• Acknowledges four winners at Fifth Annual Stormwater Conference
SAN DIEGO, CA, Nov. 3, 2009 -- The California Stormwater Quality Association presented four awards at its Fifth Annual Stormwater Conference awards luncheon on November 3, 2009 at the Hilton San Diego at Mission Bay. The CASQA awards program identifies and recognizes exemplary leadership, outstanding projects, activities and contributors in the field of stormwater quality management.
"The design of our communities and the way we live within our communities have a tremendous influence on the quality of urban runoff -- runoff that flows into storm drains and then ultimately into receiving waters such as creeks, rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Unfortunately, pollutants that become entrained in urban runoff have contributed to the degradation of some receiving waters. The California Stormwater Quality Association is proud to honor these projects and those responsible for them because their innovation, contributions, and dedication lead to the improvement of urban runoff quality, and in turn the quality of receiving waters, in California," said Kerry Schmitz, CASQA Director and Awards Committee Chairman.
This year's four award recipients received recognition for excellence in four categories:
• The Outstanding Programmatic Stormwater BMP Award will be presented to the San Diego County Office of Education for their Municipal Stormwater Management Consortium that assists school districts in developing and implementing Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs) for school bus maintenance facilities.
• The Outstanding Structural Stormwater BMP Award will be presented to the City of Santee for the Forester Creek Improvement Project, which is a restoration project that resulted in improved water quality, increased flood control capacity and restored beneficial uses for the creek.
• The Outstanding Regional Stormwater News, Information, Outreach, and Media Award will be presented to the City of Santa Rosa -- Storms and Creeks Program for the Santa Rosa High School Macroinvertebrate Bioassessment Program. This two week curriculum provides opportunities for outdoor, hands on assessments of local creeks to promote stormwater awareness with local high school students.
• The Outstanding Sustainable Stormwater Project Award will be presented to Mercy Housing for the Colonia San Martin Project. Colonia San Martin is a recently completed 60-unit transit-oriented infill development in Sacramento County with a density of 20 units per acre and a wide array of other sustainable features such as vegetated stormwater quality bioswales, extensive use of drought-tolerant water efficient landscaping, community gathering areas, and a community garden.
CASQA awards are available to both public and private projects and individuals from public agencies and private businesses. Award candidates must be nominated by a CASQA member and are evaluated on demonstrated excellence, ingenuity, creativity, professionalism and documented results. Awards may be made at local, regional and statewide levels.
About CASQA
The California Stormwater Quality Association, founded in 1989, helps develop stormwater management programs and regulations that are technically and economically feasible, provide significant environmental benefits and effect compliance with State and Federal laws. Through its efforts to improve stormwater management practices, CASQA is on its way to creating cleaner waterways and beaches throughout California.
The association collaborates with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the California State Water Resources Control Board and Regional Water Quality Control Boards, municipalities, special districts and businesses to achieve effective stormwater quality management programs in California. Membership consists of individuals and groups from government agencies, businesses, science organizations, development groups and construction groups. For more information about CASQA or to become a member, please visit www.casqa.org.
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