Environmental Finance Center Network

Every time it rains, water washing off roads and highways carries pollutants into nearby streams, rivers, and estuaries. One of the most concerning pollutants is 6PPD-quinone (6PPDQ), a chemical byproduct of a common tire rubber additive that is among the most toxic substances known to aquatic life. This podcast introduces 6PPDQ to planners and technical staff who may be encountering it for the first time and shows what communities can do about it. Speakers from Washington State DOT, Herrera Inc, and Stewardship Partners will share lessons learned from using green stormwater infrastructure as a solution and discuss how municipalities, transportation agencies, and nonprofits can work together to deploy solutions, engage their communities, and access funding.
Speakers:
Tony Bush, Stormwater Branch Manager, Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT)
Dylan Ahearn, Principal Scientist, Herrera Inc
Soumi Gaddameedi, Grants & Development Manager, Stewardship Partners
Katie Harris, Greenprint Partners (moderator)

Additional Resources:
EFCN Webinar | Cleaning Our Waterways: Green Infrastructure Solutions for 6PPDQ
EFCN Blog | When It Rains, It Runs Off: What Every Community Should Know About 6PPDQ
WSDOT | Stormwater Retrofit Prioritization Web Map
Stewardship Partners | Adopt A Downspout

In this episode, Eva Schwendimann from the SW EFC discusses the basics of sewer smoke testing in sanitary sewer systems with Mike Rivera. Mike is a Water and Wastewater Utility Specialist at the SW EFC and has a background of working with Water and Wastewater in New Mexico systems for over 20 years. This episode walks listeners through why and how a smoke test is conducted, the equipment needed, best case weather conditions for testing, and how to collect and manage data from a smoke test.  
Episode Chapters:
Podcast Intro - 0:00:00
Mike’s experience with smoke testing - 0:01:22 
Summary of smoke test procedure - 0:04:25
What can a smoke test detect? - 0:05:02 
What is Infiltration and Inflow? - 0:05:22 
Equipment needed - 0:08:32 
Step by step procedure - 0:09:38 
How effective is smoke testing?- 0:12:18
Best weather conditions  - 0:13:14 
How to collect and manage data - 0:14:08
Podcast Outro -  0:18:57

Links to additional resources:  
NPDES: Stormwater Best Management Practice, Preventing Stormwater Contamination from Sanitary Sewage 
Sewer Smoke Testing | Fulcrum 
EFCN Blog | The Impacts of Changing Precipitation Patterns on Wastewater and Stormwater Systems

Learn why cybersecurity matters for every water and wastewater utility and how leaders can take simple, proactive steps to safeguard their operations and the communities they serve.
Additional Resources:
Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
EFCN | Request Assistance with Cybersecurity or Request a Cybersecurity Training

In this episode James Markham from the Southwest Environmental Finance Center interviews Angelina Grey, Associate Planner at the Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments in New Mexico about guidance for small utilities that are looking for help with capital improvement planning, with a focus on what needs to be done to get ready for the process. Getting your regulatory and financial house in order are the biggest items to complete when doing capital improvement planning.

More than 50 years after the passage of the Clean Water Act, what can we learn from its impact on small communities? In this episode, Dr. Rhiannon Jerch discusses how the Clean Water Act shaped municipal finances, improved water quality, and influenced long-term community growth. We explore how small municipalities financed major wastewater infrastructure investments, the role of user fees and federal funding, and what these findings can teach today's communities as they plan for future water infrastructure challenges.