A changing climate, rise in smart technologies and evolving compliance challenges are impacting each of us in our mission to be stewards and champions of our most precious resource: water. Now it it's 4th year, the AQUALIS Sustainable Water Compliance Summit will provide a forum for discussing these issues and learning from experts and peers. Join Erin Grenz to kick off this exciting event with insights into how the water, wastewater and stormwater industries are undergoing unprecedented transformation.

Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution is a leading cause of water quality degradation in the United States.  Nature based solutions (NBS) are innovative approaches to managing the impacts of impervious cover and land use changes that increase NPS.  More emphasis in new stormwater manuals and permits are requiring updates and improvements to regulations and bylaws.  New England has been pioneering innovative and regionally consistent methods to quantify benefits of NBS and advancing updated regulatory standards due to the non-delegated status of 2 of the 6 states and the promulgation of residual designation authority provided for under the clean water act.

The presentation will introduce a regionally consistent framework that communities and regulators can use including water quality, volume reduction, costs and operation and maintenance burdens.  

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Identify current trends in regulatory approaches to stormwater management.
• Identify ways to track and account for stormwater control measure performance
• Identify technical sources of up-to-date scientific information to implement more sustainable stormwater management approaches.

Implementing a major flood risk reduction project requires big-picture planning and extensive collaboration between disciplines. In this case study, a major new flood control facility was integrated with green infrastructure and woven into a new, 16-acre park, revitalizing a neighborhood made uninhabitable by long-standing flooding challenges.
 
Features include a wet pond, stormwater planters, bioretention and new storm drain piping. The infrastructure captures and stores up to 10 million gallons of runoff from a 150-acre drainage area, slowly releasing it downstream and showing how flood resilience can help a community thrive.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

•  Understand the successful development of a large-scale flood control project, from watershed-level planning through community involvement, design and construction
•  Explain the importance of multidiscipline collaboration and coordination for successful implementation of flood control projects
•  Analyze how green infrastructure can be integrated with traditional flood control solutions in an urban setting

Extreme weather trends over the past 55 years have indicated a major swing in lower lows, and longer lasting highs which is wreaking havoc on weather systems at the surface. When systems and practices were established off the trends of the early 1900s or prior, the considerations for worsening events were not anticipated to ever reach the events we are seeing at both an increasing frequency and greater intensity. Planning for stronger, persisting drying winds more often, heavier onsets of rain and/or snow, faster moving wildfires, subsidence risks, sea level rise triggering saltwater intrusion, extreme temperature fluctuations, and of course erratic changes to our tropical weather.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Understand upper atmospherics role on weather hazards at the surface and how to watch for them
• Analyze wind and water cycle trends to predict significant variations in precipitation patterns
• Evaluate historical data and anticipated system failures to develop site-specific forecasts that effectively communicate potential water-related threats and propose innovative design solutions for resilient water systems

In an ever-evolving regulatory landscape, it is important to maintain the integrity of design and maintenance programs. How can you keep up with changing regulations while planning and designing your stormwater measures? Panelists from around the country will share how their regions balance compliance and maintenance.

Whether it is keeping constant with sustainable stormwater policies in areas of drought, identifying existing and future flood risks with floodplain management or looking to state permitting agencies for potential changes, the panelists will discuss how they maintain and manage stormwater with changes in extreme weather, permits and regulations. 

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Understand the latest changes in stormwater regulations at federal, state, and local levels
• Explore best practices for maintaining stormwater infrastructure to ensure long-term performance and regulatory compliance
• Integrate adaptable stormwater management solutions for future compliance

Stormwater management (SWM) ponds play a crucial role in flood control and water quality treatment across Canada and the United States. Over time, these ponds accumulate sediment containing soil particles and urban contaminants. Municipalities and private owners often face high costs for sediment disposal, compounded by dwindling landfill space and increased environmental concerns. This session explores a 17-year study analyzing sediment from 121 SWM ponds to assess contaminant sources, leachability, and ecotoxicity. Attendees will gain insight into sediment characterization, contamination risks, and sustainable management practices.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

•  Understand typical stormwater management pond sediment chemistry.
•  Explain how typical laboratory analysis results can over-estimate sediment beneficial reuse risks.
•  Understand how chemistry forensics can re-define safe beneficial reuse opportunities for most stormwater pond sediments.

Coastal erosion is a complex physical process which involves the movement of sediments in both cross-shore and alongshore directions. Sediment movement occurs under waves, currents, and even the wind. Sandy beaches are complex dynamic environments that are constantly in motion due to typical and episodic storm events. There are many Federal and State level datasets available to users when working on coastal erosion projects.

Communicating the net movement of sediment has traditionally involved leveraging historically known positions of the shoreline or bluff edge and developing a rate of land loss or gain. Some of these data sets are the basis of regulatory frameworks while others are provided to ensure that individuals are aware of the risks of the shoreline. There are many ways to stem the impacts of coastal erosion and current state-of-the-science is around implementing nature-based solutions.

This breakout section will introduce fundamental principles of coastal erosion, discuss data that is available from various sources to support analysis, and some examples of strategies that are being used to mitigate erosion.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Interpret coastal erosion rates available through various agencies.
• Describe the factors that drive sediment motion in the nearshore.
• Apply methods used to mitigate coastal erosion.

Alexandra builds upon more than 60 years of global name recognition to engage people who expect to hear credible environmental information from the third generation of this pioneering family of explorers. 

For millions around the globe, “Cousteau” is synonymous with discovery and protection of our natural world.

Born into this extraordinary legacy, Alexandra embarked on her first expedition to Easter Island at just four months old. By the age of three, she had already toured Egypt, Tunisia, Uganda, and Kenya, exploring the world in the arms of her father, Philippe Cousteau. Following in the footsteps of her legendary grandfather, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, she learned to dive with SCUBA from Captain Cousteau himself at the age of seven, immersing her in a lifelong connection to the ocean.

Alexandra brings this heritage of adventure and discovery into a compelling, modern call to action, inspiring audiences around the world—from policymakers and corporate leaders to students and grassroots communities. With a unique ability to connect with diverse groups, she delivers powerful messages of hope and action, urging us all to join her in the mission to protect and restore our planet's oceans.

This session will not offer a certificate for 1.0 Professional Development Hour (PDH)