Soak Up the Rain New England Webinar Archive

2021-Present

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Dissolved Phosphorus and Green Infrastructure: Fundamentals, Challenges, and Opportunities

Original Airdate: Wednesday, September 28, 2022, 1:30 PM - 3:00PM ET

Reducing phosphorus pollution in aquatic ecosystems is a primary goal in many watersheds across the United States to mitigate eutrophication and harmful algal blooms. Several forms of green infrastructure can effectively reduce loads of total phosphorus to surface waters through the retention of particles and associated phosphorus, but retention of dissolved phosphorus has proven to be more challenging. In this webinar, Eric Roy discusses the fundamental biogeochemistry underpinning dissolved phosphorus dynamics in green infrastructure and draws on recent research in Vermont to address the challenge that dissolved phosphorus poses to water quality improvement efforts, opportunities to better manage dissolved phosphorus and enhance green infrastructure performance (including amendment of soil media with drinking water treatment residuals), and the use of phosphorus metrics to inform green infrastructure design.

Presenter:

  • Eric D. Roy, PhD, Associate Professor at Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources & Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Vermont

Recording not yet available. Speaker slides available here: Dissolved Phosphorus and Green Infrastructure: Fundamentals, Challenges, & Opportunities (pdf) (8.18 MB)

The New England Stormwater Retrofit Manual: Upgrading the Performance of your Stormwater Management System for Better Watershed Health

Original Airdate: Tuesday, July 26, 2022, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM ET

The Stormwater Retrofit Guidance Manual, released July 2022, provides research-based guidance and techniques for planning, siting, and designing retrofit stormwater control measures (SCMs) to manage stormwater in existing or reconstructed development situations where regulatory requirements do not dictate specifications. It also presents an approach for crediting pollutant and runoff volume reductions associated with these measures. The Stormwater Retrofit Guidance Manual was developed by the University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center and VHB with financial support from the Southeast New England Program (SNEP) Network and technical support from other SNEP Network partners, state agencies, and EPA Region 1. You can view the manual at: https://snepnetwork.org/stormwater-retrofit-manual/.

Presenters:

  • James Houle, University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center
  • Theresa McGovern, VHB
  • Nate Pacheco, VHB

Recording not yet available. Speaker slides available here: The New England Stormwater Retrofit Manual: Upgrading the Performance of your Stormwater Management System for Better Watershed Health (pdf) (9.57 MB)

Building Equity into Nature-Based Solutions for Massachusetts Communities

Original Airdate: Thursday, June 23, 2022, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM ET

Equity and nature-based solutions are fundamental principles for successful community climate resilience. Green infrastructure and nature-based solutions can protect water quality, build resiliency to heat waves, address flooding and other climate-exacerbated natural hazards, and improve overall quality of life in communities where they are implemented. Equitable community engagement and participation is key to developing nature-based solutions that fully benefit local residents. This webinar, featuring members of the MA Ecosystem Climate Adaptation Network (Mass ECAN) Mainstreaming Nature-Based Solutions Expert Work Group, showcases how Massachusetts programs and organizations are supporting equitable nature-based solutions at the local level.

Presenters:

  • Gretchen Rabinkin - Executive Director, Boston Society of Landscape Architects
  • Hillary King - Central MA Regional Coordinator, MA Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program
  • Stefanie Covino - Program Manager, Blackstone Watershed Collaborative
  • Perri Sheinbaum - Tufts Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning Student
  • Emma Gildesgame - Climate Adaptation Scientist, The Nature Conservancy

Recording not yet available. Speaker slides available here: Building Equity in Nature-Based Solutions in MA Communities (pdf) (4.65 MB)

Shovel-Ready and Beyond! A Green Infrastructure Case Study in the Three Bays Watershed

Original Airdate: Wednesday, April 27, 2022, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM ET

Green infrastructure is a team effort, requiring buy-in from multiple agencies, partner organizations, and the public to leverage funding and sustained support through the planning, implementation, and maintenance phases. This webinar showcases how one team turned an initial $450K grant into a $2.3 million project over 6 years and counting. Speakers share their experiences and tell the story of their collaborative journey to improve stormwater management and water quality in the Three Bays watershed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Presenters:

  • April Wobst, Project Manager and Restoration Ecologist at the Association to Preserve Cape Cod
  • Michelle West, P.E., Senior Water Resources Engineer at Horsley Witten Group, Inc.
  • Nathan Collins, P.E., Assistant Town Engineer for the Town of Barnstable, MA

Recording not yet available. Speaker slides available here: Shovel-Ready and Beyond! A Green Infrastructure Case Study in the Three Bays Watershed (pdf) (12.94 MB)

Design with Maintenance in Mind: Green Infrastructure Trainings and Techniques in Providence, RI

Original Airdate: Monday, November 22, 2021, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM ET

The success of green infrastructure implementation greatly depends on the quality of design, installation, and maintenance. The Providence Stormwater Innovation Center (PSIC) provides hands-on training and best practices for municipalities, engineers, construction companies and scientists to design and implement green infrastructure and stormwater Best Management Practices (BMP's) with maintenance in mind. In this webinar, speakers provide installation and maintenance recommendations from the $1.5M project to construct 42 stormwater BMP's in Providence, Rhode Island's Roger Williams Park – the presentation includes planting considerations for green infrastructure installations.

