2022 Annual Conference Agenda

Wednesday, October 5, 2022 / Pre-Conference

12:00 p.m.

Registration Desk Open

1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
(Pre-Conference Workshop)
2.0 credits

Separate Registration Required

Pre-Conference Workshop - Green Infrastructure Design

City Park Green Infrastructure Stormwater BMP Design
Two local governments collaborated to design a stormwater management solution for a local park experiencing flooding issues and sediment accumulation. This session will review the implementation of gray and green infrastructure, specifically, the incorporation of three new best management practices: two pervious concrete areas of approximately 7,000 square feet and a bioretention area of 1,200 square feet. Grey infrastructure included new storm drain structures in areas experiencing flooding and an associated storm drain piping network.

Emma Highfield, Senior Staff Engineer
Geosyntec Consultants

Green Infrastructure Designer Survey - The Results!
The design community has spoken! In 2021 a survey was conducted to gain valuable information from green stormwater designers. The results from this 30-question exercise reveal many shortcomings in the project process from design through to post installation maintenance that need to be addressed or improved upon for us to fully realize the environmental, social and financial benefits of green stormwater infrastructure. This presentation with provide a summary of the survey results sharing suggested conclusions on specific common threads and the need for a more collaborative approach to GSI projects from concept through to completion.

Rob Woodman, National Urban Green Infrastructure Manager
Ferguson Waterworks

Location, Location, Location
One way to add value and increase environmental protection is to ensure that every green infrastructure device is well maintained. While handbooks and manuals are helpful they are often forgotten. We need to change our behavior patterns. It turns out that the most effective maintenance measure is determined very early in the design process, and that’s the location of the device itself. Highly visible devices are more likely to be well maintained. Gone are the Big Muddy Puddles (BMPs), here comes Gardens Suitable for interaction (GSI). This session will review case studies that focus on maintenance with a side order of marketing, gardening, and community building. We will tell the story of how the location and activation of stormwater measures is key to changing maintenance from a burden to an opportunity.

Hunter Freeman, Green Infrastructure Practice Lead
McAdams

Thursday, October 6, 2022 / Regular Conference

8:00 a.m.

Registration Desk Open

8:00 a.m. - 8:45 a.m.

Continental Breakfast

8:45 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
(General Session)
1.25 credits

Welcome & Opening Session

Ann Clark, Assistant Chief, Bureau of Water
SC Department of Health and Environmental Control

Cory Rayburn, President
Southeast Stormwater Association

Danielle Hopkins, Executive Director
Southeast Stormwater Association

Break in Exhibit Hall

Track A – Pay No Attention to that BMP Behind the Curtain
Post-Construction Built-Upon Area (BUA) Management is the one BMP that controls all other BMPs and yet is the least "maintained" BMP today.  Everyone knows why.... it is the most difficult BMP to control. This presentation will discuss the problems associated with managing BUAs after construction in efforts to maintain compliance with NPDES Phase I and Phase II Post-Construction requirements.  Some common methods of controlling BUA increases will be presented and methods for achieving compliance will be explored.

Don Ceccarelli, Construction Project Manager III
Mecklenburg County, NC

Track B – Spread the Love - Early Action Can Prevent Unmanageable Workloads Later
Gwinnett County Field Operations has adapted to large workloads by spreading the work between in-house crews and contractors while rearranging the timing of certain tasks. Crews focus on emergencies and complaints while contractors are assigned targeted work. A database and GIS are used to prioritize and assign projects while progress is tracked and reports are produced for the MS4 permit. This session will review the County’s approach, sharing the database and GIS used to help other local governments manage the unmanageable!

Brandon Martin, Water Resources Trades Coordinator
Gwinnett County, GA

11:20 a.m. - 12:05 p.m.
0.75 credits

Track A – Cross Keys Park Naturalization Efforts - What Went Wrong
Cross Keys Park naturalization efforts was identified in the Wolf Run Watershed Management plan as a high priority best management practice (BMP) to improve aquatic habitat, reduce total suspended solids and nutrients.  A 319(h) grant was awarded for the implementation of this BMP but by the time this project was completed everyone was happy it was over - but not in a good way. Join us to learn what went wrong and the pitfalls to avoid.

