Stormwater Landscape Maintenance Training
In many cities and towns, homeowner associations (HOAs) own and are required to maintain some of the stormwater infrastructure in their neighborhoods, including ponds, swales, check dams, shoreline plantings, rain gardens, pervious paving, and other features located on common property.
Some of this stormwater infrastructure includes mechanical pollution separators that are connected to buried pipes that are accessed by ground-level covers.
Municipalities hold an Operations and Maintenance Plan (O&M) on file for each neighborhood’s stormwater infrastructure, and these Plans contain the maintenance requirements for the types of facilities that were established when the development was originally under design and construction. Responsibility for these O&M plans was passed from the builder to the HOA upon completion of the development; however, many HOAs and their landscape contractors are unware of these responsibilities.
Local governments are beginning to enforce these requirements since the lack of maintenance can/is having a negative impact on important local water quality and quantity management.
The Training
The White River Alliance, in conjunction with local municipalities, designed the Stormwater Landscape Maintenance Training Seminar in order to help Homeowners Associations, landscape contractors, and land developers understand local maintenance requirements and how to read O&M manuals in order to avoid corrective action. The goal is to maintain properly functioning stormwater treatment facilities in order to prevent flooding, pollution, and other stormwater-related impacts. This routine maintenance will keep infrastructure costs down in the long run.
This seminar includes detailed content on pond maintenance, green infrastructure and the use of native plants to address stormwater issues. Information on landscape design basics, and installation and maintenance issues associated with native plant communities is also a primary focus. Attendees will be able to interface with local municipal storm water managers that can field questions about regulatory issues and who’s responsible for what elements of stormwater infrastructure.
Schedule
The Stormwater Landscape Maintenance Training Seminar is offered annually in early December from 8:30 am-3:30 pm. Lunch, snacks, and workshop materials are provided.
The workshop typically costs less than $20.
