Erosion Control Group to Host Pollution Prevention Course

The International Erosion Control Association (IECA) has partnered with the Mountain States Chapter of IECA and Bernalillo County, N.M. to educate engineers, contractors, consultants and inspectors about the rules, regulations and compliance strategies associated with the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System storm water permit.

The full-day course, titled "How to Write a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) to Meet NPDES Requirements," will be held Thursday, Sept. 20 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Government Center.

The course is designed to educate and inform construction industry professionals how to best write and use their SWPPP to effectively control storm water pollutants from leaving their sites. SWPPPs are designed to be living documents which require updates as projects progress. Participants will learn how to design and maintain their SWPPP from the site planning and development phase through the final stabilization phase, including notice of termination.

Along the way participants will learn how to identify potential pollution sources, calculate watershed flow rates and soil loss equations and select the best controls to meet the primary goal of all SWPPPs--preventing pollutants from being carried off in storm water discharges.

"This is our most requested topic," said Kim M. Kline, technical resources director for IECA. "With SWPPPs being the cornerstone of NPDES compliance and inspections getting tougher, the demand for this type of education just keeps growing."

Bernalillo County is offering free registration to the first 20 registrants who are licensed professional engineers, licensed contractors or licensed landscape architects who have a business license in the county.

More information, including pricing and registration details, is available on the IECA calendar of events located at www.ieca.org.

Source: IECA