2017 Winter Conference Agenda

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2017 - PRE-CONFERENCE

11:30 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.

Registration Desk Open

12:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Tour of Local Stormwater Projects (additional fee applies)
Join us for a tour of innovative stormwater projects in the Orlando area coordinated by the City of Orlando and local partners.  Register early as a limited number of seats are available and we anticipate the tour filling up quickly.  Transportation will leave the hotel lobby promptly at 12:30 p.m. and will return no later than 4:00 p.m. Please dress comfortably and wear comfortable walking shoes. 

1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
(3 PDH / 3 CEC)

Use of Reasonable Assurance Plans as Alternatives to TMDLs (additional fee applies)
FDEP regulations establish a scientific methodology for identifying surface waters that do not meet water quality criteria.  Such waters are placed on the Impaired Waters List where a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is eventually prepared and adopted.  However, alternatives exist and stakeholders should consider the Reasonable Assurance Plan (RAP) process!  RAPs are a preferred alternative to the TMDL process as they more expeditiously focus limited resources on addressing the identified impairment.  Under the RAP process, local stakeholders gather the necessary documentation and conduct activities to assure that their proposed control mechanisms will restore the waterbody.  RAPs must be adopted prior to the adoption of a TMDL.  They are reviewed and adopted by FDEP, and subject to EPA approval.  The presentation will review the RAP process and will discuss several case studies.  Audience participation will be encouraged.

Tony Janicki, PhD, President
Janicki Environmental

Tiffany Busby, President
Wildwood Consulting

Brett Cunningham, PE Managing Director
Jones Edmunds & Associates

Julie Espy, Administrator, Water Quality Assessment Program
Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Judy Grim, Director, Road & Bridge and Stormwater
Volusia County

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2017 - REGULAR CONFERENCE

8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Registration Desk Open

8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Continental Breakfast by Registration Desk

8:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
(1.25 PDH / 1.25 CEC)

Welcome and Keynote Address                                                                                                         

Tiffany Busby, President
Florida Stormwater Association

Noah Valenstein, Secretary
Florida Department of Environmental Protection

What's Ahead for 2018?
While 2016 was the “Year of Water” interest remains high in further measures dealing with springs protection, septic tanks, reuse and water supply issues.  This session will review the status of recent water quality restoration initiatives, and likely legislation and regulatory programs to watch for in 2018.  Audience participation will be encouraged.

Tiffany Busby, President
Florida Stormwater Association

Brett Cyphers, Executive Director
Northwest Florida WMD

Kendra Goff, PhD, State Toxicologist and Chief
FDOH Bureau of Environmental Health

Noah Valenstein, Secretary
Florida Department of Environmental Protection

9:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.

Coffee Break in Exhibit Hall (Exhibit Hall Open from 9:45 a.m.– 6:20 p.m.)

10:15 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.
(.5 PDH / .5 CEC)

Public-Private Partnership Reduces Harmful Discharges
[FSA 2017 Excellence Award Winner] The Caulkins Water Farm began as a pilot project to test the viability of using a fallow citrus grove as a reservoir for Lake Okeechobee discharges.  In 2016, the actual treatment was 3½ times greater than projections!  Due to its success, the project is currently being expanded to incorporate the balance of the 3,000 acre property.  This presentation will provide an overview of the water farm concept and the pilot project, how the public-private partnership works, and summarize the successful results realized thus far.

Melissa Corbett, PE, President
The MilCor Group

Boyd Gunsalus, Lead Environmental Scientist
South Florida Water Management District

10:50 a.m. – 11:25 a.m.
(.5 PDH / .5 CEC)

Highly Sophisticated Integrated Models for Urban Stormwater
The City of Cape Coral has been evaluating local and regional solutions for water supply and stormwater management using integrated modeling tools. A key issue is the ability to optimize the hydraulic system and operable control structures to provide a balance between flood control and water supply during seasonally changing wet and dry conditions.  An integrated model is used by the City to evaluate various solutions for water supply and stormwater management, and to optimize the hydraulic system to balance flood control and water supply during various conditions. Two popular integrated tools (MIKE SHE/MIKE 11 and ICPR4) will be compared in this presentation.

