SESWA conducts a survey of stormwater utilities practices and trends throughout the Southeast and publishes a Final Report on the results every two years. Data collection for the 2021 survey is complete and the new report is under construction. The Report provides easy access to questions concerning rates, structure, billing methods, and many other policies and practices in stormwater utilities throughout the Southeast. Information contained in the Report is widely used by local stormwater managers and state policy makers throughout Region 4. Watch your mailboxes, the primary contact for each SESWA member organization will receive a free Report soon! Additional copies will be available on the SESWA website, Member login will be required.

Register today for the May 12th SESWA State Spotlight Webinar Integrated Stormwater Planning - Stormwater as a Resource. One hour of continuing education is available for the discount member rate of $35. Traditionally, stormwater planning has been done from the perspective that stormwater should be managed as waste that must be treated before being released to the environment. This presentation will explore a shift in perspective that all water is valuable and should be managed as a resource for the benefit of our environment, society, and economy. The City of Winter Haven, like many Florida communities, faces many challenges including rapid population growth, land use change, scarcity of traditional fresh groundwater supplies, escalating water supply costs, impaired water quality and levels, and impacted watershed hydrology. This webinar will focus on how a small local government like Winter Haven, FL is using integrated planning at a watershed scale to plan beneficial use of stormwater while meeting treatment goals. Register Today!

Make plans to participate in the best-of-the-best in regional stormwater education this year! The 16th Annual Regional Stormwater Conference will be held October 6-8, 2021. The conference will feature an agenda developed by your peers, access to continuing education, networking opportunities with other stormwater professionals, great keynote and breakout speakers, and much more. We are closely monitoring COVID protocols and will make a final decision on location (Hilton Head, SC vs. Online) by May. Watch your inbox for registration details.

If you’d like to contribute to the agenda, it’s not too late – the deadline to submit a presentation is today, March 31, 2021.

The SESWA Job Board is an excellent resource for job seekers and employers in the stormwater profession throughout the Southeast. SESWA members can post job openings on the Job Board for FREE for 30 days!

Job seekers can also post their resumes for FREE for 30 days. SESWA members will be able to view the resumes and find the best fit for their vacancies! To post your vacancy or resume, visit the SESWA Job Board!

During this time when many are working remotely, take the opportunity to visit the Community Forum and connect online with other stormwater professionals across the Southeast. The Forum can be found under the "Members Only" tab on the SESWA website. Join this virtual gathering place to ask a question or post something that is happening in your area that might be helpful to others. Don't forget to subscribe to get updates!

Courts continue to wrestle with what is or is not a “Water of the United States.” In a Colorado case, attorneys in the Environmental Division of the US Department of Justice sought delays in an appeal of a lower court decision that had rejected the 2020 WOTUS Replacement Rule. However, the US Court of Appeals not only rejected that request but also overruled the lower court’s decision. Meanwhile, in a South Carolina proceeding, plaintiffs challenging the rule filed a brief citing EPA and Army Corps of Engineers data indicating that at least 70% of waters under the 2020 rule would no longer qualify for federal protection. It is generally believed that the new Administrator at EPA will seek to adopt regulations that are somewhere between the 2015 and 2020 WOTUS definitions. SESWA will keep members informed as updates occur.

Although groundwaters are generally not covered by the provisions of the CWA, the US Supreme Court’s April 2020 ruling that pollutants discharged to groundwater that make their way to surface waters must obtain surface water permits when the discharge is the functional equivalent of a discharge into a surface water. The “functional equivalent” test as identified in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, found that the discharge of polluted water into the ground which reaches a nearby jurisdictional water still requires the discharger to comply with the CWA. But over the past year, EPA and subsequent court cases have failed to provide guidance in implementing the provisions of the Maui decision – leaving the task to the new EPA.

Following direction given by legislation adopted in 2020, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) has initiated rulemaking to update the statewide design criteria used when constructing stormwater systems. The criteria have not been updated in more than 20 years. Runoff from projects designed in a manner that is consistent with the criteria is presumed to not cause or contribute to violations of water quality criteria. FDEP has formed a Technical Advisory Committee and is keeping a robust website on the Design Rules updated.

The most recent version of SCDHEC's NPDES General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Construction Activities (CGP) went into effect March 1, 2021. Some of the changes include:

Visit the SCDHEC site for details about the General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Construction Activities.

Chapter 160D of the North Carolina Code requires that by July 1, 2021 cities and counties in North Carolina must consolidate all of their zoning, subdivision, and other land development related ordinances into one, unified ordinance. Chapter 160D also clarifies certain administrative functions (appeals and variances, as examples), although it does not significantly alter current policies contained within the local ordinances. By July 1, 2022 each city or county that has a zoning ordinance must also update or create a comprehensive or land use plan. Regardless of when a community modifies its ordinances to comply with Chapter 160D, the Legislative changes went into effect upon passage in July 2019.

As introduced, Tennessee's SB 0113 would require a municipality to abate the stormwater fees owed by a property owner until such fees equal the construction costs of any stormwater control measure constructed on the property. After some debate, the bill was narrowed to only apply to property owners that qualified as a 501(c)(3), which still threatened to undermine utilities in Tennessee. After pushback from multiple agencies in Tennessee and a letter from SESWA, the bill was withdrawn and sent to summer study.

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Southeast Stormwater Association

www.SESWA.org

(866) FOR-SESWA (367-7379)