While NFIP requirements and CRS improvement represent typical municipal flood resilience drivers, a new driver gaining momentum comes from the municipal property insurance industry. Pinellas County recently selected their insurance provider for the South Cross Bayou WWTP. To reign in premiums and identify continuity of operations opportunities should the facility flood, the County completed a study covering both priorities & and then had the study's conclusions put to the test in back-to-back hurricanes in 2024. Drivers for flood resilience typically stem from specific regulatory requirements for National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) participation at the municipal level or additional NFIP programs, such as efforts to improve a Community Rating System point total. These drivers prioritize flood protection primarily for habitable, insured structures. However, communities across the nation also now recognize the value of flood resilience for critical community infrastructure. Depending on how communities insure that infrastructure, yet another flood resilience driver emerges - municipal property insurance. This presentation will walk participants through the flood resilience planning process undertaken by Pinellas County at the request of its insurance provider for the South Cross Bayou wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Both as an effort to maximize insurance premium efficiency and improve the WWTP's continuity of operations in a flood event, the plant engaged in its own flood resilience planning study. In this case study, we will discuss how the County's insurer evaluated the facility's flood risk and required the County to identify protection opportunities for its South Cross Bayou WWTP against the FEMA 500-year design storm. We will walk through insurer discussions and floodproofing requirements leading up to the study, the data collection and criticality analysis, the outcomes and best practices for this type of a study, along with grant funding opportunities to support resiliency improvements. The presenters will share a variety of identified flood risk reduction practices, both permanent and temporary. Notably, after the study was completed in spring of 2024, Pinellas County was directly impacted by both Hurricanes Helene and Milton. With the two hurricanes just having hit in recent weeks after the study's completion, the County had not yet implemented any of the recommendations from the study, needing to incorporate the highest priorities into upcoming Capital Improvement Program (CIP) cycles. While Pinellas County assessed the widespread damage brought by each hurricane, fortunately no apparent flood damage occurred at the South Cross Bayou facility. However, the presenters will also include a brief synopsis of how the recommended flood resilience practices and efforts might have fared if either of the storms had caused the characterized flooding the study sought to assess and provide recommendations to mitigate.

Summary: The City of Austin hired K Friese & Associates (KFA) to optimize the Northwest Area regional collection system by redistributing flows among four lift stations. This effort involved expanding two lift stations, rerouting and reversing force mains, and decommissioning one lift station. Abstract: Austin Water operates 143 lift stations and 2,927 miles of wastewater pipelines. In 2018, the City of Austin selected KFA to modernize the Northwest Area's lift station network through the 'Rock Harbour Area Improvements' project. This included flow conveyance upgrades between the Boulder Lane (BL), Rock Harbour (RH), Four Points #1 (FP #1), and Four Points #2 (FP #2) lift stations. The project addressed increasing flows at BL and RH stations, planned service area growth, and outdated infrastructure. It also reduced inefficiencies by decommissioning FP #2 and reconfiguring the force mains. Initially, FP #1 and FP #2 were oversized due to early planning assumptions of high-density development. However, environmental constraints like the establishment of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve led to limited growth. Meanwhile, flows to RH and BL increased, necessitating system improvements. Previously, BL flows were pumped to RH, which received additional gravity flows from its service area before discharging to FP #2 via FP #1. This overly complex flow pattern contributed to inefficiencies. The improvements streamlined this system by expanding BL and RH lift stations, bypassing FP #2, and rerouting and reversing flows. These upgrades were implemented in phases, each designed with future projects in mind. The RH station was first expanded with pumps capable of handling interim flows and later adapted for increased capacity using a larger-diameter force main. Subsequent projects included rerouting the RH force main (RH FM), reversing an existing force main to accommodate FP #1 flows, and decommissioning FP #2. BL station upgrades were completed independently, ensuring compatibility with increased flows downstream. Key Improvements: 1. Expansion of RH lift station. 2. Construction of a new 18' RH FM to bypass FP #2. 3. Connection of FP #1 to the reversed 12' RH FM. 4. Decommissioning FP #2. 5. Expansion of BL lift station. Project Execution: The design and construction of the projects required detailed sequencing to minimize operational disruptions and construction complexities. The RH FM reroute involved three interdependent designs: the new 18' FM to bypass FP #2, reversal of the existing 12' RH FM, and rerouted connections to FP #1. The RH lift station was expanded to accommodate these changes, with its design incorporating flexibility for future system curves. To decommission FP #2, FP #1 flows were redirected via the reversed 12' RH FM to the expanded RH lift station. Pre-design efforts ensured seamless integration of phased improvements while maintaining system functionality. Coordination between these interconnected projects was essential to avoid service disruptions and optimize efficiency. Challenges and Solutions: Several challenges emerged during the planning and execution phases, offering critical lessons: 1. Strategic Foresight: Early planning ensured the initial projects could accommodate subsequent improvements. This minimized costs and disruptions while simplifying future construction. 2. Phased Execution: Careful sequencing of the RH FM reroute project (comprising three of the five improvements) ensured prerequisite components were in place before proceeding with later phases. 