Stormwater and Litter In 2018-2020, Clean Virginia Waterways and its partners offered three workshops for stormwater and litter-prevention professionals. Why? 60% to 80% of marine debris comes from inland sources including littering, mis-managed solid waste, uncovered trucks, balloon releases, illegal dumping, etc. There are growing concerns about the impacts of debris and plastic pollution in rivers, the ocean and coastal waters, along with increasing emphasis on stormwater management of litter and debris. Virginia faces a new urgency to understand and address the sources of litter and marine debris in our coastal and ocean waters.

Goal of Workshops: The workshops have addressed urban trash pollution and strategies employed to intercept a piece of trash before it becomes part of stormwater runoff and is conveyed to and through the storm sewer system. We've also shared information about engineered solutions to capture debris once it has entered a stream.

Attendees at the 2020 workshop helped set priorities for 2021-2025 for the VA Marine Debris Reduction Plan.

2020 Stormwater & Litter Workshop--February 10, 2020
Ashland, VA

To download PDFs of the presentations, click on the title of the following presentations:

Stormwater to Oceans: Making the Connection also Plastic Production Projections
Katie Register, Executive Director, Clean Virginia Waterways of Longwood University

Legislation Solutions to Reduce Litter: Update from the VA General Assembly
Jen Cole, Executive Director, Clean Fairfax Council or Zach Huntington, Clean Streams Program Manager, Clean Fairfax Council and Litter Free Virginia

Evaluation of Performance of Stormwater Technologies: Stormwater Testing and Evaluation for Products and Practices (STEPP)
Thomas G. Sprehe, PE, BCEE, Sr. Vice President, Director of Innovation and Technology, KCI Technologies, Inc.

Case Studies

• MS4 Floatable Monitoring and Controlling Plastic Pollution in Prince William County
  Tim Hughes, Environmental Services Division, Public Works, Prince William County and Veronica Tangiri, Water Quality /Adopt-A-Stream  Coordinator, Prince William Soil and  Water Conservation District

• Floatable Monitoring: How, Why, Using Data, Lessons Learned
  Heather Ambrose, MS4 Permit Coordinator, Stormwater Planning Division, Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Service, and Jen Cole, Executive Director, Clean Fairfax Council

NOAA Marine Debris Program Grants: Tackling Urban Litter
Christie Kehoe, Mid-Atlantic Coordinator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Marine Debris Program

Reducing Littering Behavior: The Proven Tools of Social Marketing
Virginia Witmer, Outreach Coordinator, Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. THIS version has additional notes.

Small Group Discussions on hot stormwater & litter topics-- notes from this discussion coming soon.

The VA Marine Debris Reduction Plan: Setting Priorities for 2021-2025 to address stormwater & litter challenges.

CO-SPONSORS of the 2020 Workshop:
The workshop was coordinated by Clean Virginia Waterways of Longwood University with the following partners:
--Clean Virginia Waterways of Longwood University
--Virginia Water Monitoring Council
--Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay with funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
--Virginia Lakes and Watersheds Association
--Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program
--Prince William County Environmental Services--a division of Public Works
--National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Marine Debris Program

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2019 Stormwater and Litter Workshop
May 28, 2019, Woodbridge, VA

Frank Principi, Prince William County Supervisor

Stormwater & Oceans: the Connection
Laura McKay, Manager, Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program

VA Litter Tax / Litter Abatement Fee Update. Trash Free Virginia – legislation tracker
Katie Register, Executive Director, Clean Virginia Waterways of Longwood University

NOAA Grant Cycle and the VA Emergency MD Plan
Jason Rolfe, Response Coordinator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Marine Debris Program

Plastic Industry’s Response to Litter & Marine Debris
Stuart Harris, Director, Marine and Environmental Stewardship, American Chemistry Council

Microplastics: Results from the Chesapeake Bay Program Scientific & Technical Advisory Committee Workshop on Microplastics in the Chesapeake Bay and its Watershed
Matt Robinson, Environmental Scientist, Stormwater Management Division, Government of the District of Columbia

Case Study: Volunteer Collaboration: Taking MS4 Public Outreach to the Next Level
Clay Morris, Natural Resources Section Chief, Prince William County and Tim Hughes, Environmental Services Division, Public Works, Prince William County

Case Study: Fairfax County: How Community Partnerships Can Help Reduce Litter
Corey Miles, Senior Environmental Planner/Coastal Program Manager, Northern Virginia Regional Commission and Emily Burton, MS4 Program Analyst, Stormwater Planning Division, Fairfax County

Reducing Plastic Packaging in Stormwater: Policies That Really Work
 Susan V. Collins, President, Container Recycling Institute

Stormwater Litter Reduction Practices: Nuts and Bolts
Moderator: Matt Robinson, Environmental Scientist, Stormwater Management Division, Government of the District of Columbia

This overview of litter interception technologies & their applications were presented by:

• Amy Rogers, National Inlet Protection (NIP)
• Chris French, BioClean
• Gary Hopkins, Storm Water Systems, Inc.
• Thomas G. Sprehe, PE, BCEE, KCI Technologies, Inc.

======================================= 2018 Stormwater & Litter Workshop--June 13, 2018 This workshop, held at VCU's Rice Rivers Center in Charles City, VA was sponsored by the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program. Co-sponsors included Clean Virginia Waterways of Longwood University, NOAA, and the Virginia Water Monitoring Council.  Stormwater professionals from across Virginia (plus a few from other states) spent the day sharing case studies, ideas and strategies to address urban trash pollution. The goal: explore ways to prevent litter through community-based social marketing, education, legislation, and innovation.

Speakers shared strategies to intercept a piece of trash before it becomes part of stormwater runoff and conveyed to and through the storm sewer system via storm drains. Interception of trash is a sub-set of marine debris prevention, and it has unique features, challenges, and solutions.

PDFs of the presentations can be downloaded by clicking on the titles below.

Laura McKay, Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program
Welcome and CZM’s Leadership Role in Marine Debris Prevention (5.8 MB)

Katie Register, Clean Virginia Waterways of Longwood University
The Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan (3.2 MB)

Ruth Minich-Hobson, Water & MS4 Permit Writer, VA Department of Environmental Quality. Stormwater Update from DEQ (<1 MB)
   
Matt Robinson, Stormwater Management Division, District Department of Environment, DC
Case Study: Washington DC

Virginia Witmer, Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program
Influencing Behavior Using Community-Based Social Marketing (4.7 MB)

Hannah Seligmann, Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator, Alice Ferguson Foundation
Case Study: Community-Based Social Marketing in DC (3.1 MB)

Jason Rolfe, NOAA Marine Debris Program and Laura McKay, VA CZM Program
NOAA Marine Debris Program and Regional Efforts to Prevent Marine Debris (4.7 MB)

Small group discussions: Notes

To learn more about preventing marine debris and litter, please visit the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program!