Maria Loinaz, PE, PhD, Senior Project Engineer
ADA Engineering

Proactive TMDL Compliance Strategy for OSTDS Replacement                                                         Numerous communities from Florida to New England are faced with mitigating nutrient impacts to environmentally sensitive areas.  Roughly 30% of Florida’s population disposes of domestic wastewater using onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems. An estimated 2.6 million septic tanks discharge over 400 million gallons of wastewater per day.  This presentation will focus on the challenges and solutions encountered during the planning, design and construction of wastewater collection systems within coastal communities.  Case studies and lessons learned applicable to Florida communities will be reviewed.

Maureen Wingfield, PE, Senior Engineer
GHD Services

J. Jefferson Gregg, PE, BCEE, Senior Project Manager
GHD Services

12:00 p.m. – 1:20 p.m.

Luncheon                                                                                                                                                     Presentation: FSA Educational Foundation’s Scholarship Award

1:20 p.m. – 1:55 p.m.
(.5 PDH  /  .5 CEC)

Growth Signaling Long-Term Investment in Expansion of CCWSD
Recent growth patterns in northeast and southeast areas of Collier County have resulted in opportunities for the expansion of economically feasible water and sewer services from the Collier County Water Sewer District (CCWSD).  This presentation will review the County’s plans for expansion to provide reliable, integrated, high-quality potable and irrigation water in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner.

George Yilmaz, Head, Department of Public Utilities
Collier County

1:55 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
(.5 PDH  /  .5 CEC)

How to Get Private Ponds to Carry Their Load and Support Water Quality
Pinellas County implemented a Private Stormwater Management System Compliance Program in 2013 to support water quality improvement efforts.  Find out how the program was implemented, why your jurisdiction might need one, how to create incentives for compliance and what lessons were learned in the first four years of implementation.

Melanie Weed, CPM, ENV SP, Program Coordinator
Pinellas County Environmental Management

Sean Vandergracht, CFM, Engineering Specialist II
Pinellas County Environmental Management

2:30 p.m. – 3:05 p.m.
(.5 PDH  /  .5 CEC)

Sometimes the Answer is Just No
From the high times of the building boom, to the dark days of the bubble burst, to present day:  How does a city or county manage its residents’ expectation of service while populations increase but budgets remain flat?  The City of Palm Coast changed its culture from reactive to proactive, and from meeting expectations to managing expectations.  The change has now become the norm for staff and residents alike. The City has learned that sometimes the answer is just no.

Donald Schrager, MBA, Construction Site Supervisor
City of Palm Coast

3:05 p.m. – 3:35 p.m.

Soda Break in Exhibit Hall

3:35 p.m. – 4:10 p.m.
(.5 PDH  /  .5 CEC)

EPA 319(h) and TMDL Water Quality Restoration Grants
This presentation will provide information on funding opportunities offered by the FDEP and the NonPoint Source Management Program, including 319 NonPoint Source Grants and TMDL Quality Restoration Grant programs to potential applicants around the state.

Michael Barr, Environmental Specialist
Florida Department of Environmental Protection

4:10 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
(.5 PDH  /  .5 CEC)

Nitrogen Reduction Strategies for the Caloosahatchee Estuary
As part of ongoing restoration work related to the Caloosahatchee Estuary, Lee County completed a project to identify opportunities for nitrogen load reduction.  The project evaluated loading “hot spots” by subwatershed, identified potential areas for load reduction projects and evaluated potential load reductions through nitrogen source control, resulting in a comprehensive ranking of potential projects that the County could implement.

