STORM WATER & PLASTIC POLLUTION 7th annual Stormwater and Plastic Pollution Workshop: March 13, 2024 -- registration is open! In-person in Chesapeake, VA. A portion of the workshop will be streamed. All attendees should follow this link to register (Google Form). If you are unable to use Google Forms, email Zach Huntington: huntingtonza@longwood.edu directly. In-person attendees: after registering using this link, you can PAY for the workshop with a credit card (Master Card or VISA) by following this link (Pay the registration fee Link). The registration fee for the in-person event is $35. Coffee, snacks and lunch will be served. Location: Hampton Roads Planning District Commission building (723 Woodlake Dr, Chesapeake, VA 23320). A portion of the workshop will be streamed. The link for streaming will be sent to all registrants. WHY STORMWATER & LITTER?  There are growing concerns about the impacts of debris and plastic pollution in our rivers, lakes, oceans, and coastal waters, along with an 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 waters. The Stormwater Connection: 60% to 80% of marine debris comes from inland sources including littering, mis-managed solid waste, uncovered trucks, balloon releases, illegal dumping, etc. (Source: National Marine Debris Monitoring Program (NMDMP) research report, April 2008)

CVW offers annual webinars and workshops to explore solutions to this urgent problem.   To get on our mailing list for future events, send an email to cleanva@longwood.edu with "Stormwater & plastic pollution workshop" in the subject line.

2024 Stormwater and Litter Workshop, March 13.

AGENDA

Morning (9:30 AM to Noon)

Plastic Perspectives: Insights from Clean Virginia Waterways Research
Zach Huntington, Executive Director, Clean Virginia Waterways

Operation Stream Shield: Collecting Data, Enhancing Communities, and Building Lives
Emily Burton, MS4 Specialist, Fairfax County
Eleanor Kluegel, Clean Streams Program Manager, Clean Fairfax

Engaging the Community—Elizabeth River Project River Star Homes Program
Phoebe Murrell, Elizabeth River Project

Microplastic and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Abundance in the Jug Bay Region of the Patuxent River, Maryland
Jonathan Craig, American University (virtual)

Overview of Southern Environmental Law Center’s public comments on the EPA’s Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution.
Henry Gargan, Southern Environmental Law Center (Virtual)

Afternoon (1 to 3:30 PM)

Bow Creek Stormwater Park – Built to Flood
Richard Martinec, PE, DBIA, VA Beach Stormwater Engineering Center, Stormwater Program Manager
Jeff VanFossen, Project Manager, Virginia Beach Stormwater Engineering Center

Plastic Legislative Policy in Virginia
Elly Boehmer Wilson, State Director, Environment Virginia

Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan --overview and next steps

Breakout groups for updating the Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan.

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Past Stormwater and Litter Workshops: 2018 through 2023

From 2018-2023, Clean Virginia Waterways and its partners sponsored workshops for stormwater and litter-prevention professionals. The agendas are below.

MARCH 15, 2023 Webinar/Workhop
AGENDA:

Efforts to Improve Water Quality through Floatable Monitoring in Prince William County
Veronica Tangiri, Water Quality Programs Manager & Coordinator · Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District

Solutions and Strategies to Improve Virginia’s Litter Control and Recycling Fund
Zach Huntington, Clean Virginia Waterways, Associate Director

Reducing Litter: We Already Have the Tools To Do This!
Susan Collins, President of the Container Recycling Institute 

Human and Environmental Impact of Artificial Turf and Crumb Rubber Infill
Vasilis Vasilou, PhD, Department Chair and Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology (Environmental Health Sciences) and of Ophthalmology and Visual Science and of Environment; Director, Yale Superfund Research Center; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Cancer Center; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health
Synthetic turf fields and crumb rubber
Dr. Vasilou will discuss the water quality impacts from artificial turf (generally made of polyethylene, polypropylene or nylon) and rubber infill (generally recycled tires) including potential carcinogens and irritants.

Washington State’s Litter Prevention Efforts
Amber Smith-Jones, Statewide Litter Prevention Coordinator, Washington State Department of Ecology, Solid Waste Management
Learn about Washington’s litter prevention campaign efforts, the social marketing framework they use, their toolkit for local governments, and their funding mechanism.

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December 7, 2022 Webinar was recorded, and is now on CVW's YouTube Channel

The webinar 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.

• International Trash Trap Network: an overview of trash trap options and considerations by Hannah De Frond of the University of Toronto and the International Trash Trap Network

• Engaging High Schools & Community Partners to Reduce Single-use Plastic Water Bottle Use by Dr. Cindy Smith of George Mason University

• Virginia's Litter Tax: Comparing it with other states and localities by Zach Huntington of Clean VA Waterways

This FREE webinar was possible thanks to the donors and sponsors of Clean Virginia Waterways as well as a grant from the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program.

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2021 Stormwater & Litter Workshop--December 9, 2021
Virtual via zoom.

Community Engagement: Case Studies

• Progress in Community Engagement: Water Pollution and Clean Waterways Awareness
  • Veronica Tangiri, Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District
• Operation Stream Shield
  • Heather Ambrose, Fairfax County

Update on MS4 Permits in Virginia

• Jeff Selengut, MS4 Permit Writer, VA Department of Environmental Quality

EPA’s Trash Free Waters Program’s MS4 Trash Compendium & other Resources

What it Takes to Design & Install a Bandalong Trash Trap

• Tim Hughes, Prince William County, Virginia Watershed Management Branch and Environmental Services Division

Trash Traps: Small and Large

• Hannah De Frond
  International Trash Trap Network Coordinator (in collaboration with the Ocean Conservancy and the University of Toronto Trash Team)

Data: Measuring Success By Using the Ocean Conservancy’s Online Database (TIDES)

• Sarah Kollar, Coordinator, Trash Free Seas Program, Ocean Conservancy

Using TIDES Data on Plastic Bags in Virginia

• Katie Register, Executive Director, Clean Virginia Waterways of Longwood University

Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan: The Stormwater Connection

• Laura McKay, Manager, Virignia Coastal Zone Managment Program and Katie Register, CVW

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.

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

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

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!