More than 120 people attended the 2019 Erosion Control & Green Infrastructure Stormwater Conference, held July 12 at the I Hotel and Conference Center.
The Champaign County Stormwater Partnership (CCSP), which includes Facilities & Services’ Safety and Compliance division, helped organize and plan the event. F&S members for this collaboration are David Wilcoxen, Betsy Liggett and Colleen Ruhter.
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| 2019 Erosion Control and Green Infrastructure Stormwater
Conference attendees tour the University of Illinois Erosion Control Research & Training Center in Urbana. |
“This forum is an opportunity for F&S to share why stormwater management is essential to the university, and community as a whole,” said Liggett. “F&S and the U of I are proud partners in the CCSP and we look forward to helping the community learn more about the importance of erosion control and green infrastructure.”
The CCSP partners share common resources and efforts to develop a regional consistency in fulfilling the requirements of their Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permits. The permits contain program areas for implementing best management practices to improve the quality of stormwater that runs off of land and into rivers, lakes and streams.
Opening remarks were made by Christine Davis, the watershed management section manager in the Bureau of Water at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), who addressed the importance of stormwater operation, maintenance plans and best management practices (BMPs).
Attendees also heard erosion control information from Holly Hirchert, an environmental protection engineer for the IEPA, Dr. Prasanta Kalita and Dr. Rabin Bhattarai, professors at Illinois and John Warren, a region manager for a geo product distributor. The afternoon offered green infrastructure education from Eliana Brown, a water quality specialist at Illinois, Lisa Merrifield, a sustainability expert at Illinois and Heidi Leuszler, a biology and sustainability professor at Parkland College.
The conference concluded with a tour at the University of Illinois Erosion Control Research & Training Center in Urbana to examine this outdoor living laboratory where researchers test various methods of sediment control.