Allen, Vaikko

Vaikko Allen currently serves as Director of Stormwater Regulatory Management for Contech Engineered Solutions where he assists regulators, engineers and environmental organizations in the development and implementation of stormwater regulations. Throughout his 22 years of stormwater management experience, he has managed stormwater system monitoring programs and development initiatives and participated in numerous work groups providing technical guidance on TMDL implementation, hydromodification, low impact development strategies and industrial stormwater compliance. Mr. Allen holds a bachelor's degree in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of Southern Maine with a concentration in Water Resources. He has also invented several stormwater management systems.

Titles from this speaker

Description: Improving Post-Construction Stormwater Management Program Results through...

Improving Post-Construction Stormwater Management Program Results through Incorporation of Performance Verification Standards for Stormwater Control Measures

Abstract

There are a wide variety of post-construction stormwater management systems available for use in the United States that are intended to mitigate the water quality and hydrologic impacts of urban development. Conventional systems like bioretention, ponds, swales and infiltration trenches have been studied for decades and appear in most stormwater permits or implementation manuals, acceptable as either stand-alone or pretreatment practices. There are also over fifty innovative, often proprietary stormwater management systems currently available that improve on some aspect of conventional public domain systems. In response to an identified need for reliable and comparable performance information for all stormwater control measures (SCMs), the Stormwater Testing and Evaluation of Products and Practices (STEPP) program was initiated and is making progress toward establishing a national testing and verification process. The STEPP program draws heavily on the success of two state level performance verification and certification programs, the Technology Assessment Protocol – Ecology (TAPE) program from the Washington State Department of Ecology and the Filter and Hydrodynamic separator laboratory testing protocols from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). Both programs are already widely referenced outside of their respective state boundaries in stormwater permits and stormwater management manuals. By recognizing performance verification reports and certification statements from these programs, other agencies can avoid the cost, complexity and potential liability of developing their own unique SCM verification programs. This paper identifies more than 20 different references to the TAPE and NJ DEP or NJ CAT programs by jurisdictions outside of Washington and New Jersey and identifies examples of language that can be adopted by other programs seeking to improve the reliability of their stormwater management infrastructure.

SpeakerAllen, Vaikko

Presentation time

08:50:00

09:10:00

Session time

08:30:00

09:10:00

SessionEvaluating Manufactured Treatment Devices

Session number318

TopicPolicy and Regulation, Stormwater, Green Infrastructure, and Wet Weather

Author(s)

V.P. AllenD. BergC. Fairbaugh