CitiesGoGreen Magazine is a monthly publication appearing in both digital and printed editions. Its mission is to encourage effective movement by cities and other local governments toward sustainability.
The digital edition resembles the print edition, containing in addition numerous links to relevant information and examples. The links for each issue are collected and made available on the website.
CitiesGoGreen is a project focused on answering the question, "How can cities and other local governments become sustainable as quickly and effectively as possible?" The magazines include methods and policies for sustainability, conference listings, experiences, news and information. The subscription online is FREE!
The CitiesGoGreen website is designed for discussion and commentary, an ongoing source of ideas and connections.
The News-Notes at www.epa.gov/newsnotes is a newletter published by the EPA that summarizes information on nonpoint stormwater news at a national level. It is a great resource. The newsletter’s cover page includes hyperlinks to each section, article, and announcement listed below.
ESCN - Erosion & Sediment Control Network
Good stuff here when you've got some time... http://www.escn.tv/The left picture is the TV show and the right picture is erosion control BMPs with John McCullugh - simply click on one. Also, click on the Land and Water magazine logo to view some of their articles in case you don't subscribe. They usually post a couple key articles.
CALIFORNIA WATER BOARDS
The CA Water Boards are pleased to offer the free multilingual California Storm Water Toolbox, a comprehensive set of educational and outreach tools developed as part of the Board's Erase the Waste campaign. These action-oriented tools are free to all interested parties. The Erase the Waste campaign, sponsored by the Water Boards, is a public education program, working to reduce harmful storm water pollution and improve the environment of the region’s coastal and inland communities. To engage residents in the issue of storm water pollution prevention, the campaign has taken an innovative approach by focusing on the compelling health problem of storm water pollution, which affects the health and safety of families and children, in addition to focusing on the environmental effects.
http://www.cwp.org This is a great national organization related to stormwater and watershed protection. They publish many great technical and educational ideas for purchase or for free use.
GREEN VALUES Stormwater Toolbox
The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) is a 28-year old organization that develops tools and methods for sustainable economic development. The Green Values Stormwater Toolbox was originally developed primarily for use by planners, engineers and other municipal staff. As a result, they've tried to err on the side of giving too much technical information.
This web page includes information on how to calculate the value of stormwater infiltration practices, such as rain gardens, pervious pavement or green roofs, into your site design. It provides financial and hydrological benefits based on your site conditions, including everything from size of site to type of soil.
The Let's Keep it Clean Campaign is a collaborative effort between different Cities, Counties, State agencies, Water Management Organizations and Watershed Districts in the state to help generate ideas and materials for stormwater educaiton efforts. this is a great spot to download educational ideas, PowerPoint presentations for topics ranging from TMDL to fertilizer education, advertisement ideas, etc.
I have used their ideas for items like utility bill inserts and newsarticles! Please help support this idea by making use of it!
LOON COMMONS - a Blog about Minnesota’s Environment
Are you wondering “what the heck is a blog?” See Loon Commons, an online blog forum for current and emerging environmental and conservation issues in Minnesota recently launched by the Minnesota Environmental Partnership (MEP). Check it out athttp://www.looncommons.org/
METRO BLOOMS
Metro Blooms has a lot of great educational opportunites, grants for native plantings, workshops for rain garden installation, rain barrel sales and other activities. Please check out their web site at www.metroblooms.org.
METROPOLITAN COUNCIL - WATER CONSERVATION TOOLBOX
The Metropolitan Council has a new Toolbox that includes tips, resources, and statistics to assist communities with water conservation and provide tips for residents. In an average year, the Twin Cities metropolitan area uses about twenty percent of its treated drinking water for outdoor purposes - such as lawn and garden watering and car washing. In dry years that it can climb to over 30%. However, this figure could be reduced significantly if water conservation were practiced throughout the year and not just during dry periods. Check it out at:
The MPCA will using a USEPA document as their guidance in designing their audit or evaluation program. Here is the information and hyperlinks for this document.
Please don’t be completely put off by the length of the audit documents. The documents are written in a manner that makes it relatively easy to scan them for the information that is useful, especially if you are a speed reader. The worksheets in Appendix B should be useful and accessible.
The MPCA said that they intend to begin the evaluations in late January 2009. How fast or in what order is unknown. The do plan on giving about 60 days notice before they schedule your city for an audit.
The MPCA intends to complete all audits by the beginning of the next permit cycle (2011) and to have most done before they start the process of writing their next permit (in 2010) document. That is a lot of reviews in a short time! There are now 266 MS4 permitees.
ADVICE: Draw up an organization chart of everyone involved in your stormwater permit program and make sure you hold a meeting with them all before the end of this year to go over your program. Make sure and file everything, especially construction site inspection records as they do look for them!
