MSC IECA 2016 Newsletter Volume II



MSC IECA Quarterly News & Updates

Updates

2016  MSC IECA Annual Conference  - Denver, CO



Announcing the Annual Event will again be held at the PPA Event Center on Thursday November 10th..  More details to follow but we plan on another exciting event.  Hope you can join us!  Check out our website and email messages as the presenters are finalized and registration information is posted.  More information will be coming your way soon.once we get the main speakers to commit to be there.  


Registration will open on August 15, 2016.  Prices for members attending will stay the same as last year at $95. Non member, sponsors, and vendor booth space prices will increase some.  It pays to be a member of the organization.


The main point of contact this year will be Georgina Zynda at the IECA Region One office.  Her email is georgina@ieca.org or call 303-640-7554.
2016 MSC IECA Election 


Votes have been being tallied. Since the open positions were not contested, the members representing you on the MSC Board of Directors will remain unchanged. Thank you to those that voted.



The Board elected officers on July 21.  The officers for 2016-2017 are:


Opal Forbes - President
Jim Bowlby - Administrative Vice President
Bill Robinson - Membership Vice President
Kathy Kaiser - Secretary
Ron Whiteman - Treasurer


State Representatives are:
Brian Roche - New Mexico
Greg Baptist - Utah
Aaron Peterson - Wyoming
John Whittingham - Montana


Congratulations to all of the elected Board Members.


MSC IECA Linked In


Check out our most recent postings on our Linked In group page.     
  
View our profile on LinkedIn
MSC IECA Chapter Realignment


IECA Region One has accepted a proposal to realign some of the Chapters from the Chapter President's Council.  With the realignment, the states of North Dakota and South Dakota have been added to the Mountain States Chapter.  Please welcome those members to our chapter and reach out to anyone else you may know in those states that would be interested in information about our organization. msc-ieca.org or www.mountainstatesieca.org.


MSC IECA Colorado


  • CDPHE MS4 General Stormwater permit effective date July 1, 2016. 
  • Draft revision to the Construction General Permit anticipated any day now.  Keep an eye out for it.  If you want to get involved, go the CDPHE website for the Water Quality Control Division and register.
  • Had a successful Earth Day Event cleaning up a portion of Cherry Creek.
    Cherry Creek Cleanup Day
  • Had a successful event at AGC with Rik Gay and his staff at CDPHE.  An open forum for questions and answers.  Over 40 people attended and we plan on having a follow-up this fall at the annual conference. 

 

CDPHE Panel

 

Some attendees at CDPHE Panel Discussion
MSC IECA Wyoming
  • The large construction general permit is approved and the small construction general permit is still pending approval.  An electronic system (nForm) for submitting NOIs is available however the system is experiencing some hiccups.  Recommended to use paper forms. New NOI, NOT and NOTA forms as editable pdfs are available for download at the following website.  WY DEQ Permits
  • The Wyoming Reclamation and Restoration Center (WRRC) at the University of Wyoming (UW) has rescheduled the Habitat Restoration Workshop that was postponed in April for September 8-9, 2016 in Casper, WY. The event will focus on natural resource production, wildlife and land management, and restoration and reclamation in Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain Region. Visit their website:  Habitat Restoration Conference
Articles
Part 2 of 5 Part Recipe for Compliance Success: 


Standardized System



In our first article in this series we discussed the importance of making a corporate commitment to meeting stormwater regulatory expectations. We also noted that you can't make a commitment unless you understand what the expectations are and then provide your people the tools needed to get the job done.
This brings us to the second ingredient for success, which is the most important tool a company can provide: a standardized stormwater management system that works on all projects, in any jurisdiction, every time.
The truth: It won't succeed if it's not standardized.
The EPA NPDES Stormwater Construction General Permit is the foundation for all state stormwater permits. While there are some minor regulatory differences from state to state, if your standardized program is well-designed to meet the EPA requirements, it will work well-enough in any jurisdiction. The system must consistently yield regulatory compliance when it is fully implemented.
The importance of having a company-wide standard methodology for stormwater compliance cannot be understated. Effective training depends on it. With the right system in place, adequate SWPPP Administrator training can take only hours. Learning and understanding the stormwater regulations can take months, or longer. Leaving stormwater program development up to each project is a big mistake and will cost your company on every project. It will result in hit-or-miss compliance and expose the company to risks that are easily avoidable.
Performance measurement and therefore the ability to hold people accountable, two key ingredients for success, also hinge on having a standardized, systematic management system. If you have the right stormwater management system that yields compliance when implemented it doesn't take a stormwater expert or a regulator to measure performance. Any number of people in your organization can measure system implementation with very little training. Course corrections on system failures are easier and cheaper to make than risky compliance failures in the field.
To achieve sustained, cost-effective success, companies must commit to implementing a standardized stormwater management system first. Even an imperfect system is better than none but it would be well worth the cost to hire a skilled consultant to help do it right the first time.
In the next article in this series, we'll talk about fast, easy and effective enabling systems that will give even an inexperienced employee the skills and tools they need to achieve success.
Bill Robinson is the Founder and President of Stormwater Risk Management, LLC and ComplianceWise Technologies, LLC in Denver, CO, and serves as Treasurer of the Mountain States Chapter of IECA.



