Upwards of 75% of developed land in the United States was urbanized prior to stormwater regulations and the existing stormwater infrastructure was given a “D” grade by the American Society of Civil Engineers. There are many challenges to regulating stormwater runoff, including variable timing, duration, and magnitude of rainfall; variable landscapes producing variable water quality, and receiving water resources with different susceptibilities to volume and water quality impacts, among others. Even sampling of stormwater runoff is fraught with uncertainty and inaccuracy, making compliance with target performance or effluent concentrations challenging. These challenges are exacerbated by changing climate, continuous development and urban sprawl, and limited investment in stormwater infrastructure implementation, operation, and maintenance. As a result, stormwater practitioners have sought and developed testing methods for measuring performance of individual stormwater products and practices, both in the laboratory and in situ (in the field). The importance of measuring performance accurately cannot be overstated, and unbiased, verified performance data is invaluable to the stormwater industry.
This presentation will provide an update on Federal policies and national trends driving the stormwater sector today as well as share information on national-level initiatives that focus on developing, coordinating and planning for means to evaluate the efficacy of stormwater control measures in controlled environments as well as administering third-party testing efforts to provide users of stormwater infrastructure a high level of confidence in the performance of these control measures.
Seth Brown has over 25 years of experience in the water sector and is the Principal and Founder of Storm and Stream Solutions, LLC, a consulting firm providing a range of services from policy and alternative project delivery analysis in the stormwater sector to facilitation and training services focused on stormwater topics. He was the Director of Stormwater Programs at the Water Environment Federation from 2010-2015 and is currently the Executive Director of the National Municipal Stormwater Alliance, which is a 501.c.3 representing stormwater-focused organizations in 25 states across 9 of the 10 U.S. EPA regions.
Seth has a Ph.D. in civil engineering from George Mason University with a research focus on socio-economic modeling of incentive-based investments of green stormwater infrastructure on private properties. He co-leads a graduate course in Innovative Water Partnerships at Virginia Tech, teaches courses on green infrastructure concepts and applications at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, a leading Historically Black College/University, and is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Maryland.