Under normal conditions, the water level in the storm drain is always above the top of the 30" pipe in our stormwater drain, referred to as the normal pool water elevation, which is 7 feet. The 30" pipes flow water to a series of interconnected lagoon / pond at the same elevation, and then to surrounding wetlands.

What I cannot grasp is the how when it rains (a lot), the water flows into the drain, then into the lagoon, but the inlet in the lagoon is below the water level? What physics are involved to push that water down the pipes to the lagoon?

For those that have their CESCL certifications, what was your training and testing like? From what I can tell it’s 16 hours of online training followed by a test. A coworker and I both need to complete this in the next couple months so we were planning to do it simultaneously. Can we pause the training at any time? Or does it need to be completed in two 8-hour sessions? Does the training cover everything that’s included in the test? There’s a $500 fee to take the training and test so I want to make sure we’re prepared and there aren’t any surprises. Anything that you can add is appreciated.

I’m very interested in reading up on the topics covered in the CPSWQ. I’m coming from a different background (chemical oceanography and watershed science). Can anyone recommend a resource for me? Should I just go ahead and buy the CPSWQ study manual, or is there some seminal book on the subject? I’m doing some recon to see how interested I really am before considering a career change, so don’t need to take any exams yet. Thanks.

I need to estimate annual loads of a particular pollutant. I have the annual hydrograph and event mean concentrations (EMCs) for three storms during the wet season. How do I extrapolate the EMCs to other storms where I do not have pollutant data?

I'm reaching out to the community for some advice and support. I'm currently working as a stormwater technician for a municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4), and I'm the only person in my department. It's a unique challenge, and I'm trying to make the most out of my role, but it can be overwhelming managing everything on my own.

If you have any tips, best practices, or resources that could help me in this position, I'd greatly appreciate it. Here are a few specific areas where l'm looking for guidance:

1. Prioritizing Tasks: With so many responsibilities - from inspections and maintenance to compliance and public outreach - how do you prioritize tasks effectively when you're flying solo?

2. Time Management: Any strategies for managing time and staying organized would be really helpful. What tools or systems do you use to keep track of tasks and deadlines?

3. Community Engagement: I'm also responsible for engaging with the community. What are some effective ways to educate and involve residents in stormwater management when you have limited time and resources?

I’m eager to learn from your experiences and insights. Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance for your help.

it’s been two days since the 15 inches of rain stopped and our storm drains are near full level and water is not moving. In dry conditions, these drains are empty several feet deep.

is it normal for water to still be this high is a street storm drain, after 2 days of no rain, despite getting 15 inches?

Hey all I just started a job as a stormwater technician. I will be handling the illicit discharge detection program. I want to use the flowchart method (test ammonia, potassoum, flouride, and sirfactants) to test any discharge samples. I am having a hard time finding an easy way to test for surfactants. I got a probe from Hach but the test involves using benzene which is quite hazardous. I would like to find another method if possible.

edited for spelling

I live in a small town in upstate New York. For background, we moved into this house in November 2023. We had relatively no water problems other than some spongey grass in a low area of our front yard. If you look at the picture you can see that there is a culvert sticking out of the hill, that was just put in by the town yesterday while I was at work (with zero notice). Apparently, after speaking with the towns highway department, it has been plugged for 20 years and the town board wanted them to uncover it because houses further down the road were experiencing water issues. Allegedly back when this culvert was functioning (before it was plugged and covered for 20 years) there was a ditch running through our property to a creek behind the house. This may have worked then but now since time has passed this ditch is not graded properly and will not get water to the creek. Furthermore we got our first rain, and all of the water is pooling up right at the bottom of the hill where our grass was already spongey, along with that all the litter from the side of the road (wrappers, cigarettes, etc.) are also in my front yard. What can I do about this, I am a new homeowner and would appreciate some help.

Hey all,

Started learning on the job recently, and I have a question about BMP deficiencies being replaced/repaired/corrected within 72 hours of identification. I noticed that in other instances, the CGP was explicit about business days (i.e. 48 hours = 2 business days for visual inspections of discharge), but not so much for the corrections. Is it 72 hours from identification or 3 business days from identification? Appreciate if anyone can clear this up for me. Apologies if this is the wrong forum for this type of question; please point me in the right direction if it is. Thank you!

Carollo Engineers is an internationally recognized environmental engineering firm that specializes in the planning, design, and construction of all things water. We are seeking a Stormwater Client Lead/Senior Project Manager to support our vision of becoming the best water consulting firm.

