Submit an Abstract
The Center for Watershed Protection, Inc. (CWP) is now accepting abstracts from those interested in presenting at the 2025 National Watershed & Stormwater Conference. The Conference includes three full days of technical content from Tuesday, April 8th through Thursday, April 10th, 2025, at the Royal Sonesta hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This year, the National Conference’s central theme is
Collaboration for Successful Watershed Stewardship
The selection process includes reviews conducted by the Conference’s Technical Planning Advisory Committee and CWP’s planning team. Presentations are for educational and professional growth purposes, not sales or marketing pitches. CWP invites those who are seeking to promote products or services to partner with the Conference as a sponsor (learn more here).
You can submit abstracts online via a Google Form
We are seeking input from the land and water resources communities & other interested parties and invite you to assist with program development via the abstract submission process.
All abstracts will go through a review and selection process conducted by the Technical Advisory Committee and the Center’s planning team. Presentations are to provide educational opportunities to audience members and not sales or marketing pitches.
There are three (3) presentation formats: traditional presentation, poster presentation, and workshop/panel session, as described below. On the abstract submittal form, indicate which presentation type you prefer. If you are requesting multiple distinct presentations, please submit one abstract submittal form per topic.
- Presentation
- Presentation time slots are 25 minutes, which includes approximately 20 minutes for the presentation and 5 minutes for questions from the audience.
- Presentations will be grouped into sessions with other presentations within the same technical track.
- Poster Presentation
- A Poster Session will be held during an evening reception. Presenters will present their posters and lead a discussion with small groups.
- Students are encouraged to apply for this presentation type.
- Workshop
- Each workshop session is expected to take 1.25 to 1.5 hours including time for questions. We recommend 3–5 speakers for each session.
- Workshops can consist of either panel discussions on a specific topic, or a presentation with at least one interactive exercise.
- Roundtable/Panel Participation
Alternatively, individuals can apply to participate on a roundtable or panel about a specific topic. Based on speaker interest, CWP will organize and moderate workshop panels. Panels may include MS4 Compliance, IDDE, climate change, agriculture, watershed planning, etc. If you’re interested in participating in a panel discussion about a certain topic, your abstract submittal should include your professional bio and topics of interest.
Abstracts are due by December 31, 2024
Abstract submission questions should be emailed to: Center@cwp.org.
CWP is interested in wide-ranging presentation topics related to watershed and stormwater management, and is particularly interested in presentations that might relate to the central theme of “Collaboration for Successful Watershed Stewardship” including but not limited the topics below:
Watershed Management
- Advancements in watershed planning
- Tangible results from protection, mitigation, and restoration activities
- Coastal stormwater management and coastal stormwater research and innovation
- Resilient coastal and riparian communities; living shorelines
- Planning for climate change
- Hazard mitigation tools, including mapping analyses and prediction models
- Post-disaster decisions, such as dredging and rebuilding with resilience
- Blue carbon and carbon sequestration
- Runoff and sedimentation reduction practices
- Monitoring techniques and innovations
- Managing harmful algal blooms
- Agricultural practices and programs for ecological, soil health, and water quality benefits
Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)
- Intergovernmental MS4 collaborations to achieve water quality goals
- Minimum Control Measure (MCM) tips and practical information
- Implementing and administering new MS4 programs
- Funding MS4 programs, including stormwater utilities and other funding sources
- Developing TMDL Implementation Plans
- Monitoring and testing programs for coli, cyanobacteria, and contaminants of emerging concern
- Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE) procedures and techniques
- Emerging pollutants and toxic chemicals in stormwater such as micro-plastics and PFAS
- MS4 resources
Project and Program Implementation
- Coordination across watersheds, disciplines, political boundaries, and communities
- Community-based projects that engage volunteers
- Strategies for successful stakeholder engagement
- Lessons learned from challenging projects
- Nature-based solutions, like stream restoration, dam removal projects, wetland enhancement, green infrastructure and urban forestry solutions
- Funding climate resilience including Federal opportunities
- Navigating local, state, and Federal programs
- Catalyzing behavior change and enhancing citizen connections to water
- Administering workforce development and training programs
Professional Development, Skills, and Workplace Health for Stormwater / Environmental Careers
- Project management and construction management
- Stress and workload management
- Delivering quality public presentations
- Principles for effective teamwork
- Providing and/or utilizing workforce development and training resources to advance organization-level and individual goals
- Building healthy and productive organizational cultures
- Engineering ethics
- Managing the hazards of fieldwork outdoors, like ticks/diseases