3. Staffing Continuity: Staffing transitions posed risks to institutional knowledge. KFA retained the same project manager and lead engineer throughout the program, ensuring consistency. A diverse client team from Austin Water (AW), Development Services Department (DSD), and others supported continuity despite turnover. 4. Site Constraints: Limited workspace at the RH and BL stations required innovative approaches, such as phased construction, unique storage solutions, and close coordination with facility operators. 5. Infrastructure Retrofitting: Existing infrastructure was repurposed to reduce costs and timelines but introduced uncertainties due to unknown underground conditions. Record drawings and coordination with city operators helped mitigate risks. 6. Material Delays: Extended lead times for equipment like generators disrupted schedules. Lessons from the RH station informed bid evaluations for BL, including pre-purchasing and timeline adjustments. Early engagement with suppliers proved essential. Lessons Learned: The iterative nature of the project allowed the team to address issues proactively in later phases. Design refinements incorporated feedback from earlier projects, addressing material changes, site access, and installation challenges. The project also highlighted the importance of anticipating supply chain disruptions and planning buffer periods to accommodate delays. Conclusion: The integrated improvements program streamlined flow conveyance in Austin's Northwest Area, addressing current inefficiencies and planning for future growth. The project involved lift station expansions, force main rerouting, flow reversal, and decommissioning outdated infrastructure. Key achievements included strategic planning, phased execution, and adaptive design. These efforts reduced costs, improved system reliability, and provided valuable insights for managing complex wastewater improvement programs. The approach exemplifies innovative, sustainable infrastructure solutions that balance operational needs, environmental constraints, and long-term development.

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss alternatives to managing stormwater flows through natural systems that can benefit separate and combined sewer systems. The benefits of the presentation will include informing participants on the benefit of the application and will discuss key lessons learned that should be considered early in the planning phase to improve outcomes and reduce costs. The City of Lomita, located in Los Angeles County, is implementing a stormwater capture project that diverts flows from the 85th percentile rainfall event to a subsurface infiltration gallery located beneath the City Hall lawn, which equates to a design storm volume of 5.4 acre-feet. The project provides a series of benefits to the City and to residents by removing the volume of flow from the storm drain system. This project will alleviate flooding, remove urban watershed pollutants from being conveyed to the receiving waterbody, and provide groundwater recharge, an important aspect in areas prone to drought. By managing the stormwater in a fully buried system, it allows for full use of the site on the surface. While this project involves diverting flows from a municipal separate storm sewer system, the concept could provide similar benefits to combined sewer systems by diverting stormwater at a point prior to comingling with sanitary sewer flows, thereby alleviating CSOs during high flow events. Subsurface infiltration provides an effective means of managing stormwater, though there are several factors that must be considered prior to implementation. The City of Lomita's project encountered several obstacles which were resolved during the preliminary design phase, including identification of a past land use at the original site that posed a potential water quality risk to the groundwater basin as well as the results of geotechnical investigations that necessitated a shift in the type of subsurface infiltration being designed. Lomita remained flexible to modifications, and the revised design accommodated these conditions, and the lessons learned may improve the outcome of future projects. The project has been partially funded through the County of Los Angeles' Safe, Clean Water Program, a voter approved measure designed to fund stormwater and water supply projects throughout the County. This presentation will describe the project's intended outcomes, lessons learned, and key takeaways for those embarking on similar projects. It would appeal to municipalities managing stormwater and wastewater conveyance systems and those responsible for compliance measures. The project is currently in the design phase, which will be complete or near completion at the time of the conference.

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to gain momentum in the wastewater industry. With continued development in AI technology, the use of AI in automated defect recognition and coding of sewer lines and manholes could potentially change the way sewer collection systems are managed and maintained in the future. With more than three years into the City of Houston's use of AI in detecting and coding defects in sewer lines, this presentation looks to highlight the challenges and lessons learned. The City of Houston, TX is currently under a consent decree to televise and inspect all the sewer lines in the City over a ten (10) year period, develop a plan to address any major defects found during the inspection and execute the plan. The volume of the lines involved require innovative ways to expedite the inspection and defect coding and subsequently speed up the process of evaluating cost effective and appropriate rehabilitation/repair methods to address the identified major defects. To help achieve this goal, the City of Houston has deployed the use of AI in detecting and coding defects in sewer lines following an evaluation of multiple AI platforms to determine accuracy and consistency of results as well as efficiency (turnaround time). Following the evaluation, one platform was selected for implementation. This presentation presents the challenges and lessons learned from the implementation and use of the selected AI platform over a period of a year and half, and the integration of the results into the City's sewer rehabilitation and management as well as Consent Decree reporting. With the drive for newer, quicker, cheaper and efficient ways to accurately detect and code defects in sewer collection systems, this presentation will provide collection system operators with a quick overview of AI technologies currently available on the market and provide a basis for discussion with their staff on possible use with the management as well as operation and maintenance of their respective sewer systems.

