Call for Presentation Proposals
SESWA Annual Conference: October - Louisville, KY 

This year's 2017 Regional Stormwater Conference will be held on October 11-13 in Louisville, Kentucky at The Galt House!  Stormwater professionals from local, state and federal government, the consulting community, product manufacturers and academia are invited to present workshop presentations on case studies, evolving policy and regulatory information, new practices or techniques and research projects.   INTERESTED?  Submit a Presentation Application Form prior to March 10, 2017!

SESWA members may post position vacancy announcements reaching thousands of qualified stormwater professionals and search for qualified job seekers throughout the southeast at no cost!  To post your vacancy, visit the Job Board on the SESWA website!

How does it sound to increase flood resiliency and decrease insurance rates for homeowners in your community at the same time? That sounds like a win-win strategy. The Community Rating System (CRS) is a voluntary part of the FEMA National Flood insurance Program and helps to accomplish just that! In Garden City, GA, community leaders implemented enhanced ditch maintenance and outreach strategies to meet the program requirements. This resulted in a new approach to MS4 inventory and inspections using advanced technology, and enhanced community engagement through existing events such as the City's annual Eggstravaganza. For Garden City, the benefits of the CRS outweigh the costs of completing the application and many communities across the country agree.

This year is shaping up initially to introduce and follow unique and innovative requirements for a number of EPA Permits.  One such place is in Massachusetts where challengers are outlining arguments to the EPA promulgated permit in that state. Key arguments include requirements for retention standards, wet weather monitoring for illicit discharges, water quality standards, and restrictions on flow.  In the District of Columbia a proposed EPA permit just completed public review.  The proposed DC permit (also see below article) would require cost-benefit analysis of increasing on-site retention standard, green roof implementation, and evaluate options for increasing fees. These are likely not to be the last permits highlighting new approaches in stormwater management for 2017.

EPA recently published a notice of intent to reissue the DC MS4 permit. The reissued permit proposes a number of new enforceable milestones and adaptive management benchmarks that members should be aware of in their own permit negotiations. These provisions include performing a cost-benefit analysis of increasing the on-site stormwater retention standard from 1.2 inches to 2 inches, specific numeric benchmarks for managed acres and green roof installations, requirements to reevaluate the District's Stormwater Fee, and assessment of approaches to eliminate stormwater management exemptions for small projects.

Update on the Draft Georgia Phase I Medium MS4 Permit, which is applicable to 12 local governments and is expected to be issued in April of 2017. The draft permit still includes: 1) a runoff reduction requirement to hold on-site the first 1.0 inch of runoff, 2) a requirement to protect trout streams from temperature elevations, 3) an option for local DOTs to determine the feasibility of implementing the runoff reduction requirement on linear projects. The major change between the first draft permit and the final draft permit is that the runoff reduction requirement is triggered three years into the permit period. This allows the permittee to develop training programs for design engineers, plan reviewers, inspectors, etc.  SESWA members should note that this is the first MS4 Permit in GA, outside of the Coastal Area, to include the runoff reduction requirement! It is extremely important that local governments review this draft permit and provide comments. SESWA will continue to keep members updated on the progress, comment periods and other key dates through the SESWA Forecast newsletter. Please see Draft Permit Document for details.

As noted in the last newsletter, the State of Tennessee issued a new NPDES MS4 General permit to 90+ permittees. Several provisions in the Permanent Stormwater requirements section were appealed by multiple parties. The appeals are expected to be heard in November 2017. In response, the State has chosen to defer implementation of the new Permanent Stormwater Management requirements until January 1, 2018 to allow for the appeals to be addressed. Additional discussion of the TN MS4 General Permit can be found on the SESWA Community Forum (be sure to login).

The North Carolina DEQ has posted 75 draft MS4 Phase II Permits. The State has been receiving comments through January 31, 2017.  Find out more about the 2017 Phase II renewals.

This past summer the City of Stuart was at the epicenter of the 2016 algae crisis, an unprecedented algal bloom spurred by decades of manmade conditioning, and proliferated by freshwater discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the St. Lucie River. Although Stuart is in full compliance with the TMDLs officially adopted in the St. Lucie Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP), our inshore and near shore waters are significantly impacted by regional activities upstream.  On January 9, 2017 the City of Stuart approved Resolution Number 10-2017 authorizing the adoption of the Lake Okeechobee Regional Compact, the most comprehensive effort in the state by impacted local governments to address extraordinary, far-reaching water quality issues affecting a population of more than eight million people in central and south Florida.  A primary goal of the Compact is to develop a joint policy position urging Congress and the Florida Legislature to  take special actions, including passing legislation that recognizes the unique vulnerabilities of Lake Okeechobee and the surrounding Everglades and estuarine systems, and to further a joint policy position that includes specific recommendations regarding the allocation of federal and state funding.

The City of Birmingham, in conjunction with a number of adjacent communities, counties, developers, environmental interests, and engineering firms has begun development of a new post-development construction control ordinance in anticipation that requirement will be included into the City's new NPDES Phase I permit this year.  The new ordinance is being developed with consultant support and will include new related policies, processes, and procedures with integration of watershed master plans and GI/LID strategies.  This phase will require identification of LID/GI strategies first, followed by traditional development tools for all new and significant redevelopment to mimic the pre-construction hydrology.  The City anticipates using the 1.1-inch rainfall over a 24-hour period proceeded by a 72-hour antecedent dry period as the basis for design and encourage developers to incorporate the use of LID/GI.