USING A COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIP TO MONITOR STORMWATER BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE EFFECTIVENESS: A PROCESS AND PROJECT SUMMARY

A collaborative partnership of public agencies, private consultants, private developers, and the academic community is being successfully applied to monitoring the effectiveness of Best Management Practices (BMPs) used to treat stormwater in southwest Florida within the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program (CHNEP). The resulting publicly available data generated can be used to guide practical stormwater policy revisions by supplying region- and BMP-specific information to policy makers. The public-private-academic partnership provides a mechanism by which the strengths of each partner have combined into a common effort towards completing research projects efficiently, while generating quality data. This partnership has engaged in multiple BMP research projects, including a green roof study, a pervious/impervious pavement study, wet detention/aeration studies, a long term discharge study and a groundwater-surface water interaction study. The studies, some still ongoing, have produced notable results. Variations in stormwater volume and associated pollutant loading discharge are sensitive to site-specific conditions including amount of impervious area, depth to groundwater tables, rainfall distribution, and local geology. Additional monitoring is needed to better understand these relationships. Enhanced local information on BMP function and efficiency will facilitate the creation of treatment trains to best protect downstream receiving waters and meet the needs of natural systems.