Stormwater is not just about moving water away from a yard, a road, or a parking lot. It is about knowing your watershed and building systems that work with natural processes instead of against them. As communities grow and storms hit harder, that kind of thinking stops being optional.
The Mid Mon Stormwater Workshop is where that conversation happens in our part of the basin. It is free, it is a single day, and it is built for the people who actually make these decisions: township supervisors, municipal staff, engineers, educators, and anyone whose work touches the rain that falls on the Mon Valley.
Mid Mon Stormwater Workshop
Date Tuesday, October 20, 2026
Time 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM, registration opens at 8:15 AM
Where Fayette County Recycling Convenience Center, 105 Romeo Lane, Uniontown, PA 15401
Cost Free
Hosts Keep Fayette County Green and the H2O Water Network
Two sessions worth the drive
The full agenda covers floodplain management, stream restoration, and where the region goes next. Two sessions in particular speak directly to what municipal officials are wrestling with right now.
Beth Uhler: navigating the new draft MS4 permit
Beth Uhler is the Pennsylvania Director for the Center for Watershed Protection, with more than 20 years in stormwater management, watershed planning, GIS, wetland science, and MS4 permit compliance. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Water Resources Advisory Committee, which means she sits where state policy actually gets shaped. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Geo-environmental Studies from Shippensburg University.
Her session covers a real shift in how Pennsylvania approaches water quality. The new draft MS4 permit moves the focus from reducing sediment and nutrient pollution from urban sources toward managing the volume of stormwater runoff itself. That change opens the door to addressing local flooding problems and improving water quality at the same time. Beth will walk through the key changes, how the draft permit accounts for the socioeconomic situation of different municipalities, how it encourages neighboring towns to work together, and what other benefits communities can capture along the way.
Laura Blood: what is a watershed, and how do we connect?
People talk about collective impact on a watershed, and then a township manager reasonably asks: do I have a watershed in my township, where does the water go, and who else is in it?
Laura Blood answers exactly that. She is the Environmental Education Coordinator at the Pennsylvania Resources Council, holds a master’s degree in biology, and has worked as an environmental educator in New York and Arizona. Her career started in environmental consulting in West Virginia, followed by eight years with PA DEP in the Bureau of Safe Drinking Water, then two municipal authorities as a water protection supervisor and as a licensed water and wastewater operator in Pennsylvania.
Her session shows attendees how to identify their local watershed and reach the tools, data, and partners that support smart municipal decisions, from flood and water quality resources to Environmental Advisory Councils and regional planning support. It includes real case studies and the contacts that help a municipal manager turn watershed knowledge into local action.
Protect our water, preserve our future. We all live downstream.
Who should be in the room
- Municipal employees and elected officials, especially anyone touching an MS4 permit
- Engineers and planners working on drainage, development, or flood projects
- Watershed group members, educators, and students
- Community leaders who keep hearing about stormwater and want the plain-language version
Why it matters for the rest of us
Stormwater decisions get made one culvert, one parking lot, and one subdivision at a time, usually by people with a dozen other responsibilities. A day spent understanding how the rules are changing, and meeting the people working on the same problem one township over, is one of the cheaper investments a community can make in its own water. Registration is free, and seats are worth claiming early.
Questions about the day can go to Sheila Shea at sshea@fayettepa.org or (724) 430-4884. The workshop is made possible by the NiSource Foundation, Columbia Gas, and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.
Sources: workshop promotional material and speaker biographies provided by the H2O Water Network; the Mid Mon Stormwater Workshop event page on h2owaternetwork.org; Center for Watershed Protection staff listing; Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Water Resources Advisory Committee membership list. Current as of September 20, 2026.
