NPDES Training Institute

03/12/2026

Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking at the annual GSWCC Erosion Control Day.

Looking across that room, I saw the people who truly determine the future of Georgia’s watersheds. Design, professionals, compliance inspectors, regulators, and contractors. The professionals who make decisions in the field every day. My message was real, in that sediment is still the most widespread pollutant impacting our streams, and when it comes from a graded construction site,it usually starts with one mistake. We over-rely on perimeter controls to do the heavy lifting, line in fact they’re just the last line of defense of a whole array of other vegetative and structural measures (BMPs). Stormwater volume and velocity will always test our BMPs. When erosion is not controlled at the source, sediment overwhelms the perimeter and ends up in our creeks.
The people in that room are the difference makers. When they understand the real impact of sediment and apply their knowledge in the field, our watersheds have a fighting chance.

02/27/2026

Today I had the honor of training the soldiers and environmental professionals at Ft. Stewart, Georgia. What an outstanding group of men and women who serve this country in more ways than most people realize.

Ft. Stewart lies within the Ogeechee River watershed, below Georgia’s Fall Line. That geographic line is more than just a dot on a map. It marks a dramatic shift in soil type, hydrology, and erosion behavior. South of the Fall Line, water tables are often just below the surface. The soils are typically course sand. The topography is flat. Infiltration, groundwater interaction, and sheet flow behave very differently here than in red Piedmont soils.

In the Piedmont, we fight clay, silt and saprolite. Runoff gains speed and volume quickly. Sheet erosion overwhelms perimeter controls, rills become gullies, and soils significantly erode under slope stabilization blankets. Sediment loads rise fast when volume and velocity are not controlled. South Georgia presents a different challenge. Sand particles detach easily, and while sheet and rilll erosion occur, slopes are limited and shallow groundwater helps to prevent the deep goalies we often see north of the Fall Line. Here in the coastal plain, the stages of erosion and sedimentation express themselves differently. Transport mechanisms change. Deposition patterns change. Treatment strategies must adapt.

Understanding those differences is not academic. It is essential for real NPDES compliance. Stormwater management and treatment are not one size fits all. Whether in the red clay of the Piedmont or the sandy Coastal Plain, the goal remains the same: prevent sediment and other pollutants from leaving the site, protect downstream waters, and demonstrate intent to comply through proper design, installation, maintenance activities, effectively documented.

The soldiers at Ft. Stewart are safeguarding our nation’s security. At the same time, through responsible stormwater management, they are safeguarding the Ogeechee River watershed and the communities that depend on it.

National defense and watershed protection may seem like separate missions. Today was a reminder that they are not.

11/24/2025

Did a little trout fishing up in North Georgia. Sometimes I have to get away and enjoy the fish living in the water quality Im teaching people to protect. What a beautiful day on the water!!!

09/06/2025

How Sediment Decides Who Lives and Dies Under Water

Sediment plays a bigger role in the aquatic life under water, than most people realize. When too much soil and organic matter wash into our rivers and lakes, it doesn’t just make the water murky, it changes which species survive.
Sediment tolerant fish like largemouth bass, catfish, bluegill, and carp can thrive in low oxygen, cloudy waters, with a bottom benthic environment caked with mud because these fish have evolved to tolerate lower oxygen levels. These warm water fish species can thrive in higher temperature aquatic environments and can effectively reproduce by making beds in which they lay their eggs and guard them which keeps sediment from suffocating them.
Sediment sensitive fish like trout, steelhead, salmon, and striped bass must have cooler, oxygen rich water, and can only effectively reproduce where sediment doesn’t blanket the bottom of creeks and rivers.
At the heart of it all is dissolved oxygen (DO) which is the “breathable air” underwater. Clear, cool, flowing water carries enough oxygen for sensitive species. Sediment heavy waters often don’t. Sediment free, oxygen rich environments prevent eggs from suffocating and keeps food sources from vanishing.
As an outdoorsman who loves to catch both cold water and warm water species of fish, it saddens me to see NPDES permitted construction sites discharge so much sediment from their land disturbances that it destroys a healthy aquatic habitat. In my mind, it’s inexcusable when the permittee makes little effort to effectively design, install and maintain their BMPs. Local MS4 accountability is sometimes the only way to get a permittee to comply with their land disturbing activity permits. In my world, NPDES Permit compliance equals caring for something that has no one else to protect it. We owe it to our future quality of life, to preserve oxygen and aquatic habitats and biodiversity. By doing that, we keep our waterways alive and not polluted and void of fish. That’s what NPDES Permit compliance is all about!

