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NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON URBAN STORM WATER: ENHANCING PROGRAMS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL - PROCEEDINGS CHICAGO, IL FEBRUARY 17-20, 2003
Citation:
U.S. EPA. NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON URBAN STORM WATER: ENHANCING PROGRAMS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL - PROCEEDINGS CHICAGO, IL FEBRUARY 17-20, 2003. EPA/625/R-03/003, 2003.
Impact/Purpose:
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Description:
A wide array of effective storm water management and resource protection tools have been developed for urban environments, but their implementation continues to be hampered by a lack of technology transfer opportunities. At the national conference Urban Storm Water: Enhancing Programs at the Local Level, attendees learned about state-of-the-art technologies and implementation programs that have proven success in local communities.
The timing of this Conference coincided well with the implementation of U.S. EPA's Phase II NPDES Storm Water Program. Participants learned about the most effective tools and technologies for meeting these new NPDES permit requirements. Attendees included staff and engineers representing local municipalities, as well as water resource managers, conservation groups, local officials, researchers, educators, and state agency personnel.
Conference sessions featured progressive scientists and researchers, alongwith managers of successful projects from across the country. Two concurrent sessions--one focusing on tools and technology, the other focusing on program implementation--allowed participants to tailor the Conference experience to fit their personal educational goals.
This Conference was the fifth in a popular series of water quality specialty conferences sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region 5 Water Division office. The Chicago Botanic Garden, which is owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County and managed by the Chicago Horticultural Society, was pleased to coordinate the conference. Also cosponsoring the event were the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Wastewater Management and Office of Research and Development, as well as Tetra Tech, Inc. The conference was conducted in cooperation with the Center for Watershed Protection.
Three pre-conference workshops were held on February 17. Smart Watersheds: Building Municipal Programs to Restore Urban Watersheds provided practical and useful advice on how to implement "smart" watershed programs, which relate to a group of 17 municipal programs that can be integrated together at the watershed level to improve the quality of runoff and habitat in urban streams. The workshop was led by staff from the Center for Watershed Protection. The second pre-conference workshop, Countdown to the Phase II Implementation Deadline: Putting the Final Touches on Your Storm Water Permit, presented details that Phase II municipal pro-grams and construction site operators need to know in order to complete their programs and storm water permit applications.