The objectives of the MacArthur Lake Stormwater Capture Project (Project) are to contribute to regulatory compliance for the Ballona Creek Watershed by treating both dry and wet weather flows from 200 acres of urban watershed in a disadvantaged community in downtown Los Angeles. In addition to water quality benefits, the Project will offset potable water use with treated stormwater, provide water supply benefits through water recycling, and increase the recreational value of the park with a terraced water feature and educational signage. The Project will also aesthetically enhance the Park with a new pedestrian bridge designed in alignment with the park's existing Art Deco style features. The Project was first identified as one of the top 10 One Water integration opportunities in the One Water LA 2040 Plan because it requires multi-agency collaboration and closes the urban water cycle with a variety of water quality, water supply and community benefits. Extensive community engagement efforts conducted during the One Water LA 2040 Plan contributed to broad support for Measure W, a parcel tax to fund the design, construction, and operation/maintenance of stormwater projects in LA County. Since its passing in 2018, Measure W now generates $300 M/year to fund LA County's Safe Clean Water Program (SCWP) projects. This Project received funding in the first round of applications through a competitive process, and is planned for construction in 2026: it is anticipated to become the second of more than 150 SCWP projects to be implemented. Combined with the historic nature of MacArthur Park, the Project has high visibility and is primed to function as a role-model stormwater project. The Project Final Design is currently undergoing final reviews by the City of Los Angeles and is expected to go out to Bid in mid-2025, with Construction anticipated to start in early 2026. This presentation will include an overview of One Water LA and the SCWP, a summary of the Project's design components, and valuable lessons learned during the planning, preliminary design, final design, and CEQA process, such as: - Right-sizing of the stormwater infrastructure to maximize water quality benefits for both dry and wet weather conditions. - Early involvement and close collaboration between LA Sanitation (LASAN), Recreation and Parks (RAP), Bureau of Engineering (BOE), and Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP) from the start of the feasibility study through final design. - Early and meaningful community engagement with a local non-profit to build community support, employing creative outreach strategies, such as a telenovela with professional actors to educate the community on the project benefits in English and Spanish. - Special design considerations to minimize community impacts to the unhoused community in the Park, local businesses (street vendors), the Park's recreational functionality, and (public) transportation impacts. The presentation will also highlight how the original project concept idea evolved from the One Water LA 2040 Plan to the Project's 2019 Feasibility Study, and the subsequent preliminary design and final design phases. Modifications made to deliver a design that meets the SCWP's regulatory water quality objectives while also enhancing the Park and maximizing community benefits will provide practical ideas for the audience to implement in their own multi-benefit stormwater and One Water projects.

The rural communities and small towns of Virginia's Eastern Shore have traditionally utilized septic systems for their wastewater treatment needs. With the regions notoriously high water tables and corrosive soil conditions, these systems can often leak and fail over time. To limit groundwater contamination and improve the regions wastewater treatment systems, the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) has recently completed a regional small community collection system on the Eastern Shore. This extensive design-build construction project included the installation of over 30 miles of 4-inch through 12-inch sewer force mains, over 50 horizontal directional drills (HDD), complex hydraulic modeling, construction of 5 new pump stations, modifications to 3 other stations and complex environmental / historical permitting and research. This project conveys sewer flows from numerous small towns to the regional HRSD Wastewater Treatment Plant, where the water will be properly treated with modern technology before being discharged to coastal waters. Through this project and other local efforts, the picturesque towns of Wachapreague, Onancock and Exmore have been updating their sewer systems from old septic tank technology to modern collection systems including hundreds of grinder pumps and low-pressure force mains. As most of the region still utilizes well water for their drinking water supply, this project not only will improve each resident's sewer treatment, it will improve drinking water quality by eliminating the risks and impacts of leaking septic systems. By improving coastal groundwaters and improving sewer treatment effluent, the project will have regional and even national impact through its positive effects to the regional coastal aquaculture and most importantly the world-famous Chesapeake Bay crab, oyster and clam populations. The coastal nature of this broad project made for some challenging engineering and construction. The water table was essentially at the ground surface which complicated excavation and pump station wet well designs. The regions narrow roadways are maintained by the Virgina Department of Transportation (VDOT) which required the collection system piping to be primarily installed via HDD. The area is also subject to regular hurricane and nor-easter flooding, which required significant flood protections and storm hardening for the new infrastructure. These new Eastern Shore facilities will greatly benefit the regions residents, tourists, farmers, fisherman and anyone in the County who enjoys its world-famous Chesapeake Bay crab cakes, steamed clams or oysters on the half shell. This presentation will be of great interest to all small communities, Coastal communities, rural Counties, utility owners of any size and any contractor or engineer interested in the design-build process and the complex coordination between stakeholders that such projects require.

