"This year's StormCon was a huge success with 1100 participants attending the event. These attendees in addition to the 185 exhibit booths, conference sessions, opening general session panel discussion, and numerous other networking events confirm that StormCon is now firmly established as the industry's premier meeting place for stormwater managers seeking a neutral setting in which to collaborate and share their expertise." - StormCon Newsletter

 


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Storm Water Management

 

There is an old cliché that rain washes away impurities and leaves the world clean as it passes. The truth is that stormwaters pick up impurities from cities and housing developments and carry them into rivers, creeks, lakes and other bodies of water we drink and swim in.

The original purpose of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Stormwater Task Force (LRGVTF) was to have Texas A&M-Kingsville engineering researchers assist the regional cities in putting together an innovative regional stormwater management plan they could present to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), with some critical individualized components and use the new collaborative approach to earn the required Phase II permit. In the time that followed, litigation would push the permit deadline to February 11, 2008, and some cities would become exempt from the Phase II rules. When all was said and done, the remaining 15 cities in the Task Force met the TCEQ deadline, and all 15 cities received a stormwater TPDES permit.

 

 

 

 

Those cities were Alamo, Alton, Brownsville, Donna, Harlingen, La Joya, McAllen, Mission, Palmhurst, Pharr, San Benito, San Juan, Santa Rosa, La Feria and Weslaco. Each city used the regional stormwater management plan developed by the Task Force except for McAllen, which used an independent stormwater management plan, but continued serving in the Task Force and exchanging information. Since then, the LRGVTF has become an important player in regional efforts for environmental compliance, innovative training, and implementation of best management practices (BMPs) to improve water quality in the Valley region. It’s members include municipal leaders, county staff, scientists and engineers, and local environmental professionals.”