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Atkins’ Medina plays lead role in creating innovative new manual of practice for stormwater management - July 24, 2012

Tampa, FL — With the 2012 hurricane season in full swing, the minds of many are concerned about potential impacts of stormwater on the urban environment. That’s why Atkins is pleased to announce an industry-leading achievement by Dan Medina, Ph.D., PE, D.WRE, who is associate vice president of Atkins’ water and environment practice. Medina served as co-editor of the new Manual of Practice (MOP) on Design of Urban Stormwater Controls, a 750-page engineering reference published in June by McGraw-Hill for the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

The new resource was created by a team of 16 authors representing academia, consulting companies, and government agencies. Medina shared editorial responsibilities with Christine Pomeroy, PhD, PE, who serves as assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Medina and Pomeroy also worked with a task force of about 100 stormwater professionals who served as peer reviewers.

The new MOP is a thorough revision to Urban Runoff Quality Management, an engineering MOP jointly published in 1998 by WEF and ASCE.  According to Medina, a recent “paradigm shift” in the way stormwater is viewed and managed was what drove the creation of an updated stormwater MOP.

“Traditionally, stormwater has been viewed as a nuisance—something to quickly dispose of and route to central detention facilities,” he said. “But many are coming to see stormwater as a resource that should be used beneficially and then returned to its natural environment. This approach is a key factor in today’s ‘green’ infrastructure movement, and the new MOP leads the way in fostering a convergence between low-impact development principles and traditional stormwater management strategies.”

Medina holds a degree in civil engineering from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, and a Ph.D. from Cornell’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His experience encompasses a broad spectrum of water-resource areas, with specialization in urban stormwater management.

In 2011, Medina was invited to participate in WEF’s National Stormwater Advisory Committee, which was formed as a technical advisory group for ongoing and future stormwater activities pursued by WEF committees and communities of practice.

In addition to being an active member of WEF and ASCE, Medina has also served on research committees for the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) and as a peer reviewer for the National Research Council (NRC). He is a Founding Diplomate of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers (AAWRE), and in 2011 he was appointed to a three-year term on the Advisory Council of Cornell University’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Medina has authored or co-authored more than 70 publications, presentations, and workshops on urban watershed issues, including four articles in the new MOP on Design of Urban Stormwater Controls.

To introduce the content of the newly revised MOP to engineers, planners, architects, regulators, and other concerned professionals, WEF created a series of three 90-minute webcasts. The first two webcasts—in which Medina was a featured speaker—were held in June and July; the third webcast is scheduled for August 9, 2012. For more information about the webcasts, click here.

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