Rainfall Data- A 100-year storm is no longer every 100 years. Take a look from the national level at changes occurring in the upper atmosphere triggering intensity and longevity shifts in weather patterns at the surface. Gain an understanding of the weather events threatening water safety, analyze rainfall data and get insight into how to use this data to mitigate weather risks.  

Coastal Erosion Control- With rising sea levels risks, coastal cities are implementing coastal erosion control measures to mitigate the impacts and protect residential and commercial areas from floods. Explore erosion control best practices and trends and challenges from coastal communities in this session. 

Flood Control- As wet weather intensifies across the United States, more and more states are implementing flood control measures to protect their communities. Learn about the latest trends and best management practices in flood control today. 

Beneficial Reuse of Sediment- The method of reusing sediment helps repurpose the material for uses such as habitat restoration and beach nourishment. In this session, we explore trends and best practices for beneficial reuse of sediment and sludge, including how it can help with wetland restoration.  

Alexandra Cousteau

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.

Jamie Houle PhD

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.  

Session Learning Objectives: 

• -By the end of this session participants will be able to identify current trends in regulatory approaches to stormwater management.
• -Participants will be able to identify ways to track and account for stormwater control measure performance
• -By the end of the session participants will be able to identify technical sources of up-to-date scientific information to implement more sustainable stormwater management approaches.

Environmental Activist, Ocean Advocate & Storyteller

Co-Founder, Oceans2050

Senior Advisor, OCEANA

Jamie Houle PhD

Director/Vice Chair

University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center/NMSA

Renewing an Urban Neighborhood Through Flood Control Innovations
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.

Stormwater Management Pond Sediment – Valuable Resource or Costly Waste?
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.

Low and Behold - Barometric Changes and Amplified Storm Events
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.

Coastal Erosion – Causes, Datasets, and Mitigation
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.