Fortify Your Stormwater Systems For Hurricanes And Heavy Rain
By Emily Newton
With many areas experiencing stronger and longer-lasting storms that bring significant rainfall, water infrastructure professionals must anticipate stormwater inundation events. How do hurricanes impact water systems, and what should people proactively do to mitigate the adverse effects?
These are essential questions, and the answers could affect an area’s residents, the environment, and more. Fortunately, there are numerous ways to fortify stormwater systems and many real-life examples that illustrate best practices.
Prioritize Early And Methodical Preparedness
Stormwater system fortification is a long, gradual process for many water infrastructure professionals. That is often because they need to secure the resources, local planning approvals, and other necessities before moving forward with planned upgrades.
Besides identifying the best ways to enhance current stormwater management strategies, professionals should ensure everything installed so far works as it should. They should only assume everything is functioning after testing it. After all, a hurricane or other intense storm is the worst time to get the unpleasant surprise of realizing existing management measures have failed.
Officials in Orange County, Florida took that approach in August 2024 as a significant rainstorm headed for the state.1 The area has several automated pumps that move water from storm drains to canals. Workers checked many of them in places predicted to get the heaviest rains, ensuring they were ready to activate as necessary. Additionally, Orange County uses numerous mobile pumps — employees added fuel to those and strategically placed them to prepare for the storm.
In other areas of the state, crews verified that natural obstructions would not stop stormwater systems from working. Earlier in 2024, teams from Winter Springs hired contractors to remove excess sediment buildup. That simple but effective measure should prevent backups and keep water moving smoothly.
As infrastructure professionals do this vital work, households should see if they are as prepared as possible for expected storms. One practical step is to set up portable generators at least 20 feet from their residences so the equipment can work safely and effectively.2 These machines make power outages more bearable by reducing the associated inconveniences. Since strong winds often accompany rainstorms, people should also secure loose items, stopping them from damaging property.
Use Permeable Pavements
Water infrastructure authorities should also explore opportunities to fortify stormwater systems by using parking lots to manage heavy rainfall. Many buildings — from schools and churches to event venues and hospitals — have spacious parking lots much larger than everyday use requires. The professionals who planned and designed them anticipated events that would bring above-average traffic and occasionally fill most parking spaces.
However, parking lots can span beyond traffic management and safeguard against stormwater inundation. One increasingly common option is to install permeable pavements. These surfaces absorb stormwater, moving it to the ground below.
Research also indicates strategically installed permeable pavement can support local wildlife. A Washington State University Team learned these surfaces have a filtering effect that stops some contaminants from entering waterways and harming marine life.
More specifically, they examined how well permeable pavements handle tire particles negatively impacting the coho salmon living in urban streams. The results indicated these surfaces trap more than 96% of the applied tire particle mass entering them.3 Additionally, they catch an average of 68% of the 6PPD-quinone chemical from tires, which is known to harm fish.
Anyone interested in using permeable pavements to fortify stormwater systems should consider project-related specifics, such as the most suitable parking lots or other paved areas to target, the available budget, and the time required to complete the upgrades. However, they should also investigate the potential environmental benefits, including those mentioned here. Such advantages could make it easier for them to secure executive buy-in and community support.
Turn Parking Lots Into Stormwater Wetlands
Parking lots without permeable pavements can complicate stormwater management strategies. When project managers at North Carolina’s Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College — known locally as A-B Tech — surveyed current stormwater management strategies, they found that campus features caused preventable problems.
More specifically, when heavy rains occur there, stormwater pours off the parking lots and into the surrounding community. Unfortunately, this liquid also introduces pollutants into the French Broad River and nearby streams. Water tests can confirm the concentration and type of pollutants present to steer decision-makers’ efforts, but since tester errors can impact up to 85% of results, researchers must follow best practices for accuracy.4
A-B Tech employees planned to start construction in the first half of 2024 on an initiative to turn one of the college’s parking lots into a stormwater wetland. This decision is part of a larger effort to restore the area’s Haith Branch tributary and develop mitigation features to direct rainwater runoff from the forest and river.
Those involved are examining how to make stormwater management changes that will positively affect society and the environment by being more aware of what happens to rainwater after it leaves the campus. They will achieve part of this priority by partnering with a local river conservation nonprofit.
Although an assessment conducted by the nonprofit found the Haith Branch was the cleanest of three nearby tributaries, the data also indicated A-B Tech’s parking lots caused notable issues, partially because many of their impervious surfaces had no stormwater treatment.5 However, building the stormwater wetland will allow all water from lots and buildings above to drain into a three-tiered site that will send the liquid into the ground, significantly reducing runoff and the associated pollutants in local waterways.
Create Or Join A Stormwater Monitoring Collective
How do hurricanes impact water systems? The difficulty in answering that question lies in that the measured effects will likely change — and could worsen — over time. Will current stormwater systems suffice five years from now? No one can determine that with certainty, but they can feel more confident about their assumptions by taking data-driven approaches.
Another practical option is to launch or participate in a stormwater monitoring collective, such as one started in the state of Washington. Although the Pacific Northwest is not at risk of hurricanes, the efforts here could inspire people working in areas that do get those storms to adapt the methods accordingly. The state’s Stormwater Action Monitoring (SAM) collective began in 2014, and members conduct three types of studies to improve storm preparedness and management.6
Firstly, people investigate what works well and which methods need improvement, giving them valuable data about where to allocate resources. Next are source identification studies, which pinpoint the specific actions that successfully prevent or reduce stormwater pollutants and illicit discharges affecting waterways. Finally, SAM conducts long-term regional and trend-monitoring research to learn whether collective stormwater management efforts improve the area’s waterways.
SAM’s structure consists of municipal stormwater permittees who elect to join and pay into a collective fund. Then, a formal stakeholder group determines how to spend those pooled resources. Collaboration is central to SAM, and participants work with fellow stormwater management professionals, agencies, and other entities to get the most effective outcomes.
Learning from others may broaden the options for fortifying stormwater systems. Additionally, in-depth conversations about relevant topics let people share current challenges and how they have overcome previous obstacles, and get or give advice about other timely developments pertinent to the water infrastructure management industry.
Stormwater Inundation Is A Controllable Matter
Although storms often have surprising consequences, these examples highlight the applicable ways local infrastructure management professionals can address and mitigate the effects. It is also crucial for people in this sector to monitor which preventive measures cause the most desirable outcomes. Then, they can determine the strategies that most deserve future investigation and investments.
References:
- https://www.wesh.com/article/florida-orange-county-stormwater-preps-invest-storm/61767455
- https://revolutionized.com/prepare-for-storms/
- https://news.wsu.edu/press-release/2024/01/25/permeable-pavements-could-reduce-coho-killing-tire-pollutants/
- https://www.aquaphoenixsci.com/how-to-analyze-your-water-testing-results/
- https://mountainx.com/news/a-b-tech-works-to-shore-up-its-stormwater-infrastructure/
- https://ecology.wa.gov/blog/october-2023/stormwater-research-collaboration-leads-to-cleaner-water-for-all
Emily Newton is an industrial journalist. She regularly covers stories for the utilities and energy sectors. Emily is also editor in chief of Revolutionized (revolutionized.com).