This paper presents a sedimentation risk evaluation via modeling for a sanitary sewer siphon system design project in Carrollton, Texas and Farmers Branch, Texas, suburbs of Dallas, Texas. The audience will learn about selecting dry and wet weather hydraulic conditions to use for evaluating sediment, how to use modeling to proactively identify the predicted locations and severity of sedimentation risks to assist designers and utilities to select design alternatives, predict sedimentation accumulation, and incorporate sedimentation control and maintenance strategies during the design phases. The Trinity River Authority (TRA) of Texas is the largest water and wastewater service wholesale provider in Texas. TRA is in the process of developing rehabilitation and replacement plans for portions of its Central Regional Wastewater System (CRWS) Elm Fork Interceptor. The project involves the design of three channel crossings. For the crossing at Cooks Branch (Figures 1 and 2 ) in the City of Carrollton, the proposed crossing is an inverted siphon (hereafter, 'siphon') with parallel 42-inch and 66-inch pipes (Figures 3 and 4). There is a proposed weir upstream of the 66-inch barrel, so it only conveys the wet weather flow (WWF), and the dry weather flow (DWF) will only pass through the 42-inch pipe. The siphon is sized to convey projected 2070 future peak WWF during a 5-year design storm. Since the DWF is much lower than the WWF, the designers and TRA had concerns about sedimentation issues in the siphon at low-flow velocities. TRA has a hydrologic and hydraulic model in Autodesk InfoWorks ICM. The model can perform DWF and WWF projections and hydraulic grade line simulations of the collection systems for existing and design conditions. It was proposed to use ICM's water quality module to analyze sediment fate and transport for the siphon system. The Ackers-White method is chosen for the Erosion / Deposition Model. ICM can simulate two sediment fractions independently, but only one fraction (SF1) was used for this analysis, assuming the suspended solids particle size compositions and settling characteristics have no significant variations that warrant refined differentiations. The solids size is based on the average sediment particle size parameter of d50. Based on literature references, average and high sediment parameter values for particle sizes d50, concentrations, specific gravity and settling velocity were used for the evaluation (Table 1). The high sediment parameters represent high risks of sedimentation accumulation for the worst conditions. Long-term historical rainfalls were used for WWF projection as it occurred in the area and are expected to repeat in the future. Historical annual rainfall data (1899-2023) from the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport weather station was collected from NOAA's National Weather Service website and statistically analyzed (Figure 5). The lowest annual rainfall is 17.91 inches in 1921. The median rainfall is 33.59 inches in 2021. Unfortunately, finer time step (15-minute) rainfall data necessary for modeling is not available for the DFW station. However, the 15-minute time step rainfall data for recent years is available at a nearby Fort Worth WSFO Station. The data from 2000-2013 (Table 2) shows the 2008 rainfall of 12.4 inches is less than the 1921 rainfall, and the 2009 rainfall of 34.5 inches is close to the median rainfall of 2021. The two calendar years of rainfall contain a very dry year-duration with higher risks of sedimentation accumulation followed by an average year with average wash-out condition. Therefore, it is considered a reasonable rainfall period to evaluate the sedimentation risks for the siphon. A 5-year design storm was added at the end of 2009 to evaluate additional cleaning effects at the design condition. The simulated flow to the siphon is shown in Figure 6. The peak flow is 78.6 mgd for the 5-year design storm. The following summarize the results (Table 3) and conclusions of the evaluation: Average sediment parameter inputs: - No sediment issue is predicted for the 42-inch barrel. - For the 66-inch barrel: --Upstream Junction: The sediment accumulation at the weir location is due to stagnant water. --The influent pipe to the Downstream Junction: It has incremental sediment build up during dry weather periods due to low recirculation flow from the 42-inch pipe. The downstream end can be washed out by most of the storms. The upstream end has accumulations. High sediment parameter inputs: - The 42-inch barrel: --It can have 3.5 hours of sediment accumulation during early morning low-flow period, but the sediment will be washed out during higher flow hours (Figure 7). - The 66-inch barrel: --Upstream Junction: Sediment accumulation occurs for the first two sections downstream of the weir due to stagnant water (Figures 8 and 9). --The influent pipe to the Downstream Junction (Figure 10):It has incremental sediment build up during dry weather periods due to low recirculation flow from the 42-inch pipe. The downstream end can be washed out by most of the storms. The upstream end has accumulations. --The rest of the pipes can self-clean (Figure 11) - The sediment doesn't increase the head loss significantly for the 5-year storm after a 2008-2009 rainfall condition. However, it could be further verified by detailed modeling such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling. Based on the evaluation, the following were recommended: - The current Cooks Branch Siphon sizing is confirmed and recommended. - A Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) variance may be required as the weekday peak DWF velocity is less than 3.0 ft/s. - Consider the following sediment management options for the 66-inch pipe: --A back flow prevention device. --An inspection program and maintenance plan to remove the accumulation periodically. --Supplemental water for sediment cleansing. --Sluice gate at 42-inch pipe inlet. Conclusion/Recommendation: The sediment accumulation in collection systems can be modeled in conjunction with Hydrologic and Hydraulic models with available modeling software. The model uses typical sediment and erosion/deposition theories and equations. Reasonable sediment parameter ranges and DWF/WWF projections are required for the modeling. Using average and more conservative conditions for both sediment parameters and rainfalls can provide sensitivity analysis of sediment risks in the systems. The model can identify potential sediment accumulation locations/causes and help refine the designs to minimize the impact by incorporating operation and maintenance strategies into the design. Status of Completion: At the time of submittal, the study confirms the design and sizing of the Cooks Branch Siphon. Based on the sediment location/cause results, the design team is considering several options to manage the potential sediments. Similar analysis will be applied to two additional channel crossing sites.

