Training & Field Operations

Fire hydrant flushing is a common and often necessary practice for maintaining water distribution systems. Municipalities flush hydrants to remove sediment, verify system performance, and ensure adequate flow for firefighting. While these objectives are important, the practice can carry a range of u…

Municipal road crews are on the front lines of stormwater management whether they realize it or not. Every ditch they shape, every culvert they install, and every roadside repair they complete has a direct impact on how water moves across the landscape. Yet in many public works departments, stormwat…

Stormwater outfalls are the final point where a drainage system releases water into a receiving body such as a stream, river, wetland, or lake. Because they sit at the end of the system, they are often overlooked until a visible failure occurs. When an outfall collapses or erodes, the consequences c…

Opening and entering drainage structures requires a practiced, methodical approach that protects workers from unseen dangers and ensures that every step is guided by awareness, communication, and control. These environments can hold toxic gases, low oxygen levels, and unexpected structural weaknesse…

Field inspections of catch basins, manholes, culverts, and outfalls form the foundation of responsible stormwater management. These routine checks give municipalities an ongoing view of the condition of their drainage network and allow crews to identify issues long before they become flooding hazard…

Habitat disruption around drainage structures is often subtle at first, and many of the earliest signs tend to appear during ordinary field work rather than during formal environmental surveys. Because highway departments and public works crews encounter these locations regularly, they are in the be…

Why We Need a New Approach Annual (or even quarterly) MS4 refresher courses are mandatory under the NPDES Phase II program, yet completion logs and pop-quiz scores often reveal that municipal crews quickly forget key practices such as spill-response or best management practice (BMP) housekeeping. En…

As regulatory requirements and infrastructure demands continue to evolve, stormwater operations training for Department of Public Works (DPW) and Highway Department staff has never been more critical. Effective training ensures that personnel are prepared to safely and efficiently manage stormwater …