StormCon | Call For Papers

StormCon '09 Call For Papers

The call for abstracts for StormCon '09 is now closed.

StormCon is the only North American event dedicated exclusively to stormwater and surface-water professionals across the continent: municipal stormwater and public works managers, engineering consultants, regulatory personnel, watershed management professionals, and others concerned with stormwater and surface-water quality.

Forester Media Inc., publisher of Stormwater magazine, is seeking papers for presentation at StormCon ’09. The ’09 program will feature six program tracks (described below). Within these tracks, we also have several new areas of emphasis.

Presentations for StormCon ’09 will be 30 minutes each, including a question-and-answer period.

Because there are new guidelines and tracks, please carefully read the information below before submitting your abstract. You may submit your abstract by clicking here. The deadline for submitting abstracts is Wednesday, December 3, 2008.

StormCon Tracks

BMP Case Studies
This track presents examples of how structural and nonstructural best management practices (BMPs) are being used—with case studies and performance data—including combinations of BMPs to achieve water-quality goals.

Presentations must not promote or endorse any proprietary BMP, technology, or company, nor should they simply describe the features of a product; however, examples of BMP installations with data on the effectiveness of a particular system will be considered. Topics in this track include:

Filtration systems
Retention and detention systems
Advanced applications and treatment trains
Post-construction BMPs
Urban retrofitting and repair
Maintenance of BMPs
Regional focus: BMPs for semi-arid climates, snow country, coastal regions, and hurricane-prone areas
Climate change and BMPs: Local adaptation strategies

Low-Impact Development
Low-impact development (LID) strives to maintain or mimic the predevelopment hydrology of a site by infiltrating, storing, filtering, and evaporating stormwater runoff rather than moving it offsite to a centralized stormwater system. This track deals with LID techniques, used either as an overall site-design philosophy or in conjunction with conventional stormwater management practices. Areas of focus include:

Infiltration and bioretention practices
Rain gardens
Green roofs
Porous pavement
Smart growth practices
Integrated landscape design
Urban forestry
Rainwater harvesting and stormwater reuse
LEED stormwater credits

Stormwater Program Management
This track covers many aspects to managing a successful municipal or industry-specific stormwater program: finding sources of funding; communicating with the public, elected officials, the development community, and other government agencies; and, in many communities, meeting the NPDES Phase II minimum control measures. Focus areas include:

Strategies for meeting NPDES permit requirements
Building public education and outreach programs
Funding options for stormwater programs
GASB asset management
Construction-site compliance and inspection issues
Finding, training, and keeping the right personnel
Hiring and working with consultants
Illicit discharge detection programs
Municipal good housekeeping practices
Integrating the stormwater program with TMDL development

Water-Quality Monitoring
This track focuses on water-quality assessment, monitoring and sampling techniques, and modeling practices:

Watershed assessments
Determining pollutant loadings
Effective water-quality modeling
Sampling tools and techniques
Inventorying stormwater facilities
Bacterial detection and identification techniques

Advanced Research Topics
This technical track includes academic research; methods for testing the effectiveness of best management practices and comparing different BMPs; and topics and trends in stormwater research, such as standardizing testing protocols and standards for measuring the effectiveness of BMPs. Topics in this track include:

Performance standards and testing protocols
Evaluating BMP performance
BMPs for infill and redevelopment areas
Treating highway runoff
Characterizing pollutant loads
Fate and transport of pollutants

Please note that we are not looking for descriptions of technologies or BMPs and how they work without supporting performance data. If your presentation deals with one or more BMPs, especially with proprietary systems, your abstract must indicate what supporting data the presentation will include.

Source Control
Most stormwater BMPs are designed to treat pollutants. This track examines source identification and source control methods.

Identifying sources of pollutants
Controlling or eliminating pollutants in the environment
Assessing the benefits of source control versus treatment
Integrating source control with treatment methods

Who Should Submit an Abstract?

Municipal stormwater managers—Describe your stormwater program, funding mechanisms, public outreach programs, or NPDES permit process. Share your experiences working with regulators, BMP product vendors, and outside consultants.
Engineering consultants and design professionals—Share new approaches to stormwater problems, present case studies of interesting projects, or discuss the latest design tools.
Researchers—Present data on BMP performance, new technologies, or modeling and assessment tools.
Regulatory personnel—Discuss developments in NPDES permitting, TMDL development, and state and local regulations.

Please note that abstracts promoting proprietary products or companies will not be accepted as part of the StormCon conference program.

General Content Guidelines
The abstract you submit is the basis for your presentation description in the conference program. For this reason, if your abstract is accepted, your presentation and paper must match the title and description in your abstract.

Incomplete projects or presentations without conclusions are not desired. Your peers expect you to present data, evaluation, and analyses or conclusions drawn from research or actual projects that are actionable.

Because papers to be presented are selected on the basis of your abstract, keep in mind these selection criteria when writing the abstract. Will your paper:

Have broad interest for people in the field of stormwater management and surface-water quality?
Convey new knowledge or experience about an aspect of stormwater management?
Demonstrate the use of a tool or methodology?
Present data on the performance or use of a best management practice or technique?
Draw clear conclusions or evaluations that are actionable for the audience?

StormCon attendees are professionals working in different aspects of the stormwater industry: for municipal or state-level programs, for engineering consulting firms, for regulatory agencies, for commercial developers and contractors, and in academia. Your audience has an understanding of the basic stormwater principles and terminology, so you don’t need to include a great deal of background information in your abstract or in the presentation and paper. For example, don’t include information on the history of the Clean Water Act or an extensive description of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, as your audience will be familiar with these. Similarly, if you are submitting an abstract in the Low-Impact Development track, for example, you can assume that the audience already has a basic knowledge of the principles of LID, and you can concentrate on the specific details of your project or program.

Length of Presentations
All presentations are 30 minutes long, including a question and answer period. Presentations may be reclassified in a different track as appropriate.

Deadline for Submission
The deadline for receiving abstracts is Wednesday, December 3, 2008. Please do not include supplemental materials.

All accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings. If your abstract is selected, you will receive guidelines for preparing and submitting your paper when you are notified of acceptance. Final papers will be due to Forester Media by Wednesday, March 25, 2009. Only papers that are presented at StormCon ’09 will be included in the conference proceedings.

Please note that StormCon does not cover presenters’ travel expenses or accommodations. However, a discounted registration fee is available for all presenters.

Click here to submit your abstract.