Background: York Region, Ontario, Canada located north of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is one of the fastest growing Regional municipalities in Canada. Rapid growth along with aging infrastructure required the Region to develop a unique solution continue to service the population and provide redundancy in its sewage system. York Region retained GHD to develop a sustainable and innovative solution to provide the new force main through a highly urbanized city with environmentally sensitive areas. The new sewer force mains (FM's) would connect three Regional pump stations and would provide redundancy in the system which currently has only a single force main nearing 37 years of age. The system is at great risk since it has no standby FM and extremely limited maintenance access to significant portions located within the East Holland River floodplain. Rapid growth has also created significant utility congestion and interferences. Furthermore, additional hardships exist with the environmental restrictions placed on FM's construction alongside the Bailey Ecological Park. To address these challenges the design team undertook a detailed risk assessment and analyzed the impact of multiple construction methods. Multiple design scenarios were produced to evaluate costs, property impacts and limitations of trenchless technologies. The analysis demonstrated that the use of trenchless technologies would have the least social and environmental impact. After rigorous analysis, the design team concluded that micro tunneling 5.6 km (3.36miles) would be the most technically viable and cost-effective solution. Solution: York Region embarked on one of the longest sewage Micro tunnel (MT) projects in Canada's history. This project incorporates construction of a 1050mm (42') diameter sewage FM to be constructed within a precast concrete tunnel liner that traverses 5.6 kms (3.48 miles) across highly urbanized development and environmentally sensitive lands (refer to figure 1). Trenchless technology became imperative due to significant community fatigue associated with the recent construction of a new transit system and the need to construct along the sensitive Bailey Ecological Park and multiple crossing of the east Holland River. The designed tunneled portions included ten (10) shafts with several tunneled sections featuring compound curves with drive lengths up to 830 metres (2730 ft.). Following the tender process, the contractor Ward and Burke Microtunnelling Ltd. proposed even longer drive lengths up to 1132 meters (3715 ft.) in eight (8) shafts. With the project objective and challenges in mind, the Region's Capital Delivery Group requested a team of innovative thinkers from environmental planning, engineering infrastructure and the water construction industry to develop a sustainable and viable solution for the community. The preferred solution involved connecting three large sewage pump stations within the Town of Newmarket. Industry leading design and state of the art micro tunnelling methodology would need to be married together to maximize the spacing of work compounds and their respective tunnel shafts. During the design, the Region assembled a technical expert panel from the tunnelling industry to validate, enhance the design solution as well as provide confidence to proceed with long MT drive lengths under various geotechnical conditions. This collaborative effort successfully built confidence in the design of long curved tunnel drives, compact shaft compounds, need for an effective Geotechnical Baseline Report (GBR) and optimization of the Region's capital cost estimate. Each of the project tunnel drives exceeded the minimum 320 meters (1050 ft.) in length with the longest drive in excess of 830 metres (2730 ft.). The allowable tunnel size ranged in diameter between 2.25 metres (7.4 ft.) to 2.50 metres (8.2 ft.) internal diameter to construction of the new 1050 mm (42') FM and to allow for construction industry flexibility with machine availability. The geotechnical conditions would require new or newly refurbished microtunnel boring machines (MTBMs) with hardened cutting tools, hardened face, advanced survey technology and interjack segmental pipe thrusting system. Additionally, the tunneling machine was specified to include the ability to perform compressed air intervention at the face to change tooling. The project began construction in summer of 2019 and is expected to reach completion by 2021. The community participated in the design process and are satisfied with the reduced construction disruption. The local Conservation Authority guidelines and environmental protection requirements to construct within a critical river floodplain were satisfied. Conclusions: The project was tendered in spring 2019 resulting in the award to Ward and Burke Microtunnelling Ltd. in the amount of $110M CAD ($73.4M USD). The use of MTs for large diameter FMs with extended drive lengths is a feasible solution to minimize community and utility disruption while offering both schedule and cost advantages. Collaboration with the construction industry by conducting effective technical expert panel sessions during the design phase led to a more reliable design and more accurately assessed capital costs.