Putting Storm Water to Good UseThrough Low Impact Development


By: Frances Bernards, Utah DWQ


Why is low impact development so important? As a community grows, so does the amount of surface area covered by parking lots, roads, and rooftops. Precipitation cannot soak through these hard (impervious) surfaces. Traditional approaches carry precipitation offsite through a conventional "collect-and-convey" system of pipes, ditches, and storm drains. The volume of storm water (runoff) that is discharged to and transported by municipal storm-drain systems is one of the main causes of water quality issues in most urban areas. Reducing runoff, as well as decreasing the pollutants that are caught up in the runoff, is one of the most commonly applied LID principles today.
 
LID principles help protect water quality by mimicking nature. In nature, vegetation-covered soil soaks up precipitation. LID principles rely on structural controls to retain precipitation onsite or non-structural controls to manage site development. These principles include:
 
  • Infiltration: Storm water infiltrates into the ground to reduce the volume of water flowing through the site. In some cases, this infiltration can contribute to groundwater recharge.
  • Evapotranspiration: Plant transpiration and evaporation transfers precipitation into the atmosphere.
  • Harvest: Controls collect and use storm water onsite rather than allowing it to migrate offsite.
  • Reduction in Impervious Areas: Minimization of the area of roads, sidewalks, driveways, and parking lots that block water from passing through the surface to reduce the volume of storm water migrating offsite.
 
When precipitation falls on parking lots, roads, and rooftops where LID principles are not utilized, the water doesn't remain at its source. Instead, storm water flows quickly across these impervious surfaces, gathers pollutants, and passes through a series of ditches and storm drains that funnel it away from the site. Eventually, the untreated storm water ends up in local waterways.
 
At first glance, residential streets in the LID areas of Spanish Fork City, Utah only look slightly different than other streets in the city.  But look a little closer, and the subtle changes become more obvious. City street right-of-ways in the LID areas are the same size, but planter strips have been extended to 11 feet in intersections, reducing the impervious surface to 23 feet at these intersections. Installation of eight-foot planter strips has narrowed the overall width of streets to 29 feet. Roads in commercial areas are individually designed using the same principles that are being applied in residential areas.
 
Series of "milk crate" storm chambers


The biggest difference lies underground.  A series of storm chambers resembling four-sided milk crates have been installed about 18 inches below the surface in the planter strips next to the sidewalks. These storm chambers provide infiltration of storm water into the surrounding soil without disturbing the space above. Although storm chambers may need to be cleaned eventually, they should not need to be replaced.
 
In addition to the benefits of reducing impervious surfaces such as pavement and retaining precipitation on site, the city has seen safety benefits: Spanish Fork has recorded fewer accidents at intersections in LID areas.
 
Spanish Fork City also found that its transition to LID saves money. In fact, city engineers, commercial developers, and home builders in Spanish Fork see LID practices as a cost-effective way to manage storm water and ensure that the city meets municipal storm water regulations.
 
Storm water runoff is commonly transported through municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s).  The recently renewed General Permit for Discharges from Small MS4s requires regulated MS4s to manage rainfall onsite and prevent the offsite discharge of the precipitation from all rainfall events less than or equal to the 90th percentile rainfall event. Cities are finding that they can meet regulatory requirements by utilizing LID tools that are designed, constructed, and maintained to manage storm water through infiltration, evapotranspiration, harvest (collection), or reuse.
 
Low impact development represents a paradigm shift in the way urban areas manage storm water and provides an alternative storm water strategy that simulates natural water movement and reduces storm water transport offsite. Reduced water pollution, cost savings, and safety benefits make LID a win-win for municipalities.


Stormwater Compliance - Spring and Summer Rain






Spring has passed and summer is here!  This means high temperatures and afternoon thunderstorms. These storms often develop quickly and can produce a lot of rain and sediment transport in a short period of time. 


Some simple things we can do on construction site to prepare for these storms:
  • Perform regular maintenance of all the BMPs.  Attention should be given to tracking pads, inlet protection and perimeter containment as these are the last line of defense prior to potential discharge of stormwater and sediment from the site.
  • Monitor weather conditions to preplan best management practices you will need to implement to minimize sediment movement.
  • Check dumpster pickup schedules to ensure that the material levels are properly maintained to prevent overflow/pollution. Compact and/or cover the dumpster to prevent the wind from carrying the contents away.
  • Check secondary containment areas to ensure they are getting protected/covered at the end of each day and prior to the start of rain events.  Keep in mind that rain water mixed with petroleum products (gas or diesel) will have to be properly disposed of.
  • Check concrete washout areas to make sure there is enough room for rain water and snow melt to prevent overflow.  If needed, properly empty concrete washouts and/or add additional areas/eco-pans.
  •  
Kathy Kaiser, CiSEC, GE Johnson Construction Company


 If you have an article to share please send a draft to Jim Bowlby at jbowlby@scsengineers.com or Joe Schneider at jschneider@wsreclamation.com
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