Steve was invited by the organizers of the 2017 Second China Sponge City International Exchange Conference to make a presentation at this event. The title of the presentation was “Urban LID in China and South Korea” and the presentation was made on August 16, 2017 at the Beijing International Conference Center which is almost adjacent to the 2008 Olympic Park.
Other international speakers included Dr. James Y. Li of Ryerson University (Toronto, CA), and Dr. David Garman of The Water Council (Milwaukee, WI).
Steve also made a presentation for Dr. Nian She in Zhenjiang, China on Urban LID retrofits as well as inspecting some LID retrofits designed by Dr. She working group to address CSO overflows.
Lastly, at the request of Dr. Qin Shengyi of Rechsand Science & Technology Group, Steve made a presentation entitled “LID Case Studies from US” on August 18, 2017 at their office in Beijing. After the presentation, we visited an installation of a proprietary Rechsand product of hexagonal drywells structures which are made out of extremely uniform Mongolian sand and a bonding agent developed by Rechsand which allow water to pass through the actual walls of the structure into the adjacent soil.
Steve also had time to visit the 2008 Olympic Park, home of the Birdcage and the Water Cube.
Steve was retained by Dr. Nian She to design Urban LID retrofits for a 2.5 hectare (6.5 acres) dense residential area in the city of Zhenjiang. The LID retrofits had to fully treat runoff from the existing impervious areas (building roofs, driveways and parking areas) for 65 mm (2.6”) of rainfall in 24 hours. The LID systems also had to attenuate the peak rate of runoff for a rainfall event of 150 mm (5.9”) rainfall event. A combination of Bioretention systems, and permeable pavers with a filter course and reservoir layer were used to meet these stormwater requirements.
Steve was invited by Professor Nian She of Shenzhen University to make a presentation entitled “Using LID to Attenuate Large Rainfall Events and Reduce Flood Potential” at the 2015 First Sino US Sponge City LID Technology Practice Conference held on May 4-5, 2015 in Zhenjiang, China organized by Zhenjiang Water Supply and Drainage Management Office (view website). In addition to the presentation, field inspections were made of several new LID installations in the city consisting of Bioswales, permeable pavement systems and rainwater harvesting.
Steve was an invited attendee at the 15th Annual Guangzhou Convention of Chinese Scholars in Science and Technology in Guangzhou, China on December 17 – 21, 2012 to present a project narrative on how Low Impact Development and sustainable development can be applied to address water quality issues in urban and rural areas of China to implement sustainability concepts and conservation of resources. He attended with Dr. Jim Su, PE of Golder Associates of Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. While at the convention he met with representatives from Sichuan University, Chang’an University, Guangdong University of Technology, Shenzhen University and the South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, MEP to discuss LID being incorporated into their engineering programs.
Steve also met Dr. Hongbin Cheng of New China Times Technology which is located in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Steve has signed a three year partnership agreement with New China Times Technology to introduce LID concepts to the west cape area of South Africa.