Demetria Kimball-Mehlhorn, Program Manager Senior
Lexington Fayette Urban County, KY

Track B – Advancing the Sapphire Necklace Restoration Concept
The City of Winter Haven, FL is developing an innovative One Water Master Plan for integrated water resources management over a 50-year horizon. The focus of this session is a key element to advance the Sapphire Necklace Restoration Concept by prioritizing interconnected regional projects, forming an extensive greenway loop around the City, and providing water storage, wetlands restoration, resiliency, recharge, and water quality improvement.

Jeff Herr, National Stormwater Leader
Brown and Caldwell

12:05 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Lunch

Track A – The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly: Selecting the Right Nutrient Reduction BMPs
In response to an MS4 NPDES permit requirement to develop an Impaired Waters Plan, Gwinnett County, GA commenced an effort to inventory and select structural and non-structural BMPs that would be most effective in addressing nutrient pollution in local waterways. The result of this effort was the development of a BMP selection decision support tool that scores and prioritizes BMPs based on user-selected criteria. This presentation will review the drivers behind the project, describe the methodology and approach, and provide an overview of the use of the BMP selection tool.

Katherine Gurd, Division Director - Stormwater Services
Gwinnett County, GA

Steve Leo, Client Service Manager
Ardurra Group

Track B – Planning For the Future: Keys to Successful Stormwater Master Planning in a Historic City
The City of Beaufort, SC is a small coastal community with a long history of coastal flooding. After recent extreme events, the city opted to take matters in their own hands and complete a comprehensive stormwater master plan for The Point. This session will dive into the master planning steps undertaken by the city to expedite and improve upon typical stormwater master planning techniques. Key components such as asset inventory and inspections, community relations, financial planning, and down-to-earth flexibility will be expanded upon to showcase tips for successful stormwater master planning. After all, every community will be successful with the right tools for the job.

Ryne Phillips, Associate
Davis & Floyd

Track A – Student Stormwater Poster Presentations
Join us for this special session featuring student poster presentations on stormwater management topics.  Attendees can use this one-on-one time with presenters to learn more, ask questions, and share experiences.  We invite you to be part of this unique opportunity to hear from and engage with upcoming stormwater professionals and the academic community.  A special thanks to Haley Parent and Clemson University for bringing this experience to SESWA’s Annual Conference.  

Track B – We Want Your Kids: Blatant Job Recruitment Through Educational Activities
Job application: Have you ever built, planted, maintained, and harvested a tree nursery? Pitched a bioswale design? Inspected stormwater control measures? Traced the stormwater system? Proposed a solution to neighborhood flash flooding? Nashville, TN students can say yes! We'll share our real-world activities that support student academics and - fingers crossed - spark interest in stormwater careers.

Julie Berbiglia, Education Specialist
Metro Water Services, Nashville, TN

Break in Exhibit Hall

3:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
0.75 credits

Track A – Volunteers Join Together to Restore Crayfish Creek
This session will discuss a grassroots effort to restore a heavily degraded tributary of the Chattahoochee River, now known as Crayfish Creek. The project team now includes 17 organizations and has energized a large and diverse conservation community which has recently completed the first phase of restoration.  Logistics used in this process, including the mobilization of a large volunteer workforce, the engagement of stakeholders, and effective fund-raising will be discussed.

Jay Shelton, Associate Professor
University of Georgia

Track B – Developing Nutrient Management Strategies Utilizing a Regional Approach
Durham County, NC recently implemented a stormwater utility with a focus on developing nutrient management strategies to comply with regulatory requirements. The primary goal of the nutrient management rules is to reduce nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) loading from stormwater runoff through new development regulations and reducing nutrient loads from existing development. This session will discuss regional watershed approaches to nutrient management, identification and prioritization of nutrient management strategies, and funding alternatives for implementation.

Tom Murray, Program Manager
WK Dickson

Ryan Eaves, Division Manager
Durham County, NC

Track A – Flowing Forward - Implementing New Stormwater Design Standards
Beaufort County and the Town of Bluffton, SC in coordination with four other municipalities, took a watershed based approach to redesigning stormwater standards with the creation of a stormwater design standards manual. The manual was designed to be a living document as science and engineering continue to advance, so while each municipality expects regular updates to be made, this session will reveal how each municipality took their manuals to the “finish line.”  This session will go through the highs, lows, and lessons learned from implementing this new resource.

