Laserfiche WebLink
<br />~ <br /> <br />\ ''?' C02 0 71 <br />,~ ') \ <br />, <br /> <br />From.. <br /> <br />-.}\~'v\. ~\\.\\.~'1 <br />~ 11 ~W\.6..... J <br /> <br />PROJEC~ SUMMARY <br /> <br />wATERSHED MAHAGEMEll'l' AND URBAN WAHR AND EHVIROIlMERTAL IIIFRASrRUCTURE SYSTEMS <br /> <br />Urban water and environmental infrastructure systems (UWEISs) for water <br />supply, wastewater, and stormwater management are vital to maintaining our <br />future leading role in the world. Existing UWEISs were typically planned as <br />part of a public sector watershed development whose objective was to tame our <br />natural systems for the betterment of mankind. While this infrastructure has <br />provided many significant benefits, it has also left a legacy of environmen- <br />tal problems. During the past twenty years, a new environmental ethic has <br />emerged. We now see very strong public opposition to virtually all of our <br />supply augmentation methods and an insistence that we greatly improve our <br />management of the demand for these services. Future UWEISs will emphasize <br />real-time control of smart systems, demand management, multi-purpose design <br />and operation, explicit treatment of risk, and use of sophisticated computer- <br />based management systems. This proposal outlines a methodology for demon- <br />strating that an integrated systems approach to the problem can significantly <br />improve our ability to manage urban infrastructure as a subsystem of a water~ <br />shed management program. The literature review demonstrates that such con- <br />cepts have been espoused before but were never successfully demonstrated for <br />urban areas. Part of the reason was the lack of computing resources that is <br />no longer a problem. <br />A key element of this proposal is to demonstrate the proof of concept <br />using the Boulder Creek Watershed (BCW) and the City of Boulder as the case <br />study. Boulder Creek Watershed (BCW) is an exceptional watershed to study <br />urban infrastructure systems within a watershed context. It has a rich <br />variety of infrastructure system problems and the local government and citi- <br />zens have been very proactive in managing these problems. Consequently, a <br />wealth of data and literature are available. Numerous cooperative studies <br />with the city of Boulder and our group are underway. <br />A major goal of this research is to develop new methods to evaluate the <br />impact of watershed changes on UWEISs. These methods will be based on an <br />integrated risk management framework with applications to design and opera- <br />tion of sustainable UWEISs. During the first year of the project, a continu- <br />ous simulation model with a one hour time step will be developed that will <br />simulate the operation of the BCW and the city of Boulder UWEIS for calendar <br />year 1996. This model will include surface-groundwater interactions. We <br />will also simulate the behavior of the system for the major flood (1894) and <br />drought (1954) of record. Existing models and databases will be used for <br />this exercise. In addition, six specific studies will be undertaken to <br />demonstrate how integration of these studies within a watershed framework <br />will enhance their value. The six studies are: 1. Natural Disaster Manage- <br />ment-Flooding, 2. Flood Forecasting System, 3. Impact of Urban Water Conser- <br />vation on Evapo-transpiration, 4) Dynamic Water Quality Modeling, 5) Blending <br />Water Supply Deliveries to Minimize Water Quality Changes in the Distribution <br />system, and 6) Dynamic Simulation of the Performance of the Wastewater Treat- <br />ment System during Periods of High Inflow. <br />Following these initial efforts a workshop will be held to present the <br />preliminary findings and to develop a research agenda for innovative ap- <br />proaches to this important problem. Then, followup research will be conduct- <br />ed. The total duration of the study is three years. <br />