I just got word yesterday that I am to present at the 2010 WRRI Annual Conference at the McKimmon Center. I am to present at session 4B: Stormwater Management II on Wednesday, March 31st. The presentation will be entitled “A Comparison of Methods for Determining Peak Discharge in Small Watersheds at Selected USGS-gaged Locations: An Evaluation of the NCDOT Method”. The abstract is as follows:
The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) uses a method for determining peak discharges in small watersheds (< 1 mi2) that is used nowhere else. The method involves the use of a series of charts that the NCDOT published in January 1973. The origins of the charts appear to be unknown (Genereaux 2002) and the accuracy relatively untested. The author became aware of these charts when a former colleague was in a dispute regarding the design of a culvert. He had sized it using a peak flow developed using the Hydrologic Engineering Center – Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) and Soil Conservation Service (SCS) methods while the roadway designer had found that the culvert could be reduced in size and expense if one were to use the NCDOT charts instead, which gave a lower flow rate. The incident highlighted the need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of a particular hydrologic method in order to determine the appropriateness of its use.
In this presentation, a comparison is to be made between the NCDOT method, the Rational method, and the use of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) regression equations in determining the peak discharges for the 5, 10, 25, and 100-year events. These discharges are to be determined at locations, both urban and rural, that have been previously gaged by the USGS and used for development in their regression equations. Discharge estimates are to be made using data available from the USGS reports and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Atlas 14. These estimates are to be compared with those developed by USGS using statistical analysis of the gage data that was collected at each location. By comparison of these various estimates, it is hoped to demonstrate when each method may reasonably be used, which method is preferable, and what kind of accuracy can be expected.
Update: The presentation can be found here: 2010 WRRI Presentation.
Tags: civil engineering, hydrology, NCDOT, USGS, WRRI
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Everyone is now talking about LEED certification. It now seems that anyone involved in land development is certified as a LEED AP. The trouble is, the U.S. Green Building Council is only now requiring that one have experience with a LEED project before one can be certified. Also, there are many aspects to the program that have little to do with site development and stormwater in particular.
Fortunately, the good people at the NC State University Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department have an alternative education program. They have started Low Impact Development (LID) certification program. LID is a set of techniques, which can be associated with LEED, that seek to mimic the natural hydrology of a site and to efficiently use the natural water resources associated with it. As a result, there is a lot of emphasis on the use of channels instead of pipes, infiltration instead of detention, and storage of water for non-potable use. I am attending the “FastTrack Certification” seminar from Tuesday, February 16th to Thursday, February 18th.
Tags: development, LEED, LID, NCSU, stormwater
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The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) requires that those involved in the preparation and implementation of Erosion and Sediment Control plans be certified. One can either be a Certified Professional in Erosion Sediment Control (CPESC) or Certified Professional in Storm Water Quality (CPSWQ), or one can be certified by NCDOT. The Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) department at NC State University is in charge of the certification program. There are different levels and related workshops at which one can be certified. Tuesday, I attended the Level IIIa workshop, which is said to apply to “E&SC/Stormwater plan designer(s)”. There is a test at the end to ensure the competency of certificate holders. The results of my test have yet to be announced.
Tags: BAE, civil engineering, erosion, NC State University, NCDOT, NCSU, sediment control, stormwater
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SWAT is a hydrologic model developed by the USDA Agricultural Research Station in Temple, Texas in cooperation with Texas A&M University. Unlike most hydrologic models, SWAT models not only the movement of water, but movement of nutrients as well. As a result, it is a tool widely used to model watershed non-point sources for their contribution to water quality.
The NC Cooperative Extension Service has arranged for the SWAT team to come to North Carolina in order to hold training sessions. There is an introductory course to be held at NC A&T University in Winston-Salem on Monday, November 16th and Tuesday, November 17th. I will be attending this session. Advanced training is to be offered at NC State University on Thursday, November 19th and Friday, November 20th.
Tags: civil engineering, hydrology, non-point source, water quality
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I have recently had the opportunity to extend my modeling capabilities by learning SWMM5. The training that I went through was a web-based course offered by Computational Hydraulics International (CHI), who offers their own SWMM software toolset that goes by the name of PCSWMM. The training included the following SWMM capabilities and uses:
-Hydrologic routing using RADAR, rain gages, or synthetic events.
-Steady state and dynamic hydraulic modeling of piped and open channel networks.
-Event-based and continuous modeling.
-Detention pond design.
-Land use – based water quality modeling and evaluation of best management practices (BMPs).
-Sanitary sewer dry weather flow (DWF) and rainfall derived inflow and infiltration (RDII).
-Sensitivity, calibration, and error analysis.
Tags: civil engineering, EPA, hydraulics, hydrology, modeling, pollution, stormwater
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North Carolina State University (NCSU) offers a certificate in Construction Project Management. I have not yet decided if or when I plan to complete the series, but I have decided that some of the seminars could be quite useful. As an example, on Monday August 3rd, I attended the seminar on contracts and negotiations. It was mainly an explanation of common aspects of contracts, their implications, and why one might include them. We got to go over some examples, at which point I found out that the contracts that I had reviewed at The John R. McAdams Company had been based on the documents provided by the Engineers Joint Contracts Document Committee (EJCDC). We also found out where to get sample documents, from which we could draft our own.
Tags: contracts, NCSU, Professional Development, project management
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