Stormwater Committee Quarterly Newsletter

PNCWA SW Committee Quarterly Newsletter

During the first half of 2024, the Stormwater Committee successfully hosted three Stormwater Learning Hours, supported a workshop at the PNCWA Spring Summit, and is currently in the middle of organizing a Service Event at the annual PNCWA Conference in Boise, ID! Please find information on our past and upcoming events below.

Hi everyone and welcome to the Stormwater Committee! This article is the first quarterly newsletter from the Stormwater Committee to provide information on past and upcoming committee events.

2023: A Year in Review

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Thursday, April 27, 12 pm Pacific/1 pm Mountain

On November 5, 2021, the U.S. Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. Since then, the federal government has provided funding for various infrastructure projects. In the Pacific Northwest, funding has been awarded to projects that improve access to clean drinking water, provide access to reliable high-speed internet, repair and rebuild roads and bridges, improve multimodal transportation, upgrade power infrastructure, and provide forest fire protection.

Information on the breakdown of funding given to Idaho, Washington, and Oregon can be found in Part 1 of the blog post series here: Committee Spotlight: Stormwater (pncwa.org)

Join the Stormwater Committee’s next learning hour on Wednesday, January 25, 12 p.m. Pacific/1 p.m. Mountain. John Cook from Vigor will present on the Harbor Island restoration project, which will provide critical habitats for many species, including threatened and endangered salmon at the Harbor Island site on the Lower Duwamish River. Connect via Zoom here:

Hello everyone, and welcome to the PNCWA Stormwater Committee!

Historic Flooding in Yellowstone National Park
By: Shannon Kronz, EIT, Brown, and Caldwell

The beginning of the 2022 water year led to drought conditions throughout the Pacific Northwest region. In April, southwest Montana and surrounding areas experienced higher than average precipitation, which led to increased snowpack in the Yellowstone River watershed. A few months later, between June 10 and13, an atmospheric river brought 0.8-5 inches of rain to the Absaroka and Beartooth mountain ranges, located northeast of Yellowstone. The significant amount of rain from the atmospheric river also caused the snowpack to melt, which, combined, was equivalent to 4-9 inches of rain. The large quantity of precipitation caused historic flooding downstream on the Yellowstone River [1].

Join the Stormwater Committee and Racial & Social Justice Subcommittee (RSJ) learning hour on Thursday, August 25 at 12 p.m. Pacific/1 p.m. Mountain. Jule Schultz from the Spokane Riverkeeper will discuss their efforts as a nonprofit to advocate for the Spokane River while working hand-in-hand with the local tribes.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84351479994
Passcode: Stormwater

Conference Service Event
Make sure you register for the upcoming PNCWA Annual Conference and sign up for the service event on September 11. Join fellow professionals and the Riverkeeper in downtown Spokane to clean up the Spokane River.

Lunch from local food trucks: 12-1 p.m.
River cleanup: 1:30-3:30 p.m.