Stormwater Professionals,

As a stormwater professional, you are likely aware of the many challenges and unmet needs in the sector as well as the lack of data capturing these challenges and needs.  This is your opportunity to help the sector capture this information, which can catalyze advocacy efforts for increased funding and support as well as increase an overall awareness of the stormwater sector.

To capture this information, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) Stormwater Institute has launched its third iteration of the National Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Needs Assessment Survey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WEFMS4Survey). The primary objectives and impacts of these surveys are to better understand MS4 program challenges, identify the information and resource needs of MS4 permittees, and approximate current funding levels and estimated funding needs in the MS4 sector.

Previous surveys performed in 2018 and 2020 provided critical information on estimated current MS4 annual budget as well as the first estimate of an annual funding gap across the country, which was found to be $8.5 billion.  This information was critical in getting stormwater to be included as a separate infrastructure sector in the 2021 ASCE Infrastructure Report Card for the first time.  Results from the 2018 and 2020 surveys can be found at https://wefstormwaterinstitute.org/programs/ms4survey/.

The WEF MS4 Needs Assessment survey should be filled out by MS4 program managers or those who have been authorized to complete this survey on behalf of an MS4.  If you work in the MS4 sector as a regulator, consultant, researcher, manufacturer, etc., but are not directly affiliated with an MS4, please feel free to share this with your network and provide us with the information requested on the landing page.

To access the survey, please go to:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WEFMS4Survey. The survey will close on January 27, 2023.  If you are interested in reviewing the questions ahead of time so you can prepare, https://wefstormwaterinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/2022-WEF-MS4-Survey-Questions.pdf

If you have any questions, please contact bpinto@wef.org.  Note that while the results of the survey will be made available to the public, we will follow up with those survey respondents who provide contact information to provide a PDF of the report as soon as it is completed.

We appreciate your time, and we thank you for your continued support.

 

__________________________

 

Seth P. Brown, PE, PhD

National Municipal Stormwater Alliance

Executive Director

8001 Forbes Place, Suite 211

Springfield, VA  22151

nationalstormwateralliance.org

202.774.8097 (m)