STORMWATER MANAGEMENT RESOURCES

• Why It’s Smart To Increase Your Sewer Network Monitoring

  Effectively managing hundreds of thousands of miles of sewer network is not an enviable task. And with ever changing industry regulation, stricter statutory targets, additional compliance and a growing abundance of technology, that task could easily be regarded as insurmountable. How can you ever know exactly what’s going on throughout your entire network? It’s impossible. Or is it?

• How Water Suppliers Can Improve Resilience Throughout Hurricane Season

  Exactly 16 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans on its way toward becoming the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history, Hurricane Ida slammed into the Gulf Coast with great force. The storm would eventually move north, leaving a trail of destruction across much of the Eastern Seaboard. Nearly a month later, many who were in its path are still feeling the effects.

• House Committee Makes Down Payment On Clean Water Needs

  The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee is moving forward with a measure that would invest $3.7 billion in critical wastewater and stormwater infrastructure. These resources will help communities across the country struggling with sewage spills, inadequate sanitation, and destructive urban flooding.

• Wildfire Burn Scars Can Intensify And Even Create Thunderstorms That Lead To Catastrophic Flooding — Here’s How It Works

  Wildfires burn millions of acres of land every year, leaving changed landscapes that are prone to flooding. Less well known is that these already vulnerable regions can also intensify and in some cases initiate thunderstorms.

• Hurricane Ida: 2 Reasons For Its Record-Shattering Rainfall In NYC And The Northeast Long After The Winds Weakened

  Record downpours from Hurricane Ida overwhelmed cities across the Northeast on Sept. 1, 2021, hitting some with more than 3 inches of rain an hour. Water poured into subway stations in New York City, and streets flooded up to the rooftops of cars in Philadelphia. The storm had already wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast after hitting Louisiana three days earlier as a Category 4 hurricane.

• The Water Cycle Is Intensifying As The Climate Warms, IPCC Report Warns — That Means More Intense Storms And Flooding

  The world watched in July 2021 as extreme rainfall became floods that washed away centuries-old homes in Europe, triggered landslides in Asia, and inundated subways in China. More than 900 people died in the destruction. In North America, the West was battling fires amid an intense drought that is affecting water and power supplies.

• A 20-Foot Sea Wall Won’t Save Miami — How Living Structures Can Help Protect The Coast And Keep The Paradise Vibe

  There’s no question that Miami is at increasing risk of flooding as sea level rises and storms intensify with climate change. A hurricane as powerful as 1992’s Andrew or 2017’s Irma would devastate the city. But the sea wall the Army Corps is proposing — protecting only 6 miles of downtown and the financial district from a storm surge — can’t save Miami and Dade County.

• High-Tide Flood Risk Is Accelerating, Putting Coastal Economies At Risk

  As sea level rises, it can be easy to miss the subtlety of higher water. It’s much harder to overlook saltwater more frequently flooding streets, impeding daily life and making existing problems worse.The frequency of high-tide flooding along the U.S. coasts has doubled since 2000, and it’s expected to increase five to 15 times more in the next 30 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warns in a new report released July 14, 2021.

• SWAN Corner: Optimizing Data Intelligence Helps Orlando Protect Its Citizens During Heavy Rain Events

  The City of Orlando Streets and Stormwater Division is responsible for maintaining and improving drainage facilities to prevent flooding and ensure all receiving water bodies meet state and federal water quality standards. They oversee upwards of 100 lakes within the City and approximately 147 drainage wells with 70 monitoring stations for lakes and waterways, and have 23 rainfall stations collecting data by telemetry over a cellular network. The Streets and Stormwater Division keeps two million people safe from flooding during heavy summer rainfalls and periodic tropical events. 

• What’s A 100-Year Flood? A Hydrologist Explains

  A 100-year flood, like a 100-year storm, is one so severe it has only a 1 percent chance of hitting in any given year. Unfortunately, many people believe that if they experienced a 100-year flood this year, they will not see another one like it for 99 years. It just doesn’t work that way. In reality, the chance of being flooded next year, and the year after that, is the same as it was when the house flooded the first time — 1 percent.