Tour, Workshops, & Social Function

Please join us for a tour, workshops, and social function! All occur before or after the conference so you won't miss any sessions. There are a limited number of spots available for each. They are not included in conference registration, but pricing is listed below.

Tour

March 16, 2022 | 1:00 pm– 5:00 pm EST
SCM Resilience & Hands-On Maintenance
Price: $50

As part of the SCM resiliency component of the tour, participants will visit a variety of stormwater control measures (SCMs) within the City of Wilmington, with officials from the City and staff from NC State University. The purpose of the tour will be to expose participants to the “gradient of resiliency” associated with specific SCMs. Which practices “held up” best after having been exposed to extreme weather events & which ones fared worst? What are common threads connecting the most resilient of the SCMs? SCMs to be visited include heavily vegetated systems (like constructed wetlands) and SCMs that lack vegetation (permeable pavement). Specific design characteristics that appear to make practices most resilient will be a special focus. Upon completion of the tour, participants are expected to have a better understanding of what makes stormwater infrastructure more resilient to both external events (such as hurricanes) and neglect.

As part of the hands-on maintenance component of the tour, participants will meet with professionals active in the field of stormwater inspection and maintenance and witness many commonly-needed maintenance tasks. Participants will interact with crews and witness maintenance tasks such as trash collection, sediment excavation from a forebay, vegetation management, and permeable pavement vacuuming. The maintenance activities will be spread out over several stops. The tour will be led by Abby Stanley of APEX, one of the largest stormwater inspection and maintenance firms in the United States. APEX is partially based in Wilmington, NC.

Workshops

March 13, 2022 | 1:00 pm– 4:00 pm EST
North Carolina Stormwater SCM Inspection & Maintenance
Price: $95

Communities across the USA and world must manage rainfall that runs off roads, streets and parking lots. This runoff is called stormwater. To manage stormwater, many treatment devices, called SCMs, have been built. These devices include wet retention ponds, bioretention areas, swales, stormwater wetlands, permeable pavement, rainwater harvesting systems, proprietary devices, green roofs and sand filters. SCMs must have annual, and sometimes more frequent, inspection and maintenance to perform as intended. Maintenance includes hydrologic and water quality function, landscape functions, and consideration of impacts on human health and safety. Many communities across North Carolina and the USA are now requiring annual inspection, and if called for, maintenance of SCMs. SCMs are not managed as standard landscape features, as they are water quality treatment devices, and specialized training is needed to perform inspection and maintenance activities.

SCM Inspection and Maintenance also present a business opportunity for inspection by licensed professionals, such as engineers and landscape architects, and maintenance by landscape and other green industry professionals. Designers will learn to design SCMs with maintenance in mind; landscapers can diversify their business to ensure year-round work in a recession-proof area of work, and suppliers of materials and technology to the stormwater industry can learn about new and existing opportunities to support the stormwater industry.

March 13, 2022 | 1:00 pm– 4:00 pm EST
North Carolina Stormwater SCM Construction
Price: $95

Design of green infrastructure or Low Impact Development (LID) practices is only a part of properly managing stormwater runoff. If the practices are not properly constructed and maintained they will not function as they are designed. There are many variables, including construction practices and materials, that can have a significant impact on the performance and function of green infrastructure practices. It is important to have a trained person on-site who can determine if gravel has been washed and free of fines and if the bioretention soil media contains the amount and quality of organic material specified in the construction documents. This workshop will discuss the proper phasing of construction, inspection of materials upon delivery, a multitude of proper construction practices, and field testing and verification to ensure green infrastructure and LID practices are properly constructed and function as they are designed.

Social Reception - Brewery Meet-Up

March 15, 2022 | 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm EST
Edward Teach Brewery

We will be meeting up at Edward Teach Brewery. And if beer isn't your thing, they also serve wine, hard cider, and hard seltzers. We have reserved the loft space above the bar for our attendees to gather privately and our very own OMSW band will be playing outside on the patio from 6:00-7:00 p.m. After that, you’re invited to stay on for the brewery’s 7:00 p.m. Tuesday Music Trivia night. The brewery has a food truck outside, or you’re welcome to bring your own food (outside alcohol is prohibited). This new social event is open to ALL attendees- please note that at this time, this is not a sponsored event and attendees joining us will be responsible for their purchases.

Complimentary Climate Change Discussion

March 13, 2022 | 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm EST

Please join us for an Infrastructure & Climate Listening Session. This session supports ASCE-EWRI’s efforts to develop a collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to aid “Civil Engineers in Making the Nation’s Infrastructure Climate Resilient & Sustainable”, and is the first component of a larger collaboration between NOAA, the University of Maryland, and EWRI-ASCE. This Listening Session is a complimentary add-on to the OMSW conference. The two main topics to be discussed are “Stormwater Infrastructure Design in the face of a changing climate”, and “Operating, Maintaining, and Retrofitting Existing Infrastructure in a changing climate.”

Each discussion topic will start with brief remarks from an ASCE-EWRI leader. Then, you will participate in a 45-minute moderated dialogue about the topic and the points made during opening remarks for each topic. This discussion will be operated in a “not-for-attribution setting” (“Chatham House rules”), however we intend to ask onsite notetakers to capture your input. No statements will be ascribed to particular people or companies outside of this meeting.