[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Stormwater retrofits, such as this at Windham Mountain, were part of the discussion of changing weather patterns at the Watershed Summit put on by Greene County Soil & Water in Hunter this past Saturday, January 29."][/caption]Water issues in this region may not be sexy, but with floods more frequent and the nature of stormwater runoff changing almost yearly, it has become a key issue for local governance and home maintenance. The 5th annual Watershed Summit, organized by the Greene County SWCD Schoharie Watershed Program, with funding from the NYC Dept. of Environmental Protection and Watershed Agricultural Council, took place at the Hunter Elementary School on Saturday morning, January 29, according to a story in The Daily Mail. The meeting allowed the region's planners, public officials, and landowners to discuss ways of improving understanding of water quality impacts from various sources and facilitating better inter-municipal and inter-agency efforts to support local watershed protection. Training on watershed topics ranged from floodplain management and flood response to stormwater impacts from non-point sources, regulations governing stormwater control, and alternatives to site planning and use of low impact development practices that avoid, reduce, and manage stormwater runoff by using natural features on the landscape and reducing impervious cover.



Continued...

A special track in the afternoon focused on a variety of funding resources available to watershed communities and property owners. An Annual Summit and Watershed Tour takes place in June.