Attend the 2008 International Low Impact Development Conference

November 16-19, 2008
Westin Seattle
Seattle, Washington

A number of national and regional Low Impact Development (LID) Conferences have been held in the UNited States, including the September 2004 conference hosted by the University of Maryland, College Park, and most recently, the March 2007 conference hosted by North Carolina State University in Wilmington, NC.

The 2008 International LID Conference will highlight new and continuing work including research, developments, and community adoption of LID throughout the United States and other countries.

Conference Objectives

• To continue to promote the use of LID as an effective alternative for traditional stormwater management, as well as to examine successful watershed management practices related to stream restoration.
• To inform practitioners throughout the US and other countries on how to anticipate and address impediments for implementation of techniques to accelerate change in the practice of stormwater management, including an information exchange to refine design processes, review procedures and construction standards related to LID technologies.
• To improve our collective understanding of how amended soil and vegetation helps manage stormwater, intercept precipitation, expand urban greenspace, and improve urban livability.

Who Should Attend?

• Stormwater Program Administrators
• Regulators
• Researchers
• Consultants
• Engineers
• Landscape Architects
• Design Professionals
• Students/Teachers
• Soil Scientists
• Architects
• City Planners
• Municipal Officials
• Developers
• Facilities Managers

To register, sponsor, or become an exhibitor with the 2008 International LID Conference, visit the event website.

For those individuals submitting papers, remember: Final Papers Due July 15, 2008!

June 30, 2008

No Money for Dredging N.C. Coast, Corps Says

A House committee has earmarked more that $18 million for coastal infrastructure projects in Southeastern North Carolina, but none of that will go toward dredging shallow-draft inlets, and only $855,000 will be spent to maintain the Intracoastal Waterway. At that funding level the Army Corps of Engineers can do little more than maintain its "caretaker status," according to a spokesman. Local governments depend on periodic dredging to maintain the region's crucial fishing and tourism industries. Star-News (Wilmington, N.C.)

June 27, 2008

In Midwest, Small-town Residents Feel Slighted by Flood-Control Rules

As small-town residents across the Midwest begin to recover from historic floods that devastated the region, some are blaming federal policies that make flood prevention unattainable for smaller communities. Local residents are required to chip in for flood-control projects costing millions of dollars, but that is often an impossibility for the hundreds of farming towns with populations of less than 1,000. "It felt like the government was telling us, 'You're not big enough or important enough for us to spend our money to save,'" says the former mayor of one small town who lobbied unsuccessfully for a new levee following the flood of 1993. Los Angeles Times (free registration)

June 26, 2008

Will New Technologies Make Sandbags Obsolete?

At least 13 million soggy sandbags -- possibly contaminated with bacteria, chemicals and the like -- litter the Midwest as floodwaters slowly recede. Many of the smelly souvenirs will remain where they are for a month or more, until the region's flood season is over. Newer technologies are available, however: Two companies make modular units that join together to create an instant flood wall, while another offers huge, inflatable tubes that can serve as a temporary dam when filled with water. Google/Associated Press