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https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/comments/1dxpuds/unclogging_the_neighbourhood/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

The title doesn't do my question justice. I'm planning a small, new townhouse development (two small buildings of 7 units each) and will end up with about 1/2 an acre of impervious area when it's all said and done. I've been speaking with an engineer about the project and I am trying to avoid an "over the top" stormwater drainage system. Ideally, I'd like to not have 350 ft of RCP, a full retention pond, etc. The cost of the project will go nuts with all of that.

Given the impervious area will be about half an acre, can I just run/slope the stormwater to a bioretention area and call it a day? Or perhaps just add one catch basin and run it to the bioretention pond, eliminating the need to connect to the city stormwater system 300+ feet away?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGra6SLDptQ

Just to reiterate for those that may have missed my previous post:

I am currently undergoing a research thesis as a part of my uni degree. I am trying to design a filter basket that can be placed inside stormwater drains to prevent vegetation, sediments and rubbish from passing through into our drainage systems. My main goal is to capture vegetation and hence stop it getting into our pipes. Currently, it gets swept into our drains every time it rains and just rots away, thus releasing huge nutrient loads of nitrogen and phosphorous which allow harmful bacteria to thrive that eventually makes its way into our waterways. (This is now becoming a scary issue all around the world and nothing seems to be getting done).

This being the case, I need to devise an appropriate filter media to be used in the drain basket. Obviously drains are there to prevent flooding so flow loss/pressure drop is still a key priority. This makes it a juggling act between how fine a filter I can go and hydraulic capacity. The ultimate goal is to be able to capture sediment down to 63µm.

Can anyone provide me with some potential filter mediums that could potentially suit this task that I could look into?

Thanks again for all the comments on the last post.

I am undertaking a research thesis as part of my engineering degree and have chosen stormwater drain filtration as my topic. Initially, I was more interested in stopping plastics from entering our waterways by designing an 'end of pipe' solution. However, after conducting extensive research, I have now realised that plastics are only the tip of the iceberg. The real issue is that when it rains, vegetation ends up in our stormwater systems and begins to rot away. This rotting vegetation provides huge nutrient loads for cyanobacteria to thrive on and our drainage systems make for the perfect conditions for such bacteria. All around Australia we are starting to see these harmful bacterial blooms spreading into our local waterways. It begs the questions, why are we still not doing anything about this? Has anyone else noticed anything in regards to this? I have found it very difficult to get good information on this issue but it seems like the problem is starting to reach boiling point. Would love to hear everyone's thoughts and if you have any information, please reach out.

I'm trying to build a property and I'm limited to 2500 sqft of land disturbing activity to avoid a storm water plan. The footers of the building are considered land disturbing, but not the entire footprint of the slab. I'm being told my parking spots entirely would be considered this as well, however what if I used previous concrete for the with dug footers? Wouldn't the same concept apply as the slab? From what I understand they can also act to hold excess water as well, which should benefit storm water.

I'm at a loss of where to start. The civil engineer I'm working with isn't a storm water expert, and I'm trying to find ways to limit land disturbing activity.

Thank you

How to create a Streeter-Phelps model using #OpenHydroQual https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4z0urClgJA

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Hi all,

I live in a damp part of Australia and have an issue with high moisture in the front of my property which is translating to rising damp in my house. I've been advised to dig a 14 meter trench at the front of my property to a depth of 1 meter. I will use ag-pipe, geofabric, and gravel to create a drain which runs to a pit which will pump the water out to a proper drain. Quotes for this work are ridiculously high and I feel like I can do it myself. The challenge I have is the stormwater pit where the ag-pipe will drain to, and a a submersible pump will operate. I need this pit to be about 1.3 meters deep.
I saw this video where a guy used an old wheele bin as a stormwater pit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKBKufVlVvY This would be much deeper, and cheaper than commercial stormwater pits and would suit my needs perfectly. Does anyone else have experience of using a wheelie bin for this purpose and are you happy with the results? I wouldn't want it to collapse under pressure from the surrounding soil and clay. I also wouldn't want it to suddenly pop up from the ground due to water pressure underneath

I know they’re subsurface structures but is there a hatch or something I could look for to locate it? Gotta get one cleaned out as part of a contract and of course the client doesn’t have the asbuilts.

Any suggestions on how to landscape around the community stormwater drain in my back yard? It looks repulsive, but I need to ensure I don’t use plants with drain-busting roots or drain-clogging leaves. The HOA rules indicate you must plant at least 3 feet from the swales. Rules are less specific about what you can plant at the top of the drainage basin where the rocks are located. Problem I see is that the swales lead to the basin, so I would not be able to put anything within three feet. Wouldn’t plants help prevent erosion?

Thanks.