Finding Balance in Stormwater Management

Background:
Situated between the Kansas and Wakarusa rivers, Lawrence, Kansas has an area of nearly 35 square miles divided into 11 tributary watersheds and 59 sub-watersheds. The 2020 Census population of approximately 95,000 reside within city limits, which is primarily developed with single family residential being the primary use. A large portion of the city is occupied by the University of Kansas and its associated properties. The enclosed stormwater system is comprised of over 17,600 structures and approximately 265 miles of piping, including both public and private infrastructure. The City of Lawrence, KS, is required to comply with a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Program as part of the federal Clean Water Act. Historically, the common practice was to hire a consultant to evaluate stormwater data, run pertinent calculations, publish a report of projects that the City will get to when budget allows or enough concerns are raised to address. The City of Lawrence challenged that process and looked to its consultants as partners to provide holistic and interactive stormwater solutions to find a balance for the stormwater system. Approach: Managing a stormwater system requires balancing financial resources and physical system needs based on available data. The Stormwater System ID, Assessment & Model Creation Project, undertaken by the City of Lawrence, KS is an innovative approach to identifying stormwater assets condition, criticality, and serviceability. This data, along with modernized stormwater modeling methods, is helping identify cost effective solutions to managing the stormwater system. The project team, consisting of engineering consultants and City Engineering Staff have learned several lessons during this comprehensive project. This session will highlight lessons learned from a private consultant and municipal engineer's prospective and help others become wise from our mistakes and help you find balance in stormwater management.

What makes this project unique?
The City of Lawrence wanted to better understand its entire stormwater system, which encompasses the entire City, all 59 subwatersheds across nearly 35 square miles. All the asset inventory and condition information will reside in one primary database, Utility Network by ESRI. This dataset is shared with other utilities within the City, helping level the informational knowledge. Additionally, every structure will have a 3D digital model allowing users to visually confirm condition and routing. What can be learned from this project? There are evolving technologies in managing a stormwater system, but they all come back to having a good map and a plan of action. The foundation of this project, which can be used on other projects is a solid repository for data, aka a map. From that foundation, project engineers and asset managers can start piling on information to make the map more detailed, especially in a digital environment. One of the first benefits to a digital, ESRI based map, was the ability query quantities and assign statuses to assets. The project team created live dashboards that recorded a host of statuses which helped track progress and identify a punch list of structures or lines that needed attention prior to being labeled 'Inspection Complete.' The second foundational piece of the project was a plan of action. The scope of assets to be identified and appraised, initially seems to be an endless list of letters and numbers. Using digital maps and isolating work to be done in a specific watershed at a time, helped make the task of collecting all the data attainable. A prioritization of tributary watersheds was created, and field crews worked across the basins systematically. Another foundational cornerstone is communication. The project team and sub-teams held regular status meetings and huddles. These interactions allowed the entire team to maintain visibility on progress, areas that needed attention and successes. Having an engaged team across the variety of individuals contributing was key to consistency. The field team included staff from one of the consultants and from the City, this required coordination and communication of procedures and standard language. The data team processing and performing QA/QC had to communicate with field teams and modelers to ensure field data was accurate and incorporated into the models.

Innovation and Technology at Work
The mapping technology and ability to see and find additional details on assets is a game changer. But investing in innovation was important to the City of Lawrence for several reasons. -Data collection was done without having to put City or contractors at risk during manned entry of a confined space. -Asset physical measurement information, as well as condition assessments can be done with one touch of the structure while in office. Saving time and reducing field data collection errors. -TREKK 360 scans and models provide a snapshot in time to the current conditions of structures to be compared to future scans. -Modeling experts have a variety of easily accessible data to tune their model. -The affordability and simplicity of deployment allowed multiple crews to collect data simultaneously and rapidly. Reducing the field time and negative impacts of weather delays. Better understanding the stormwater system from an asset identification standpoint, aided the ability to accurately model the system. These steps were critical to understanding the status quo and what improvements will be required to improve the level of service across the City of Lawrence. Balancing the financial resources and setting an acceptable level of service will be the second presentation by our team members of Burns & McDonnell.