Recording not yet available. Speaker slides available here:

Building Greener Boston: Creating and Connecting the Green Infrastructure Workforce

Original Airdate: Wednesday, September 22, 2021, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM ET

Building a greener future requires a specialized workforce that can design, build, and maintain green infrastructure. This webinar covers strategies to connect businesses with graduates of green infrastructure training programs as demand for these skills increases in the City of Boston, Massachusetts. Speakers introduce case studies that demonstrate how investment in green jobs training can lead to more sustainable green infrastructure programs that improves the health of local communities and secures jobs for local residents.

Presenters:

  • Michael Chavez, YouthBuild Boston and Built Environment Plus
  • David Queeley, Codman Square Neighborhood Development Coalition
  • Trevor Smith, Land Escapes, Inc. and Ecological Landscape Alliance

Addressing Stormwater Flooding through Resilience Action Strategies and Sustainable Financing

Original Airdate: Tuesday, August 24, 2021, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EDT

Across New England, climate change and sea-level rise are exacerbating the impacts of stormwater and coastal flooding, making the case for "soaking up the rain" even stronger. Working with the Southeast New England Program (SNEP) Network, the Towns of Bourne, MA and Portsmouth, RI are addressing water quantity and quality challenges through resilience-building activities and sustainable financing strategies. In this webinar, presenters from SNEP Network partner organization Throwe Environmental, LLC share details about these projects and demonstrate some of the new tools and funding resources that they are using to guide their work for maximum impact. Panelists from Bourne and Portsmouth share their perspectives and speak to the benefits of proactively taking action to become more climate resilient.

Presenters:

  • Dan Nees, Kyle Gray, and Taylor Throwe, Throwe Environmental
  • Tony Schiavi, Town Administrator, Bourne, MA
  • Tim Lydon, Engineering Technician, Bourne, MA
  • Gary Crosby, Town Planner, Portsmouth, RI
  • Pam Rubinoff, Assoc. Coastal Manager, URI Coastal Resources Center

Phytotechnology: a Nature-Based Approach to Containing Contamination

Original Airdate: Wednesday, July 28, 2021, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET

Can plants remediate soil contamination? Can a rain garden prevent pollutants from entering the groundwater? Are poplar trees a viable strategy for removing industrial toxins from brownfield sites? Scientists, landscape architects, and environmentalists have explored these questions for years, with varying results. Phytotechnology, the ability of plants to remove, contain, or control contaminants in the environment, is gaining attention in the sustainability field as a low-impact approach to improving soil and water quality and protecting human health and the environment. In this webinar, speakers from EPA Region 1 and Boston-based Offshoots, Inc. explore New England case studies where plants were used to enhance or improve a sustainable cleanup process at brownfield sites, including factories, gas stations, and industrial areas.

Presenters:

  • Jessica Dominguez, EPA Region 1
  • Juan Pérez, EPA Region 1
  • Kate Kennen, Offshoots, Inc.

Managing Phosphorus Pollution with Stormwater Bioretention Systems: A Soil Study

Original Airdate: Tuesday, June 8, 2021, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM EDT

Well-designed bioretention systems can be used to remove the nutrient pollutant phosphorus from stormwater. In this webinar, speakers from the University of Vermont showcase a recent research project that, with support from the EPA Office of Research and Development's Regional Applied Research Efforts (RARE) program, explored the potential for drinking water treatment residuals (a byproduct of drinking water filtration) to bind phosphorus within bioretention soil media. Webinar speakers discuss lessons learned from many years of research on bioretention soil media, including how different installation components can remove phosphorus from runoff or potentially leach phosphorus into outflows.

Presenters:

  • Dr. Stephanie Hurley, Department of Plant & Soil Science, University of Vermont
  • Michael Ament, PhD Candidate, Department of Plant & Soil Science, University of Vermont

A Tree Grows in Chelsea: Greening our Gateway Cities

Original Airdate: Tuesday, April 13 2021, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM EST

Trees are increasingly recognized for the many benefits they bring to urban neighborhoods, including filtering stormwater, reducing flood risk, mitigating the urban heat island effect, and contributing to the overall environmental and public health of urban communities. This webinar showcases how the Massachusetts "Greening the Gateway Cities" Program works to increase tree canopy cover in urban residential areas known as "Gateway Cities." Plantings are concentrated in environmental justice neighborhoods with minimal green space to benefit those most in need. Speakers from GreenRoots and the City of Chelsea, MA showcase a pilot project focused on urban heat island mitigation, flood risk reduction, and public health improvement through the planting of 2,400 trees.

Presenters:

  • Bob O'Connor – Director of Conservation Services, MA Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
  • Mathew Cahill – Urban Forester, MA Department of Conservation and Recreation
  • Fidel Maltez – Commissioner, City of Chelsea Public Works
  • Ibrahim Lopez-Hernandez – Climate Justice Organizer, GreenRoots

Building Greener Futures: Green Jobs Training and Bioswales in New Haven, CT

Original Airdate: Wednesday, January 27, 2021, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM ET

This webinar showcases how green infrastructure installations and job-training programs have improved the social, economic, and environmental health of New Haven, CT. Since 2010, the Urban Resources Initiative (URI) has partnered with the City of New Haven, EMERGE Connecticut, and the Yale School of the Environment as the sole-source contractor for tree planting, and has expanded into the construction of green infrastructure in the public right of way. Speakers from the City of New Haven and URI discuss strategies for collaboration around tree planting, bioswale design and siting, installation and maintenance, and green jobs training for community members.

Presenters:

  • Colleen Murphy-Dunning, Urban Resources Initiative
  • Dawn Henning, City of New Haven, CT

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Last updated on November 6, 2024