How to Build a Stormwater Flood Resilience Plan: Fram Mapping to Mitigation
Communities are facing an increase of stormwater flood risk driven by intensified precipitation, sea level rise, storm surge, urban development, and funding challenges. Many lack the tools and frameworks to develop effective and actionable mitigation plans. A Stormwater Flood Resilience Plan is a pivotal first step in addressing this risk. The plan first identifies areas of flood risk and then leverages additional data sets to prioritize investment and implement stormwater flood risk mitigation projects. We will describe the approach, beginning with the development of a stormwater flood risk map, leveraging hydrologic and hydraulic modeling. We will share guidance on adapting the model-building approach to the data and resources available and considerations on how to effectively share flood risk maps with stakeholders and the public. This is followed by an exposure analysis that integrates the latest climate, modeling, and existing infrastructure data to assess vulnerabilities. The presentation will cover how this step can be automated to facilitate efficient updates as new datasets become available. After the exposure analysis we will present approaches to prioritize project locations, leveraging additional datasets such as social vulnerability and economic indicators. We’ll share dashboards typically created for this process to facilitate stakeholder engagement during workshops. Using prioritized project locations, we’ll describe the process for refining the model in these areas and developing solution concepts that can be used to develop cost estimates. These cost estimates feed into the final step, which is conducting a benefit-cost analysis to guide investments. We will share additional automated tools that help conduct the BCA and are adaptable to each project based on the needs and data available. Finally, we will present public engagement strategies to ensure community-focused solutions. This methodology has been proven through multiple case studies, which will highlight key considerations and lessons learned for other municipalities interested in developing a stormwater flood resilience plan. This presentation will share guidance for communities on how to develop a Stormwater Flood Resilience Plan and provide concrete case studies of successful implementations and lessons learned. It will facilitate discussion around this growing risk to help inform adoption of successful approaches.
Author Bio
Mr. Kaatz is a National Technical Manager in Stormwater Resilience and co-lead of the Global Flood Risk and Stormwater Management Community of Practice for Arcadis. As a technical advisor and project manager, he specializes in stormwater resiliency assessments, using hydrologic and hydraulic models to adapt communities to increasing precipitation, both inland and as part of coastal flood protection. Mr. Johnson is the National Practice Lead for Climate Adaptation & Resilience Planning at Arcadis. He is an urban and environmental planner who leads a variety of project types, from managing district and neighorhood-level resilience plans to leading city-wide climate adaptation programs. He also co-leads Arcadis’ National Climate Adaptation Community of Practice, spanning the urban, utility, and industrial resilience sectors.
