Parker Presents City's Stormwater Efforts At UGA Resilience Conference
Tuesday, March 11th, 2025
ATLANTA - The City of Dalton is leading the way in Georgia with a plan for proactive stormwater management. On Tuesday morning, City Administrator Andrew Parker was asked to present Dalton's work on stormwater management in Atlanta at a conference of other leaders from across Georgia.
Georgia is one of the fastest growing states in the nation, and that population growth is driving development and growth in towns and cities across the Peach State. One of the consequences of the added buildings, parking lots, and concrete infrastructure that comes along with that growth and development is that stormwater has less and less space to infiltrate the ground and instead runs off and creates the potential for flooding. Stormwater management is an ever-increasing concern for Georgia's communities. In Dalton, it's a problem that City leaders have decided to tackle head on.
Caption: Dalton City Administrator Andrew Parker (second from left) takes part in a panel discussion on stormwater management at the UGA Terry College of Business' campus in Atlanta.
In 2020, the engineering consulting firm Arcadis recommended 30 projects to reduce flooding concerns and improve stormwater management in the City as part of Dalton's "21st Century Stormwater Plan." City leaders estimate that they are now more than a third of the way through that list.
Dalton's success has drawn attention from leaders across Georgia. Tuesday, that attention led to Parker being invited to present in Atlanta at the UGA Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems' State Resilience Convening to highlight the important work Dalton has done on stormwater. Parker also represented northwest Georgia in a panel discussion of stormwater management. Parker's presentation highlighted the variety of projects Dalton has completed to mitigate flooding, stabilize stream conditions and improve water quality.
Tuesday's conference at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business campus in Atlanta was not just a chance to showcase the work Dalton has done to help other communities around the state, it's also a chance for Dalton to learn from other leaders around the state and continue to improve plans at home.
There's still a lot of work to do in order to execute all of the steps in Dalton's 21st Century Stormwater Management Plan. But the work is off to a great start and the results so far stand out. And Dalton is leading the way for the rest of Georgia.
MORE: Two More Stormwater Projects Complete
