Riding out the storm

The Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF), a non-profit research organization founded in 1989 by the Alexandria, Va.-based Water Environment Federation, has initiated a program dealing with stormwater issues. Research will focus on topics such as infrastructure, technology and best management practices (BMPs). The program’s primary emphasis is on providing new practices and tools for designing and implementing a stormwater management program and complying with NPDES stormwater permitting requirements.

Already, much of WERF’s completed and ongoing research relates to stormwater. Projects have surveyed wet weather research needs, reviewed existing hydrodynamic models, studied impacts of stormwater and explored mitigation strategies. Currently, the organization is working to determine the whole-life costs of selected BMPs and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS), which often are implemented to reduce stormwater impacts.

Although a number of SUDS have been constructed, there has been little post-construction monitoring to determine maintenance costs and to ascertain whether the facilities are performing according to the criteria — in terms of pollutant removal and hydrologic/hydraulic performance — that were used to design them. It also is not known whether the structures lead to the predicted downstream ecological benefits.

In addition, one of the most contentious issues associated with the implementation of BMPs/SUDS is assignment of responsibility for operation and maintenance. The main issue is the cost associated with the operation and maintenance.

Public agencies with stormwater responsibilities that subscribe to WERF’s research program will participate in setting the research agenda for the program and will have full access to ongoing and completed WERF research. Attendees at a June WERF meeting, including stormwater program managers and other stakeholders, discussed research topics that included the effectiveness of various BMPs; mitigating the impacts of urban runoff; land use practices; the value of current water quality monitoring techniques; pollution control; agricultural runoff; watershed planning; and erosion control. Public participation, including effective communication and education, also emerged as a hot topic.

“Under the structure of stormwater NPDES permits in place across the nation, millions of dollars are being spent on stormwater monitoring, but comparatively little applied research is being done,” noted meeting attendee Doug Harrison, general manager of the Fresno Metro Flood Control District. “It is essential that we determine, scientifically, if and how stormwater pollutant loads can be sufficiently reduced to meet desired receiving water objectives and that we identify the environmental, economic and community impacts of this effort.”

For more information on WERF’s research efforts, contact the organization at (703) 684-2470, [email protected]; or visit www.werf.org.

Elizabeth Striano is WERF’s director of communications.

In August, WERF’s board nominated and approved a technical advisory committee that will oversee the research for its new stormwater program. Under the structure for the Stormwater Technical Advisory Committee approved by the board, the chair will serve a one-year term with a maximum of two terms. Members of the committee will serve three-year terms with a maximum of two terms. Initial terms of service will be staggered.

The following were approved as committee members:

• Christine Andersen, deputy city manager for environmental services, Boulder, Colo., chair
• Gail Boyd, senior consultant, URS, Portland, Ore.
• Larry Coffman, associate director, program and planning division, Department of Environmental Resources, Prince George’s County, Md.
• Doug Harrison, general manager, Fresno Metro Flood Control District, Fresno, Calif.
• Robert Pitt, professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.
• Charles Rowney, chief knowledge officer, Camp Dresser & McKee, Maitland, Fla.
• Ben Urbonas, chief, Master Planning and South Platte River Program, Urban Drainage and Flood Control District, Denver
• James Wheeler, senior environmental engineer, Municipal Technology Branch, USEPA, Washington, D.C.