Topic Descriptions
Select a topic below to review its full description. You may then choose your first, second, and third topic preferences.
Climate Change, Resiliency, and Sustainability
Share strategies that help communities prepare for changing weather patterns, increasing flood risks, and other climate-related challenges. Topics may include resilience planning, adaptive infrastructure, sustainability initiatives, environmental justice, asset management, workforce development, community engagement, and innovative approaches to enhancing long-term system performance and environmental stewardship.
Green Infrastructure
This track seeks presentations on the planning, design, construction, maintenance, or performance of nature-based stormwater management practices such as bioretention, permeable pavement, green roofs, urban forestry, constructed wetlands, soil restoration, and regenerative stormwater conveyance. Case studies demonstrating water quality improvements, flood reduction, community or cost benefits, habitat enhancement, and long-term maintenance lessons are encouraged.
Legal Issues in Stormwater and Watershed Management
Explore the evolving legal, regulatory, and policy landscape affecting stormwater and watershed management. Presentations may address federal and state regulations, permitting, enforcement, water law, funding authorities, emerging legal trends, compliance challenges, and practical implications for public agencies and private practitioners. Sessions that translate complex legal topics into actionable guidance are encouraged.
Modeling and Research
Data-driven decision making is increasingly important in stormwater and watershed management. This track welcomes presentations on hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, watershed assessment tools, climate and resiliency analyses, water quality studies, monitoring programs, emerging research, and innovative applications of data and technology. Abstracts may focus on applied research, model development and calibration, performance evaluation, pollutants of emerging concern, risk assessment, or scientific findings that inform policy, planning, design, and management decisions.
Monitoring, Inspection, and Maintenance
Effective stormwater management depends on understanding system performance over time. This track seeks presentations on inspection programs, asset management, monitoring technologies, data collection, maintenance practices, performance assessments, adaptive management, and lessons learned from operating stormwater infrastructure in the field.
Stormwater Practices and BMPs Design and Construction
This track focuses on the planning, design, implementation, and performance of stormwater best management practices (BMPs) and stormwater control measures (SCMs). Abstracts may cover innovative technologies, treatment systems, design standards, modeling tools, maintenance considerations, performance verification, and lessons learned from implementation projects.
Stream Restoration
Highlight restoration science, ecological improvements, and innovative approaches to stream, river, floodplain, and wetland restoration. Presentations may focus on project design, construction, monitoring results, habitat enhancement, nutrient reduction, geomorphology, hydraulic analysis, nature-based solutions, or applied research that advances restoration practices.
Transportation
Transportation infrastructure plays a critical role in managing stormwater while supporting safe and efficient mobility. This track invites presentations on stormwater management, compliance and BMP design and installation challenges and solutions associated with roads, highways, bridges, trails, rail corridors, airports, and other transportation facilities. Topics may include stormwater BMP planning and design, stormwater program management, green infrastructure integration, drainage and flooding mitigation, erosion and sediment control, regulatory compliance, stormwater asset management, stormwater BMP maintenance practices, resiliency planning, stormwater program budget development and forecasting, staff training approaches and behavioral change evaluation, and innovative projects that enhance both transportation systems and water resource protection.
Watershed Planning and Restoration
Share innovative approaches, success stories, and lessons learned from watershed planning, restoration, and protection efforts. Topics may include watershed management strategies, flood mitigation, habitat enhancement, restoration, stakeholder collaboration, and funding approaches. We welcome case studies that demonstrate measurable environmental, community, and water quality benefits.