08/04/2025

Is Dirt Dangerous, Really?!

For many property owners, general contractors and builders (i.e. NPDES permittees) it’s hard to view sediment, (or “dirt” as you might call it) as a primary pollutant to our watersheds, and not just an inconvenience when our tires spray our battery powered “environmentally conscience” cars muddy when we drive through it.
But when that “dirt” is loaded up in a stormwater discharge from a non-compliant NPDES Permitted construction site, it becomes a very destructive force by teaming with the sediment discharges from hundreds, if not thousands of other projects over the years, by settling and removing volume in our drinking water reservoirs, silting up rivers and lakes, clouding and suffocating aquatic life decreasing oxygen, burying un-hatched fish eggs (and the food they eat); destroying, one rain event at a time, our ability to swim, fish and boat in our watersheds.
And yet, the NPDES Permit and associated SWPPP, are often treated by many as a necessary evil rather than a necessary blueprint of measures, that if effectively designed, installed and maintained, are the only way we can protect our future quality of life.
The American public must see NPDES Permit compliance and the SWPPP as a blueprint of measures that are used to prevent erosion and control sedimentation. Measures that include a phased approach of exposing the sediment, one area at a time so not to expose erodible “dirt” to the power of a significant storm event; then the BMPs of fast growing grass like rye, mulch and even tackifiers to reduce the detachment of sediment at the source so as not to overwhelm the sediment control BMPs of sediment barriers like silt fence, inlet sediment traps, seep berms and sediment basins, ALL WORKING TOGETHER, for the unified goal of keeping dirt inside the treatment system, well enough to meet the NPDES Permit’s narrative, and sometimes numeric, discharge requirements.
Americans have to learn from regions like Asia, the Middle East and South America, that we cannot build our way into sustainable prosperity by ignoring the impact of sedimentation in our watersheds, which considering our massive population explosion, isn’t just about compliance, it’s about preserving our ecosystems, which are the representative of our quality of life.
Until we see “dirt” as a primary pollutant in America today, we won’t fully grasp the power of compliance with the NPDES Permit and its SWPPP; a promise of prosperity in the most amazing country the world has ever known!

Register below for one of our upcoming courses. A training experience that promises to empower you as a NPDES Permittee, SWPPP designer, BMP installer and contractor while helping equip you to protect our watersheds.
www.NPDESTraining.com

07/19/2025

Lake Sydney Lanier: Shared Water, Shared Responsibility, Shared Accountability

Lake Lanier touches the lives of millions—providing drinking water for over 5 million Georgians (70% being in MetroAtlanta), supporting a $5 billion regional economy, and offering recreational, ecological, and emergency water supply benefits. But its health is under pressure. Lake Lanier is filling up at a minimum of 125 acre-feet per year of sediment and other pollutants, much of the time while under funded and under staffed state and local agencies disregard the amount of sediment being discharged to it. Did you know it’s a state AND local Land Disturbing Activity (LDA) permit requirement that a large construction site, properly design & install their perimeter controls (i.e. sediment basins, traps and sediment barriers) before they cut down the trees, stump the roots, and grade the highly erodible iron rich red subsoils? Yet, there is often a disregard by many state and local regulatory agencies who are certified and know better, to allow this watershed damaging permit violation to continue on.

The residents of the Chattahoochee River watershed should know that Lake Sydney Lanier is surrounded by the MS4s (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) government agencies of Hall, Forsyth, Gwinnett, Dawson, and Lumpkin counties—and cities like Gainesville, Buford, Flowery Branch, and Cu***ng, and yes even the Georgia DOT, who are all responsible for protecting Lake Sydney Lanier. Every MS4 is responsible for doing their dead level best to effectively regulate discharges that come from construction sites. People should also know that construction site discharges have a significant and often realized, impact to water quality, lake volume and property values downstream.

With every under-regulated stormwater discharge, Lake Lanier continues to receive an ever growing volume of sediment (and other pollutants). These pollutants threaten our Lake Lanier’s designated “beneficial uses”: fishing, swimming, boating and drinking water, that sustain a significant portion of Georgia’s economic life blood.

