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Stormwater Tech Transfer: Project Archive

Nov 2017 | Archived Projects, Library, Water Quality

This project has ended. Archived project materials are available below.

The Great Lakes Commission, in partnership with Lawrence Technological University, established the Great Lakes Stormwater Technology Transfer project with a goal of bringing together experts from across the Great Lakes basin to accelerate the adoption of innovative stormwater management technology and design.

Green infrastructure, data driven water management systems, and proprietary structural systems are all vital in protecting our environment and neighborhoods from polluted stormwater and flooding, which can pose risks to human health and property. However, these innovations have historically been limited to pilot projects in large cities and wealthier communities. Bringing green infrastructure to smaller and less affluent communities is essential to protecting the Great Lakes and responding to ever-increasing demands related to stormwater management, and was a primary goal of this project.

Funding for this project was provided by Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation.

Project Summary  •  Needs Assessment

Learn More about Stormwater Tech Transfer

Innovations in stormwater management are slow to proliferate. Green infrastructure design techniques, data driven water management systems, and proprietary structural systems are all vital in protecting our environment and neighborhoods from polluted stormwater and flooding, which can pose risks to human health and property. However, innovations have historically been limited to pilot projects in large cities and wealthier communities. Bringing innovative technologies to smaller and less affluent communities is essential to protecting the Great Lakes and responding to ever-increasing demands related to stormwater management.

With funding from the Erb Family Foundation, the Great Lakes Commission and Lawrence Technological University brought together leaders in the stormwater management and technology field to foster the exchange of stormwater technology across the region. The project asked experts from across public and private sectors to share their knowledge with each other and identify specific barriers to technology transfer and implementation.

A sister project, the Green Infrastructure Champions Pilot Program, will create a peer-to-peer mentoring network of “green infrastructure champions” and emerging communities across the Great Lakes. Also funded by the Erb Family Foundation, the two efforts will work in tandem to reduce physical and institutional barriers to a more holistic and effective approach to stormwater management.

Project Outcomes

The Great Lakes Commission and Lawrence Technological University will bring together leaders in the stormwater management and technology field to foster the exchange of stormwater technology across the region. The project will ask experts from across public and private sectors to share their knowledge with each other and identify specific barriers to technology transfer and implementation. The formation of a Great Lakes Stormwater Technology Transfer Collaborative will be explored as a potential course of action for overcoming those barriers. A survey of stormwater professionals, practitioner focus groups, and a session at the 2017 Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Green Infrastructure Conference are part of the overall approach to launching a regional stormwater technology transfer collaborative.

Stormwater Tech Transfer Kickoff Meeting Materials

Collaborative Kickoff Meeting

The Great Lakes Commission and Lawrence Technological University are hosting a daylong workshop to bring together stormwater professionals from across the binational Great Lakes region to tackle the most pressing issues in stormwater management. The goal of the workshop is to form a standalone stormwater technology collaborative to address these issues. The draft charter we are building the collaborative upon can be found here.

The Objectives of the Meeting Include:

  • Establish the principles, structure, and function of a new collaborative to enable networking and information exchange that advances stormwater technology transfer and deployment in the binational Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River region
  • Select leaders to keep this collaborative going in the first year or two
  • Agree on initial priorities for this collaborative to address and possible ways to address them

A full agenda for the kickoff meeting can be found here.