Steven Peene, PhD, Principal Water Resources
Applied Technology and Management

Lisa Kreiger, TMDL Coordinator
Lee County

Jon Perry, GISP, Scientist
Janicki Environmental

4:45 p.m. – 5:20 p.m.
(.5 PDH  /  .5 CEC)

Improving Watersheds through Community GI Infrastructure Planning
Green infrastructure (GI) is an approach to water management that protects natural drainage patterns and mimics a site’s natural hydrologic cycle.  Stakeholders often assume that GI will be costly and difficult to implement, neccessitating the need for a coherent effort that considers engineering, policy, economics and community engagement.  This presentation describes the efforts to enhance community master planning for redevelopment areas by providing conceptual GI plans and supporting documents, allowing a community to prioritize retrofit options as they seek to implement their personalized program.

Donald Carpenter, PhD, PE, LEED AP, Vice President
Drummond Carpenter

5:20 p.m. – 6:20 p.m.

 Reception in Exhibit Hall

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2017 - REGULAR CONFERENCE

8:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Registration Desk Open

8:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Exhibit Hall Open (Exhibit Hall Open from 8:00 a.m.– 10:40 p.m.)

8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Continental Breakfast in Exhibit Hall

8:30 a.m. – 9:35 a.m. 
(1 PDH  /  1 CEC)

Guiding Water Resource Decisions Using WQ Monitoring Data
This presentation provides examples of how routine water quality data can be used to describe trends and evaluate compliance with permit requirements.  We will discuss a new reporting tool developed in Pinellas County which presents annual monitoring results in a concise and informative manner for local elected officials, FDEP and the public.  Recent trends show that nutrient concentrations are consistently declining, which are easily observable using the reporting tool.  An initial assessment of factors contributing to such declines point to source control programs as a driving factor, which could have significant implications for other urban communities in Florida.

Tony Janicki, PhD, President
Janicki Environmental
 
Kelli Hammer Levy, Division Director
Pinellas County Environmental Management

Michael Wessel, Senior Vice President
Janicki Environmental

9:35 a.m. – 10:10 a.m.
(.5 PDH  / . 5 CEC)

Use of an ArcNLET Model to Obtain N Load Reduction Credit
The City of Bonita Springs modified FDEP’s ArcNLET model to evaluate nitrogen load reduction from a septic system removal program.  Model modifications improved representation of effluent flow and transport in the low hydraulic gradient environments of south Florida.  The modifications produced a greater loading reduction than standard methodology and the credit received from ArcNLET modeling equated to a savings of approximately $500,000 of taxpayer funds based on work already paid for by Bonita Springs utilities customers.

Terry Bengtsson, PG, Hydrogeologist
Johnson Engineerin

Matt Feeney, PE, Public Works Director
City of Bonita Springs

10:10 a.m. – 10:40 a.m.

Coffee Break in Exhibit Hall 

10:40 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
(.5 PDH  /  .5 CEC)

Unseen Aspects of Sea Level Rise: Accounting for Groundwater Impacts
Scientists across the world agree that sea levels are rising and will continue to do so.  Even the most conservative estimates of sea level rise predict significant level of service impairments to drainage, water supply and transportation infrastructure. This presentation presents a series of studies (using ICPR v4 at real-world sites) demonstrating the implications of ignoring the groundwater component in stormwater designs.

Mark Troilo, PE, CFM, Principal Engineer
Singhofen and Associates

Chad Drummond, PE, DWRE, BCEE, Principal Engineer
Drummond Carpenter

11:15 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.
(.5 PDH  /  .5 CEC)

The Front Lines of Sea Level Rise: A Resilient Design
Sea level rise is a daily reality at Sunset Islands in the City of Miami Beach.  The City's solution utilizes a Design-Build approach to construct resilient infrastructure in the public right-of-way. The finished product is a combination of raising roadways, applying new pavement technologies, a new outfall with water quality treatment and a pump station.  The presentation will review this approach to dealing with sea level rise.

Brent Whitfield, PE, Director of Water Resources
Chen Moore and Associates

Patrick Kaimrajh, PE, Senior Engineer
Chen Moore and Associates

11:50 a.m. 

Adjourn