Introduction: Houston's wastewater infrastructure is vast and complex, serving over 2.3 million residents through 38 wastewater treatment plants, approximately 380 lift stations, 5,800 miles of gravity sewers, and 134,000 manholes. In addition to the operational challenges inherent in maintaining such a large system, Houston must also comply with strict regulatory requirements under a federal consent decree, which mandates specific actions to prevent sewer overflows and improve aged infrastructure for system reliability. While addressing the compliance of consent decree, the city is also preparing for the period beyond the consent decree, it is adopting a forward-thinking approach to infrastructure management that emphasizes operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, and resilience. To address these demands, Houston is applying advanced technologies such as data integration, real-time monitoring, and predictive analytics through the Advanced Infrastructure Analytics Platform (AIAP), a 'Platform of Platforms' built on AWS Data Lake. AIAP integrates multiple operational and planning systems to enhance data-driven decision-making and optimize the management of the city's wastewater infrastructure. This paper explores how Generative AI, with a specific focus on Retrieval-Augmented Generation using AWS Bedrock and Amazon Q, is transforming Houston's wastewater management, providing critical insights into operational performance, predictive maintenance, and long-term infrastructure planning. LS plays a vital role in areas where gravity alone cannot transfer wastewater effectively. LS pumps act as the heart of the system, maintaining flow and preventing backups. Any disruption can ripple through the system, impacting public health and safety. By applying predictive failure methods, we can better protect these essential components and the communities they serve. Objective: The primary goal of this study is to: - Determine the status of LS operations at Risk using SCADA data - Develop pump downtime risk profiles for each LS to serve as a baseline - Track and evaluate the risk profiles against the baselines - Suggest a predictive maintenance plan This study presents a data-driven method using SCADA pump status data to monitor and evaluate the performance and risk of LS. By detecting the early signs of potential failures, it enables proactive maintenance and necessary actions. The approach provides a structure risk analysis, helping to prioritize maintenance for inefficient LS, effectively focused on the most critical issues to prevent high-risk incidents. Data preparation/methodology: We conducted EDA on historical pump performance data and developed a risk analysis approach that categorizes lift station conditions into three levels (Normal, Medium, and High Risk) based on SCADA data, considering the number of pumps in each station and their downtime, with traffic light colors representing each level. This method pinpoints high-risk stations, forecasts future risks based on current conditions, and culminates in a risk matrix to evaluate the station's condition based on pump functionality. To streamline the approach, a modern data architecture was implemented, with AWS data lake features being used to collect, store, and process large datasets. Scalability and reliability in analytical workflows were ensured by this setup, which efficiently managed extensive data volumes. Results/Key Findings: By analyzing SCADA data on pump operational hours, downtime frequency and the total number of operating pumps at each LS, the system identifies how many pumps are functioning well and how many are not. To assess LS risk based on pump performance, a new method is established, using traffic light indicators to classify LS conditions into three categories: normal operation (Green), medium risk (Yellow), and high risk (Red). Historic data revealed that stations transitioning from Green to Yellow often progress to Red without prompt intervention, highlighting the potential for early risk forecasting. Our method was validated using Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) data, which commonly occurred near lift stations with higher pumps downtime risks. Discussion/Implications: The findings of this study contribute significantly to the field of wastewater infrastructure management by offering a proactive, data-driven approach to LS health assessment. The predictive risk model facilitates timely interventions, reducing the likelihood of pump failures and system overflows. This approach also enables better resource allocation by prioritizing high-risk LS for further assessment or renewal. Conclusion: In conclusion, this study introduced a novel approach to assess the health of LS and predict early warning signs of risk using SCADA pump status data, enabling intervention before the stations reach the danger zone. To achieve this goal, EDA techniques were applied alongside AWS data lake capabilities. The study enables proactive maintenance strategies by identifying underperforming LS, while systematically maintaining and upgrading assets to promote long-term sustainability.

