Water

For years it was nicknamed “the invisible river.” At best, the Jordan River was known as being neglected, its banks overgrown, its water polluted. At worst, it had a reputation for being a place no one wanted to touch. Rather than just compile an unwieldy document, project staff and our GIS experts decided to develop an interactive story map that everyone – from government officials to local residents – could use to understand the proposed vision and uses for the river.

In the late 1980s, life under the Clean Water Act was simple. But multiple Supreme Court cases in the last 30 years have muddied the waters, so to speak. Here, we take a look at some of the most recent Clean Water Act definitions and what they could mean for your projects.

Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs) and Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) plans are both authorized under the Clean Water Act to prevent water quality impacts. We asked SWCA’s senior environmental specialists and project managers to explain when SWPPPs and SPCCs are required and how to implement them.

For the past 20 years, SWCA's Amherst office has been engaged in the evaluation, permitting, design, and construction of bank stabilization projects on a 22-mile stretch of riverbank on the Connecticut River. In the past, people have tried anything they can think of to stabilize the banks — stone rip rap, demolition debris, and even junk cars and kitchen appliances. As we approached the various projects, we imagined a better, more natural way to stabilize the landscape.