Adams, Laura

Laura Adams is a speaker at WEFTEC 2026.

Titles from this speaker

Nature-based Solutions: Designing to Span Generations

Abstract

Infrastructure projects are often constructed in a few years, have a design life expectancy that is shorter than the average human lifespan, and sometimes are built and deconstructed within a career. But nature-based solutions (NbS) are different – they are self-correcting and adapting. They can get stronger over time, rather than depreciate. They offer the potential to span generations. And they present the opportunity to improve the resilience of our communities, to enable adaptation and to be planned, designed and constructed in a way that empowers, educates and uplifts. This presentation will highlight two distinct NbS case studies that offer lessons about adaptation – with a glimpse of the physical sciences that inform design, and the social sciences that inform the process. Designing for Adaptation: As we look to future climate uncertainties, restoration lessons learned in ecosystems that experience extreme weather offer profound insight to help design projects across the country. We'll focus on a case study of a tidally influenced stream in the City of Jacksonville, Florida that provides inspiration and lessons about partnerships, funding access, and the integration of natural and engineered systems to re-imagine the potential of drainage ditches across urban core areas. The integrated benefits include flood hazard mitigation, water quality, sediment management, fisheries development, biodiversity, recreation, protection of infrastructure, and economic stimulus. This case study will highlight how streams can be designed to accommodate a range of flow conditions, shifting salinity gradients, extreme weather events, and adaptive habitat requirements. Community Informed Design: The approach to project design and delivery influences a community's resilience, and is as important as the asset itself. KC Water's Daniel Morgan Boone Park Green Infrastructure Project exemplifies how water utilities can advance climate resilience through community-centered approaches that transform traditional stormwater management into multifunctional assets. KC Water developed this project in response to a federal consent decree requiring combined sewer overflow (CSO) reduction throughout Kansas City. Rather than pursuing conventional gray infrastructure solutions, the utility embraced an integrated approach incorporating green infrastructure across the Town Fork Creek watershed. This strategic shift demonstrates how water reuse and management systems can simultaneously address regulatory compliance, climate adaptation, and community enhancement goals. The project's development process centered on robust alternatives evaluation and meaningful community engagement. The multidisciplinary team collaborated with neighborhood groups and stakeholders to understand local priorities and conceptualize amenities complementing utility objectives. Through comprehensive analysis using ISI Envision infrastructure sustainability screening, the team compared multiple implementation approaches, considering technical effectiveness, environmental impact, community benefit, and long-term resilience. The project demonstrates how nature-based solutions can address cascading climate impacts, including increased precipitation intensity, urban flooding, water quality degradation, and extreme heat events that disproportionately affect vulnerable communities. Key features include the integration of ecosystem sciences with engineering analysis, development of metrics for quantifying co-benefits across environmental and social domains, and assessment of financing strategies that leverage multiple funding sources for climate-resilient infrastructure. Both case studies showcase how utilities can move beyond single-purpose infrastructure toward regenerative systems that enhance community and ecological health.

This paper was presented at WEFTEC 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Presentation time

13:30:00

13:45:00

Session time

13:30:00

15:00:00

SessionNature-Based Solutions to Water Quality Issues

Session locationErnest N. Morial Convention Center

TopicNutrients, Stormwater and Green Infrastructure, Utility Management and Leadership, Watershed Management, Water Quality, and Groundwater

Author(s)

Adams, Laura, Farrington, Jessica

Author(s)L. Adams1, J. Farrington

Author affiliation(s)Black & Veatch, 1

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Sep 2026

DOI10.2175/193864718825160524

Volume / Issue

Content sourceWEFTEC

Word count7

Optimizing an Innovative Green Infrastructure Program Using Asset Management

Abstract

Over the past decade, municipalities across the country have been more rigorously employing asset management strategies to inventory, value, report, and audit infrastructure. In parallel, green stormwater infrastructure has evolved from demonstration sites to integral infrastructure for management of water quality, becoming a key strategy for regulatory compliance. Communities across the country have faced a number of challenges related to green infrastructure. Ensuring proper and cost-effective maintenance of these assets has been one of the most common challenges. As the number of decentralized installations grows and as these assets age, there is a need to optimize management. Asset management frameworks can be customized to tackle these challenges through long term lifecycle management of the asset. These frameworks provide an efficient and predictable approach that may evolve to integrate additional decentralized infrastructure such as smart city solutions. This paper introduces commonly applied frameworks, applies these frameworks to green stormwater infrastructure and presents a case study about the Clean Water Partnership in Prince George's County, Maryland, where some of the first green infrastructure in the United States was constructed.

SpeakerAdams, Laura

Presentation time

13:20:00

13:40:00

Session time

13:00:00

14:00:00

SessionStormwater Infrastructure: What Do You Have and How Do You Fix It?

Session number612

TopicAsset Management, Stormwater, Green Infrastructure, and Wet Weather

Author(s)

L. AdamsL. AdamsK. BrownK. Brown

Author(s)L. Adams1; L. Adams1; K. Brown2; K. Brown2;

Author affiliation(s)Black & Veatch, MO1; Corvias, MD2

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Oct 2020

DOI10.2175/193864718825157578

Volume / Issue

Content sourceWEFTEC

Word count10

Description: The Role of Community-Based Partnerships In Advancing DE&I In The Water...

