On Tuesday April 7th, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay hosted the 5th annual Stormy Awards ceremony at the Annual Stormwater Partners Retreat in Shepherdstown, WV. The Stormy Award is given to the partners who submit the best short stormwater video. Stormwater Partners were invited to submit videos leading up to the Retreat. All videos must have been related to stormwater or water quality and no more than 2 years old. Several videos were submitted by a diverse group of partners, and after careful deliberation and review by the Academy, the final 8 videos were shown to the Stormwater Partners. The winner of the prestigious award and the 2nd place video were chosen by popular vote.[title class=”acb-page-content-subtitle ” ]Stormy Award Winner[youtube id=”h1Lq7COGD2Q” width=”600″ height=”350″ ]

Title: Integrated Water Strategies: Thinking Outside the Pipe

Submitted by: Biohabitats, Inc.

Description: This video aims to inspire people to tap into the promise of new, creative ways to handle our need for clean water. Four examples of “integrated water strategies” are featured, which integrate: the built world into the natural environment, people into the broader community of living things, and environmental science into disciplines like architecture, planning, landscape architecture, engineering, plumbing, and construction. Two of the examples are within the Chesapeake Bay watershed—one involving stormwater and wastewater treatment at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC, and one involving regenerative stormwater conveyance in the community of Carriage Hills in Anne Arundel County, MD.[title class=”acb-page-content-subtitle ” ]2nd Place Stormy Award[youtube id=”0IDo17_M7qA” width=”600″ height=”350″ ]Title: Congregations Reduce Polluted Runoff

Submitted by: Choose Clean Water Coalition

Description: Caring for creation is a core value of most religions and water is symbolic in most faith traditions. See what congregations are doing to reduce polluted runoff to their local rivers and streams. These houses of worship are doing their fair share to reduce polluted runoff and in many cases, the environmental projects are defining their missions.[title class=”acb-page-content-subtitle ” ]Honorable Mention Videos[imageframe link=”http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/11/141125-dc-daylighting-broad-branch-stream-restoration-science/” ] Title: Daylighting Broad Branch Stream

Submitted by: District of Columbia Department of the Environment

Description: Washington D.C., like other locations around the world, buried many of its streams in the past by moving them into underground pipes. The process was meant to get rid of stormwater quickly, open more land for development, and remove the potential for flooding. However, burying streams disrupts their natural ecology and prevents stormwater (and pollutants) from being absorbed into the ground. This video describes DDOE’s process for daylighting streams in order to return them to a more natural state.[youtube id=”9do63Bn7fD0″ width=”600″ height=”350″ ]Title: Impervious versus Permeable Pavement

Submitted by: Howard County PIO

Description: This video was shot at the LEED platinum Robinson Nature Center during a drenching, all-day downpour. The shots portray the drastic difference between the runoff from an asphalt drive and a parking lot of porous concrete. The video is simple, but sends a strong message about the impact of stormwater BMPs on runoff volume.[youtube id=”PuQYXXhJKdM” width=”600″ height=”350″ ]Title: Cabin Branch Stream Restoration/Stormwater Project

Submitted by: Maryland Department of Natural Resources- Chesapeake & Coastal Service

Description: This video describes the Cabin Branch Stream Restoration/Stormwater Trust Fund Project, which is located by the Annapolis Mall and feeds into the Severn River. The project features the innovative regenerative step pool conveyance technique, using natural, local materials to mimic ancient streams and reduce pollution. The project was built for the Severn Riverkeeper Program by Underwood and Associates in 2013.[youtube id=”3-1qxKcOSeg” width=”600″ height=”350″ ]Title: Designing Smart Urban Water Systems: A TEDx talk by Marcus Quigley

Submitted by: OptiRTC Inc.

Description: We have built our cities largely assuming that water, when not of drinking water quality and properly contained in pressurized pipes, is mostly a nuisance: something to be avoided on roadways, kept out of basements, or piped to the nearest conveyance that can carry it away as quickly as possible. As a society we are rethinking these assumptions and looking more closely at the choices we make and how the actions we take affect the value of water. Mr. Quigley elucidates the complexity, scale, and hidden challenges in current urban water management and shows examples and live demonstrations of disruptive technologies.

[vimeo id=”122354242″ width=”600″ height=”350″ ][/vimeo]Title: RiverSmart Rooftops in Washington, DC

Submitted by: DC Green Works, District Department of the Environment

Description: This film, a two-year project funded by DDOE and developed with DC Green Works and Videotakes, shows off the many varied green roofs in the District of Columbia. With more than one million square feet of green roofs installed, the District is a national leader in green roof coverage and anticipates installing an additional million square feet within the next three to five years.[youtube id=”bR_TyzCSqLs” width=”600″ height=”350″ ]Title: Why Our Waters Are Dirty

Submitted by: Chickahominy Swamp Rats

Description: This video rewrites the words to “Weird Al” Yankovic’s song “White and Nerdy” and shows several actions homeowners can take (and those they should avoid) to keep our streams and stormwater clean. James Beckley stars and serves the roles of song writer, director, editor, sound recorder, and audio mixer.  In addition, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay’s staff members Anna Mathis, Amy Robins, and intern Kelly Wolf Yearick volunteered their time to filming and costarring in the production. The video first premiered at the 2014 Virginia Citizens for Water Quality summit, which is overseen by the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay’s Virginia staff.