Martin Road Lake in Amarillo, Texas, experienced flooding issues despite a capital project to enhance flood management and storage capacity. HDR's integrated solution, developed with public input, included fishing amenities and erosion repairs. Completed in 2023, the project successfully mitigated flooding during 100-year rain event and improved community recreational use. Martin Road Lake is an existing playa lake which impounds surface water runoff in the northeast portion of the City of Amarillo, Texas (City). The watershed contributing to Martin Road Lake drains approximately 1,658 acres and has several outfalls into the playa lake. This particular area is susceptible to flooding and thus the City began construction on several capital projects to improve the area. The City was nearing the end of construction in 2013 on one of these capital projects to lower the 100-year flood plain and increase the storage volume of the playa lake. This project required excavating an adjacent playa lake that would be hydraulically connected by box culverts under Martin Road. This portion of the project was completed successfully, however protection of its outfalls into the playa lakes were severely damaged by flash flooding prior to completion of the overall project. Several rainfall events after construction further eroded significant rills into the slopes of both the west and east playa lakes, and undermined the segmental concrete block flumes at several outfalls. HDR accompanied the City on a site visit in April 2017 to assess the conditions. Around the same time frame, the Parks Department had completed a master plan for Martin Road Park and Gene Howe Park that included providing access to the lake as a fishing amenity. Both lakes were highly utilized by the citizens for recreational activities along the trails and parks, but more over for fishing. The City tasked HDR with developing an integrated solution that would increase storage capacity for flooding, provide an alternative means for fishing that included ADA accessibility and accounted for the highly variable water surface of the playa lakes, while also repairing the eroded banks of the playa lake slopes and its outfalls. HDR knew that a long-term solution addressing these key issues would require buy in and even contributions from the project stakeholders. Some of the stakeholders included the City Parks Department, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and the citizens of Amarillo. HDR and the City held several public meetings to inform the citizens about the project, take note of their concerns, and incorporate design features to address those concerns. One of those public meetings included three site alternatives for the proposed fishing amenity. At these meetings the citizens voted on their preferred layout. One of the options provided a fluctuating pool elevation for the proposed fishing amenity as a part of the playa lake, another option provided a separate fishing amenity that was hydraulically connected to the playa lake, and the final option was a standalone fishing pond that was not hydraulically connected to either playa lake. Ultimately the citizens had a say in the final arrangement of the new park features, and HDR presented the final layout and its recommended erosion and outfall repairs to City Council prior to beginning detailed design. HDR began design in early 2018 and the first phase of the project bid later that year. Phases 3 and 4 were completed by the summer of 2023. The project has now completed its warranty period, and the citizens are extremely happy with the project outcome. The fishing amenity is being stocked by Texas Parks and Wildlife, aquatic vegetation/landscaping and air diffusers were added as a part of the fishing habitats to promote water quality, and the slope improvements at the playa lakes increased the storage capacity and thus reduced the flooding in the area. During the summer of 2023, the City experienced a 100-year rain event and the only playa lakes in the City that did not overflow that summer were the two located at Martin Road Lake. HDR and City of Amarillo are extremely proud of this project and are underway with applying similar improvements on other City Playa Lakes. This project is a great example of improving the Communities we work and play in while providing Integrated Solutions for Playa Lake Flooding and Fishing Pond Management. We would like to the opportunity to co-present this project and illustrate the collaborative public involvement in the final design features and how technology was used to expedite repairs undermining adjacent roadways.