The Role of Community-Based Partnerships In Advancing DE&I In The Water Industry

Abstract

Introduction and Background
Black & Veatch is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I). Black & Veatch's commitment to building a world of difference is a pledge to ensure a world and water industry free of discrimination, bigotry, and divisiveness. As a company whose core values include respect, integrity, and collaboration, we strive to provide an inclusive, collaborative, and accessible culture that recognizes the innovation and creativity gained from different views and opinions. To further efforts and investments in fairness and equity, Black & Veatch has introduced a global DE&I Council along with a DE&I Partner Network. The commitment to advancing DE&I at Black & Veatch extends to the partners that we work with. Black & Veatch is proud to partner with Corvias, who established the Clean Water Partnership (CWP) with Prince George's County, Maryland (the County). In 2014, the County pioneered a new approach to stormwater management by transforming a renewal of their municipal separate storm sewer system discharge permit (MS4 permit) into an opportunity to set socioeconomic performance metrics and advance DE&I in the water industry. The stringent requirements of the renewed MS4 permit doubled the regulated impervious area treatment goal for the County. In response, the County utilized a Community-Based Public Private Partnership (CBP3) business model in collaboration with Corvias to develop the CWP. The CWP generates opportunities for education and socioeconomic development through the construction of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) projects required to meet the MS4 permit. Over seven (7) years the CWP has achieved all socioeconomic key performance metrics set by the County. Based on an independent economic development study conducted by Towson University, the CWP produced $183 million in local County economic impact during the first phase of the partnership. Entering phase 3 in 2021, over 80% of the work has been performed by target class businesses, with 63% of the work done by local labor in the County (Figure 1). The Mentor ProtÃ©gÃ© Program has graduated over 45 firms and $20 million has been awarded to those mentor protÃ©gÃ© firms. The CWP program is on target to retrofit approximately 4,500 impervious acres with GSI for water quality restoration throughout the County as shown by Figure 2. Community outreach and engagement remains a cornerstone to the success of the CWP as portrayed during in-person, and most recently, virtual meetings with community members, NGOs, the Faith Based Community, and students. Corvias' Delivery Partners have completed over 350 project outreach meetings to ensure members of the community are engaged in advance of, during, and after construction activities. Various members of the team from design, outreach, construction, and maintenance participate to ensure community members have access to industry experts to answer their questions and provide education on stormwater management and GSI. The CWP has also developed a school program, engaging over 100 students in education programs in GSI and investing more than $500,000 in student internships. As a result of the CWP, the County is achieving social and environmental goals across all nine districts as shown by Figure 2. Prince George's County is the first in the US to implement a CBP3 as a solution to focus on its socioeconomic and local capacity issues through an infrastructure program. As a result, many jurisdictions in the State and around the country are looking at the County as the global center of stormwater, innovation, and production. The expansion of city infrastructure projects to partner with private entities, such as between the County and private firms Corvias and infraManagement Group (a wholly owned company of Black & Veatch), has led to the CWP being used as a model for the Fresh Coast Protection Partnership in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The ability for private entities to expand upon the CWP framework from the County has led to a wider advancement of DE&I in the water industry than could have been achieved by the County alone. This presentation will build upon the ideas and discussions that will occur in the WEFTEC Workshop, Transformative Opportunities in Stormwater: Elevating Resilience, Equity, and Workforce Development, and provide a deeper insight into the CWP framework for participants to use as a model. It will also highlight how the program has evolved over the course of seven years and provide an outlook for what's to come.
Conclusion Although the CWP has made tremendous advancements for DE&I in the water industry of Prince George's County, communities across the US are still facing roadblocks in advancement. The CWP can serve as a model for communities throughout the US as they realize the importance of utilizing mandates as an opportunity to invest in their communities and reconsider how they structure infrastructure programs to include significant social and environment equity metrics. The CWP encourages communities to utilize GSI in the advancement of DE&I in the water industry through the provision of local jobs in construction and maintenance, increasing green space equitably, and providing community-wide social benefits. Corvias and infraManagement Group hope to build upon the County CWP and serve as a model and resource for communities looking to leverage GSI for the further advancement of DE&I and community development across the US.

As we deliver water infrastructure, there is an opportunity to advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. A case study of the Clean Water Partnership presents a solution that leverages environmental protection mandates to maximize the contracting of Disadvantaged Business Enterprises, advancing new competencies within the local workforce and delivering economic impact. This paper has been developed to elevate a scalable solution, driven by environmental and socioeconomic outcomes.

SpeakerAdams, Laura

Presentation time

09:00:00

09:25:00

Session time

08:30:00

10:00:00

TopicIntermediate Level, Asset Management, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Utility Management and Leadership

Author(s)

Adams, Laura

Author(s)Laura Adams1; Samantha Morrow2; Elizabeth Wheaton3; Michael Burke4

Author affiliation(s)Black & Veatch, Kansas City, MO1; Black & Veatch, Chicago, IL2; Corvias, Miami, FL3; Quest 2 Consulting, Greenbelt, MD4