects of managing a successful municipal or industrial stormwater program: funding, public education and outreach, staffing, regulatory compliance, and other program elements. Focus areas include:
- Strategies for meeting NPDES permit requirements
- Watershed-based stormwater management
- Building public education and outreach programs
- Funding options for stormwater programs
- Hiring and working with consultants
- Illicit discharge detection and elimination programs
- Municipal good housekeeping practices
- Integrating the municipal stormwater program with TMDL development
Water-Quality Monitoring
This track focuses on water-quality assessment, monitoring and sampling techniques, and modeling practices:
- Watershed assessments
- Determining pollutant loadings
- Effective water-quality modeling
- Sampling tools and techniques
- Inventorying stormwater facilities
- Bacterial detection and identification techniques
Industrial Stormwater Management
This track covers industrial stormwater management and permitting, focusing on publicly and privately owned facilities covered by industrial stormwater permits or EPA’s stormwater multi-sector general permit. Such facilities range from small businesses located in urban areas, such as restaurants and automotive repair shops, to large sites such as manufacturing plants, transportation facilities, landfills and waste transfer stations, and mining operations. Topics in this track include:
- Managing stormwater at industrial and manufacturing facilities
- Stormwater management in the mining industry
- Concerns for oil and gas facilities
- Transportation activities: airports, ports, and fleet maintenance facilities
- Managing stormwater on operating waste landfill sites
- Selection, installation, and maintenance of stormwater management systems on closed landfill sites
- Storage and handling of hazardous waste
- Inspecting industrial sites for stormwater compliance
- Integrating industrial stormwater operations with municipal permits
Advanced Research Topics
This technical track includes academic research; methods for testing the effectiveness of best management practices and comparing different BMPs; and topics and trends in stormwater research, such as standardizing testing protocols and standards for measuring the effectiveness of BMPs. Please note that we are not looking for descriptions of technologies or proprietary BMPs and how they work without supporting performance data. If your presentation deals with one or more BMPs, especially with proprietary systems, your abstract must indicate what supporting data the presentation will include.
Topics in this track include:
- Performance standards and testing protocols
- Evaluating BMP performance
- Treating highway runoff
- Characterizing pollutant loads
- Fate and transport of pollutants