The City of Ft. Myers contracted GHD to develop a Digital Master Plan for their drinking water, wastewater, and reuse systems. The goal of the Team was to identify projects prioritized by risk, condition, and capacity in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP). The development of the CIP differed from a typical Master Plan because it used the EPA Asset Management framework to determine the best blend of investment into maintenance, operations, and capital projects to sustain performance while minimizing lifecycle costs at an acceptable level of risk. The plan was leveraged through a cloud-based decision-making platform by integrating the available tools, processes, and information to make informed decisions, and is designed to inform data driven decision support quickly without ambiguity. Master Planning is an important component of any municipality's program to meet future needs. This 'roadmap' is designed for short-, medium- and long-term planning horizons for future growth, water supply, wastewater management and water reuse. Tasks to help the City improve investment decisions and have more information available on their assets included developing an asset hierarchy, risk framework, risk analysis, and project prioritization for linear assets. The approach to the Capital Improvement Planning task was using age and capacity as failure mode triggers in risk calculations to develop projects and determining project prioritization. Typically, master plans provide a static presentation of future conditions. However, for the City, a dynamic plan was developed by prioritizing projects using management strategies that included a combination of capacity, risk and condition. Priority Level 1 and 2 are given the highest priority (replacement as the intervention strategy) since capacity deficiencies is considered the imminent failure mode. Priority levels 3 to 5 (Rehabilitation/Monitoring as the intervention strategy) are purely based on condition of the asset and has been divided according to the core-risk scores. The intervention strategies for assets are updated dynamically through the cloud-based decision-making system considering the uncertainty and change that occurs over time to reduce inefficiencies and shortcomings of planning for a static predicted future. Project prioritization based on the core risk scores and the improvements proposed through hydraulic modeling for each planning horizon can be visualized in a digital format for ease of presentation and use. As new data are available; these models are changed so the City can have better insight of their system and the investments needed to maintain their service to their customers. This digitized plan using risk-based approach provides a positive return on investment, reduces operating costs, and lowers asset failure risk. The platform greatly enhanced knowledge of the City's linear assets with respect to knowing the remaining useful life and relative Consequence of Failure (CoF). The outcome is a future state structured for continued successes in meeting future needs and challenges. The presentation will illustrate with a demonstration of the application of the framework, explain why it is important to plan for uncertainty, and provide the benefits of digital plan. Using this approach and technology will enable municipalities create robust and flexible long-term strategies that will also employ the best use of municipal dollars.

Over the course of two decades, the City of Davenport, Iowa, has sought to develop an overall hydraulic strategy and hydraulic model for its major trunk sewer networks to determine anticipated peak-hourly wet-weather flows and identify conveyance capacity deficiencies. In 2016, field work verifications and a flow monitoring study were completed, which informed the development of a desktop hydraulic model for the Duck Creek sewershed. The hydraulic model indicated the Duck Creek North trunk sewer was severely hydraulically overloaded, leading to periodic sanitary sewer overflows and basement backups, while the West Diversion Tunnel (a deep tunnel interceptor sewer up to 96' diameter that bisects the Duck Creek North trunk sewer and was constructed to relieve overloading some two decades prior), was significantly underutilized and had excess capacity during the same events. During this same period, the City had been experiencing growth in industrial areas upstream of the Duck Creek North trunk sewer and sought a methodology to optimize its sanitary sewer capacity to eliminate backups and overflows, while providing additional capacity for economic development and growth. McClure completed a systemwide hydraulic strategy study and recommended low-cost modifications to the West Diversion Tunnel to relieve pressure on the Duck Creek North Sewer. Additionally, upstream sanitary sewer improvements were recommended to provide additional capacity to growth areas north and west of the City's existing collection system, which had the added benefit of connecting to a small, satellite controlled-discharge lagoon treatment facility the City has been operating. The primary project challenge was accomplishing these goals while minimizing impacts to other City amenities, including a popular recreational trail, as well as impacts to private landowners, given limited available financial resources. The Duck Creek Sewer Interceptor Extension project consists of approximately 26,600 LF of sanitary sewer, ranging in diameter from 54' to 18' at depths up to 35 feet below grade. Approximately 21,700 LF is 36' diameter or greater having an average depth of 25 feet. The project extends from the terminus of the West Diversion Tunnel, west along Duck Creek to Interstate 280, and south to the West Locust Industrial Park. Following completion, the satellite lagoon treatment facility will be subsequently abandoned and decommissioned. Along the alignment, there are seven creek crossings which were planned to be constructed using open-cut construction and temporary cofferdams. Additionally, the proposed sewer route also crosses the Iowa Interstate Railroad, two arterial streets critical for traffic flow in western Davenport, as well as Interstate 280. Due to sandy soils, persistently high groundwater, precise grade requirements, and complex regulatory permitting requirements, these crossings were designed to utilize closed-face slurry microtunneling as the allowable method, a highly specialized trenchless construction technology typically performed only by regional or nationwide specialty contractors and uncommon in Iowa. After 18 months of design and permitting, the project was bid and awarded in Fall 2023. The estimated construction cost of $16.5 million was funded by local American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and without the need for additional sewer enterprise revenue debt. The project is currently on track to be completed by the end of 2026. This presentation will focus on the technical challenges experienced during the design process, including deep open-cut construction and long trenchless crossings, as well as value engineering opportunities in construction specifically related to trenchless construction, the process by which those opportunities were evaluated, and how such alternative methods that have provided significant value to the City. Lastly, the presentation will conclude with lessons learned that can be applied to future projects in the Upper Midwest.