Sustainable Stormwater Management

Where We’ll Be – 5/15/12: White House Council on Environmental Quality

stormwater — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:40:43 +0000

Ted Scott is honored to have been invited to be part of a presentation team at the White House Council on Environmental Quality discussing the economic impacts of Green Infrastructure. This briefing is facilitated by American Rivers and the Water Environment Federation.

Is Green Infrastructure Cost Effective?

stormwater — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:20:02 +0000

This new report says it can be. Check it out here.

Blue Water Baltimore Gallery Hop – Good Times on May 1, 2012

stormwater — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:50:57 +0000

Get tickets here.

Chesapeake Dissolved Oxygen Data

stormwater — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:36:05 +0000

Animated graph of dissolved oxygen measured in Chesapeake Bay at Susquehanna Flats during July 2011 by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. This graph also includes water surface elevations measured by NOAA at Tolchester Beach and Chesapeake City, wind speed and direction measured at Chesapeake City, and a solar day / night indicator. This animated graph uses actual continuous data measurements and was programmed in VBA Excel. Forwarded by John Yagecic of the Delaware River Basin Commission.

Herring Run Nursery opens this Saturday – Shop Native, Shop Local

stormwater — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 22:02:57 +0000

Map to Herring Run Nursery

It has always amazed us how difficult it is to find native plants at local nurseries. From a practical standpoint, it is logical that the plant species that originally grew in specific local areas are the ones that will do the best. There are many other reasons to consider natives – too many to list here. Unfortunately, it seems that local nurseries rarely focus on natives, consistently defaulting to sexy exotics to catch the eye of their unsuspecting shoppers.

The good news is that Blue Water Baltimore’s Herring Run Nursery is THE source for Mid-Atlantic natives. Even better – shopping opens this Saturday.

Check it out here.

Thoughts on Jobs and Stormwater 3/29/12 Baltimore Sun

stormwater — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 03:16:10 +0000

The Baltimore Sun was gracious enough to publish thoughts on the impact our State Senators can make on stormwater jobs.

Take a look: Baltimore Sun – Thoughts on Jobs and Stormwater

Bioretention Maintenance Presentation by NC State

stormwater — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:08:49 +0000

Great Powerpoint presentation on maintenance of bioretention systems by Bill Hunt from the NC State Biological and Agricultural Stormwater Engineering Group. Take a look here.

Where we’ll be March 13-15, 2012 – National Facilities Management & Technology Conference

jrauhofer — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:07:58 +0000

Come see us at our booth at the NFMT Conference at the Baltimore Convention Center.

Check it out and register at: http://www.nfmt.com/baltimore/

Linking Green Infrastructure Maintenance and Jobs

stormwater — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:25:04 +0000

Ted Scott extensively quoted in the lead article of the Water Environment Federation (WEF) Stormwater Report. A good read, check it out here.

Thanks to WEF and the EPA

stormwater — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:42:10 +0000

Thanks to the Water Environment Federation (WEF) for organizing a great meeting today with EPA’s Nancy Stoner (Acting Assistant Administrator), Mindy Eisenberg (Associate Chief, Protection Branch), and Kellie McGinness Kubena (Chief, Sustainable Communities Branch). Participants included Stormwater Maintenance, LLC, DC Water, WSSC, Loudon Water, among others.

The topic was employment as related to water initiatives. Lots of good stuff. We were able to share our viewpoint from a small business and stormwater perspective:

The paradigm shift that is occurring as the design and construction industries transition from new-construction to operations, maintenance, and rehabilitation.
Community based non-profit organizations, such as Blue Water Baltimore are engaging school systems to help facilitate environmental and water education – bringing a new generation of interest to the water employment field. Driver = Grant and Foundation funding.
Existing stormwater treatment infrastructure is reaching lifecycle limits in many cases and is requiring more attention to avoid public safety and water quality issues. More attention to these rehabilitation issues can help the design and construction industries re-focus to reduce the impact of the current economic conditions.
Green infrastructure construction and maintenance requires more labor intensive resources. This means more jobs. Traditional contractors must re-tool to be successful with green infrastructure.
Increased focus on maintenance is an important way to help the design and construction industries recover from the challenging economic situation. Jobs created to perform maintenance are permanent jobs – not one-time assignments.