SO what are they looking for? They want to see what you have done, inspect construction sites to make sure you are enforcing correctly and then provide recommendations and options on how to achieve compliance with your permit requirements if needed. They will be identifying program deficiencies and determine what is needed to meet compliance and what is not needed. They want to see how your MS4 program is functioning and the overall program effectiveness at the local level.
WHAT will they evaluate? It could be one MCM or it could be all 6. It could all be indoors in the office or it could include field evaluations too. In other words, you won't know until you get your notice so be prepared for everything!
ONE COMMENT - the MPCA has stated that they feel that MOST of the SWPPPs are inadequate but that they did manage to meet the minimum requirements for getting them public noticed. Be prepared for a close look.
MPCA - GENERAL STORMWATER PERMIT GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS
The Draft Guidance Document for the General Permit to authorize storm water discharge for MS4s was revised on March 8, 2006. Please follow the link below to find the document.
On Dec. 2, the final, full-color version of the Minnesota Stormwater Manual was released at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's (MPCA) Web site. November 2006 - It has now been updated! Follow this link to see what changes have been made.
Want to know what the Stormwater Steering Committee is doing up to? This is a great place to find all the latest and greatest that they are looking into.
In 2004, a team of public and private organizations joined together to take on this complex, challenging problem. This team, now subdivided into seven goal-driven workgroups, is called the Stormwater Steering Committee.
The Minnesota Lakes Assocation and Rivers Council of Minnesota have officially merged to form Minnesota Waters. Go to www.minnesotawaters.org to learn more about this new group and to sign up for their new newsletter - The Confluence. This is a great newsletter and I encourage everyone to sign up! The email newsletter is free (at least when this was posted it was)!
NEW LAWN CARE PROGRAM from Northeast Minnesota - Protect Water Resources
To help curb toxic pesticides and garden chemicals from running off lawns and down storm sewers into Lake Superior, the Environmental Association for Great Lakes Education (EAGLE) and the Duluth Community Garden Program (DCGP) recently created the “Safe Lawn and Garden Campaign” to help northeastern Minnesota residents protect local water resources. Funded by a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Prevention and Assistance Grant, the Safe Lawn and Garden Campaign staff will spend the next year developing a variety of materials featuring easy-to-implement steps people can take to nurture their yards. Through a series of workshops in 2007, the goal of the program is to encourage shoreland homeowners and businesses to emulate the demonstration site's successes rather than use toxic landscape chemicals to be weed- and pest-free. For more information, see both organizations' Web sites: www.greatlakesdirectory.com and www.duluthcommunitygarden.org or contact Carrie Slater Duffy, 218-726-1828 or MPCA contact Anne Perry Moore at 218-723-2356.
North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG)
I found this site while looking for ideas on employee training. They have some nice PowerPoint presentations, posters and videos on their web site. Check it out! NCTCOG is a voluntary association of, by and for local governments, established to assist local governments in planning for common needs, cooperating for mutual benefit, and coordinating for sound regional development.
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency staff worked with the authors, Daniel Shaw and Rusty Schmidt, to produce this valuable reference. The goal is to improve stormwater treatment and management practices by using native plants. http://www.pca.state.mn.us/publications/manuals/stormwaterplants.html
PORTLAND GREEN STREET PROGRAM
In April 2007, the Portland City Council approved a Green street policy to promote and incorporate the use of green street facilities in public and private development. A street that uses vegetated facilities to manage stormwater runoff at its source is referred to as a Green Street. A Green Street is a sustainable stormwater strategy that meets regulatory compliance and resource protection goals by using a natural systems approach to manage stormwater, reduce flows, improve water quality and enhance watershed health. Some of the benefits they have found include:
- Reduce polluted stormwater entering Portland’s rivers and streams; - Improve pedestrian and bicycle safety; - Divert stormwater from the sewer system and reduce basement flooding, sewer backups and combined sewer overflows (CSOs) to the Willamette River; - Reduce impervious surface so stormwater can infiltrate to recharge groundwater and surface water; - Increase urban green space; - Improve air quality and reduce air temperatures; - Reduce demand on the city’s sewer collection system and the cost of constructing expensive pipe systems
The SNWA has a lot of great ideas on water conservation and how to promote the use of water conserving features, including water conservation rebates, use of water efficient landscaping, etc. Plus, it is a great looking page too!
Please check out the following link for more information on "The Cost and Effectiveness of Stormwater Management Practices" by Peter Weiss, John Gulliver, Andrew Erickson from the University of Minnesota. www.cts.umn.edu/publications/reports/reportdetail.pl?id=1023
They now have a series of newsletters discussing the status of research being done on the effectiveness of stormwater treatment BMP's. Please follow this link to read what it is all about!
