Wilson, Charles

Chuck Wilson is an Associate Vice President with Hazen and Sawyer, and a registered professional engineer in various states with over 23 years of experience. He has led projects involving planning, design and construction of wastewater and stormwater conveyance systems, with a specialty in hydrologic and hydraulic modeling.

Titles from this speaker

Description: Assessing and Visualizing Extreme Storm Event Inundation in Boston Using Spatial...

Assessing and Visualizing Extreme Storm Event Inundation in Boston Using Spatial Rainfall, 2-Dimensional Dynamic Flood Modeling and Innovative Tools

Abstract

WEFTEC, the largest water event of its kind in North America, offers water quality professionals the best in water quality education and training. With almost 200 technical sessions, workshops, mobile sessions, local facility tours and 1,000+ exhibitors, it is the premier water conference! The WEFTEC technical program is selected through a rigorous, peer-review process, ensuring that attendees experience the highest-quality education. WEFTEC speakers are experts and innovators, leading the way in water quality. The following paper was presented at WEFTEC 2020.

SpeakerWilson, Charles

Presentation time

13:30:00

13:50:00

Session time

13:30:00

14:30:00

SessionUnderstanding and Responding to Changing Precipitation Patterns: Forecasting and Modeling

Session number221

TopicResearch and Innovation, Resilience, Disaster Planning and Recovery, Stormwater, Green Infrastructure, and Wet Weather, Sustainability and Climate Change

Author(s)

C. WilsonB. AgrawalC. Jewell

Author(s)C. Wilson1; B. Agrawal1; C. Jewell2;

Author affiliation(s)Hazen and Sawyer, MA1; Boston Water and Sewer Commission2

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Oct 2020

DOI10.2175/193864718825157825

Volume / Issue

Content sourceWEFTEC

Word count20

Conceptual Designs, Modeling, and Long-Term Resilience Planning Help Boston Adapt to Coastal Stormwater Challenges

Abstract

This paper/presentation highlights work performed, and solutions developed to mitigate the City of Boston's (City) coastal stormwater challenges. The City, along with the Boston Water and Sewer Commission (Commission), has been advancing solutions for years as part of the Climate Ready Boston (CRB) program. The Commission has undertaken several projects to characterize citywide flooding risk and more recently took a unique, methodical approach to begin adapting its stormwater system to climate change. This latest project took advantage of the latest technologies available to perform the work, including: (1) robust prioritization of hundreds of stormwater outfalls (using BI tools and GIS) based on physical properties and tributary area characteristics, (2) analysis of meteorological projections to characterize potential future rainfall patterns due to climate change, (3) application of 2-dimensional hydraulic/inundation models to develop flood management solutions and characterize flooding for different adaptation scenarios (using PCSWMM and parallel computing), (4) development of an adaptation 'toolbox' including nature based solutions, conveyance improvements, pumped systems, storage solutions, storm surge barriers, and other hybrid solutions, (5) design of specific infrastructure solutions at the highest priority locations to reduce flooding for extreme storms and more typical design storms, (6) an economic analysis demonstrating the impact of the solutions on reducing financial property/infrastructure impacts, GDP impairment, etc., (7) a longer-term framework to advance solutions for the remainder of the stormwater outfalls in the City, (8) development of a web-based platform entitled 'Resilience Hub' to summarize and distill the complex work into easily understood project goals, infrastructure vulnerabilities/risks, conceptual design layouts, and 2D modeling results (through an interactive map-based viewer with 360-degree photo tours that uniquely portray the potential flooding impacts). In the City, storm sewer systems typically collect rainfall runoff and discharge by gravity into a receiving waterbody (e.g., Boston Harbor, Fort Point Channel, Neponset River, etc.). If the sea level ('tailwater') is sufficiently high, discharge by gravity is limited or no longer possible, which can lead to surcharging and interior flooding during intense rain events. As such, storm sewers require tailwater conditions below a particular threshold to function as designed, and Sea Level Rise (SLR) is slowly increasing these tailwater elevations. During extreme storm events (i.e., 'named' storms such as hurricanes or nor'easters), the combined effect of SLR and storm surge could restrict or prevent stormwater discharge in many locations, leading to widespread flooding throughout the City. This can occur even if the shoreline is protected from the direct impact of storm surge by measures such as shoreline elevation or barriers. In order to identify coastal flood-vulnerable outfalls in the Commission's storm drain and combined sewer systems for development of conceptual designs, a comprehensive framework for identification, screening, and prioritizing outfalls was developed. The ranking process allowed for real time analysis of 'what-if' scenarios with adjustable weighting for each criterion via an interactive BI dashboard. While the Commission's intent is ultimately to address all vulnerable outfalls (and their associated drainage areas), more detailed conceptual solutions were developed for these initial outfalls as a starting point; beyond these initial locations (covering 37 outfalls), a plan was developed (the 'Implementation Timeline') for replicating these types of detailed solutions at the remainder of the Commission's outfalls. For each conceptual design location, a combination of conveyance, storage, and pumping alternatives were evaluated to develop a solution that improves the discharge of stormwater (and reduces upstream flooding), with the most feasible alternative(s) selected based on site characteristics and system configuration. Where possible, nature-based features were incorporated into these conceptual designs. Together with shoreline protection measures (identified by CRB) and installation of tide gates, these conceptual solutions could protect 71% of the coastal flood vulnerable land area in Boston. Two-dimensional hydrologic/hydraulic modeling was utilized throughout the project to support conceptual design, and predict flooding under different adaptation scenarios. Model-predicted flooding data for the 100-year tropical storm event were input into an economic database/framework to estimate the potential damage avoided by future implementation of the concepts that were developed. All of the above work in this project was distilled into an interactive web-based platform (in addition to the detailed final report and concept design plans) to allow wider audiences to understand the progress of the City's work. Referred to as the 'Resilience Hub', this website builds upon the work the Commission has done to provide visually-intuitive coastal flood modeling results in the Inundation Model Viewer (www.bwscstormviewer.com).

In Boston, during extreme storm events, the combined effect of sea level rise (SLR) and storm surge could restrict or prevent stormwater discharge in many locations, leading to widespread flooding throughout the City. To address this vulnerability, the Boston Water and Sewer Commission undertook efforts to identify vulnerable outfalls, develop conceptual solutions, conduct 2D modeling to determine damage reduction potential, and develop a public information website (bwscstormviewer.com).

SpeakerWilson, Charles

Presentation time

09:30:00

10:00:00

Session time

08:30:00

10:00:00

SessionResilient Development: Insights from Urban and Coastal Areas

Session number512

Session locationRoom 243

TopicAdvanced Level, Stormwater and Green Infrastructure, Sustainability and Climate Change

Author(s)