Katie Herrera, Stormwater Manager
Beaufort County, SC

Kim Jones, Director of Projects and Watershed Resilience
Town of Bluffton, SC

Track B – Good to Great - The City of Chattanooga/Hamilton County Monitoring Partnership
The City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County, TN have collected samples across their respective communities for 20 years. They have recently collaborated in the development of a joint water quality/quantity monitoring program that incorporates a criticality-based watershed prioritization approach for implementation of continuous monitoring stations. The session will explore how the vision and evaluation process allowed for the development of a defensible monitoring strategy, a technologically advanced monitoring network, and cost-savings through leveraging existing data.

James Riddle, Water Market - Program Director
Woolpert

Southeast Stormwater Association Annual Member Meeting and the Election of Board of Directors and Officers

Friday, October 7, 2022 / Regular Conference

8:00 a.m.

Registration Desk Open

8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.

Continental Breakfast

8:30 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
0.75 credits

Track A – Restoring History Through Green Stormwater Infrastructure
Green Stormwater Infrastructure was implemented at Wissinoming Park to improve water quality and reduce combined sewer overflows as part of Philadelphia's 25-year, $2 Billion Green City, Clean Waters program. A sloping wetland and two underground slow-release detention systems were designed to capture, treat, and remove over 1.1 million gallons of stormwater runoff from the combined sewer system, per design rainfall event. This session will share the unique design approach used to maximize stormwater treatment to allow for evapotranspiration of neighborhood runoff within this highly urbanized, combined sewer area. Construction issues and lessons learned will be explored, with commentary on how cost savings were realized.

Andrew Birmingham, Vice President, Water Resources Practice Leader
Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson

Track B – AGOL Data Collection for MS4 Compliance: Collaborating in the Cloud
Laying the foundation for future success, this session will demonstrate how ArcGIS Online (AGOL) applications can assist communities more efficiently with MS4 compliance efforts through data collection and document management. Discussions will cover examples of how the City of Winston-Salem, NC has utilized the applications for data collection in processes such as dry weather outfall screenings and stream inspections to locate pollutant sources. Additionally, this presentation will identify other methods to utilize the data collected in online geodatabases for future strategic system planning.

Katie Clatterbuck, Water Resources EIT
HDR

Patrick Blandford, South Atlantic Area Water Resources Management Team Lead
HDR

Track A – Restoring Predevelopment Hydrology with Smart Stormwater Controls
The City of Aiken, SC had a difficult choice on how to address complex stormwater challenges affecting the Sand River as it flows through a severely eroded channel within the Hitchcock Woods, the largest urban forest in the United States. The solution was to use forecast-based real-time control technology also known as continuous monitoring and adaptive control  (CMAC) paired with a 24 acre-foot underground vault. CMAC will increase the effectiveness of the vaults by 2x by increasing infiltration and only discharging in preparation of forecasted storms. This session examines the decision to include CMAC, the design process and present results showing the performance improvements.

Jason Hetrick, Assistant Director - Water Resources
McCormick Taylor

Dayton Marchese, Account Executive
Opti RTC

Track B – Case Study: Creating a Path to Climate Resilience for a Coastal Treatment Facility
In 2017 Hurricane Irma pushed up the Atlantic Coast and through the City of Daytona Beach, FL as a Category 2 storm.  Surge associated with the storm came within inches of flooding the City’s Bethune Point Water Reclamation Facility’s MCU building.  This event was the catalyst for the City to conduct a study to examine vulnerability of the facility to storm surge incorporating projected future sea level rise. The session will review the process that was utilized by the City to assess climate vulnerability of the facility and will discuss the process that the City used to create a road map to make the facility climate resilient into the future.

Craig Wells, Resilience Lead
Freese and Nichols

Curtis Burkett, Senior Project Manager
Freese and Nichols

Federal Update and National Stormwater Trends
The National Association of Clean Water Agencies will provide an update on water-related issues and US EPA’s stormwater program priorities at the national level, focusing on stormwater policy and permitting programs.

Nathan Gardner-Andrews, Chief of Advocacy & Policy Officer
National Association of Clean Water Agencies

10:55 a.m.