That’s why the State of Georgia, counties and the cities within this massively important watershed have a legal and moral duty to enforce “existing” regulations that were created back when a large number of Georgian’s felt the health and financial impact of unregulated construction sites. We don’t need more laws, we just need to comply with and enforce the ones already in place. In other words. We can’t afford having our state and local agencies look the other way when it rains.

Stronger oversight isn’t overreach—it’s stewardship. It’s about ensuring that Lake Lanier remains safe, clean, and usable—not just for today, but for generations to come.

As far as Lake Lanier is concerned, we need to understand that as big as our lake seems to be, weak permit enforcement is building on some strong consequences for water quality, public health, and Georgia’s future economic growth.

07/04/2025

07/03/2025

Our Clean Streams, Rivers and Lakes Depend on One Purely American Program

Stormwater training is more than just meeting a regulatory requirement. At the NPDES Stormwater Training Institute, our goal of "keeping water in your life and life in your water", is to provide you the facts, education and training that support the critical connection behind watershed protection and economic/urban growth.
Common sense will tell anyone, who takes a moment to think about it, that it isn't smart to pollute the same water you swim, fish, boat and even drink. The NPDES permitting program is absolutely the reason why America has the surface water quality we enjoy every day in that it provides the proverbial line in the sand, that potential polluters better not cross.
As America continues to grow economically, compliance and enforcement of the Clean Water Act program, must also grow. That said, the NPDES permitting program in recent years has been facing challenges in that some people (including our law makers) believe that compliance and enforcement of Part 402 of the Clean Water Act, is too heavy a burden on America's economic growth, when in fact they fail to see their position as being very short sighted. The facts, as displayed in America's history prove that it's compliance and enforcement of regulations that prevent industry, including construction, from polluting our watersheds.
Everyone reading this article, needs to spread the word that it's compliance and enforcement of purely motivated Clean Water Act regulations that provides our country with the water quality we have today. We cannot hold economic growth in higher regard than water quality protection! They are equal partners, and each must be respected in order for America the Beautiful, to stay that way!

06/20/2025

Commitment to Excellence in Stormwater Education

At the NPDES Training Institute, we don’t just teach; we empower professionals to make a difference through effective education and training. Our mission, of “Keeping Water In Our Life and Life In Our Water”, is rooted in a commitment to providing the best, most practical stormwater training while we grow economically as a nation. By choosing us for your stormwater training provider, you’re joining a network of dedicated individuals working to uphold water quality standards and improve the industry. It’s only through our efforts to be unified as a country, that we can achieve lasting, meaningful change.

https://npdestraining.com/

06/18/2025

Protect Water Quality Through Effective Inspections

Inspections are the first line of defense against stormwater pollution, especially in high-risk industrial settings. HVPS Training focuses on techniques for conducting thorough inspections that identify potential pollutant sources. Learn how to evaluate stormwater control measures, ensure proper maintenance, and document findings effectively. By mastering these skills, you’ll play a crucial role in safeguarding local water quality.

https://npdestraining.com/

06/16/2025

Green Infrastructure: A Key to Better Stormwater Management

Traditional stormwater systems are often overwhelmed by heavy rainfall, leading to flooding and pollution. Green infrastructure provides a smarter, more sustainable alternative. MS4GIT Training explores how to use techniques like vegetative swales, constructed wetlands, and urban tree canopies to manage runoff and protect water quality. By completing this training, you’ll be ready to implement green solutions that improve both environmental and community resilience.

https://npdestraining.com/

06/13/2025

Long before I was solving site runoff challenges or navigating inspection schedules, I was watching my dad quietly fix what was broken, figure out what didn’t make sense, and find a way forward when things got tough.

That mindset: practical, resourceful, and steady, is what fuels great stormwater professionals and in our industry today, I’m privileged to know and work with a lot of great examples!

Whether it’s diagnosing a drainage issue, updating a SWPPP under pressure, or training the next generation; the ability to calmly assess a situation and act with purpose starts with strong examples.

This weekend, we here at the NPDES Stormwater Training Institute, honor the fathers who laid that foundation. My dad’s influence to this day, reaches far beyond my home; and for all of us our dad’s often shape how we approach work in the field, manage our teams, and the way we solve problems that impact entire communities.

Happy Father’s Day to the thinkers, the fixers, and the leaders we’re proud to follow.