Rogne, Bryan

Mr. Rogne is Brown and Caldwell's National Specialty Leader for Wet Weather Planning and Programs, with over 30 years of wet weather and stormwater planning and design experience throughout North America. His main focus has been in the areas of integrated watershed management, wet weather flow management, combined sewer overflow (CSO) basin planning, collection systems modeling and planning, and municipal stormwater management. Bryan calls Traverse City, Michigan home.

Titles from this speaker

Description: Bridging the Gap Between Commitment and Implementation: Strategies for Incorporating...

Bridging the Gap Between Commitment and Implementation: Strategies for Incorporating Principles of Social Equity and Environmental Justice in Wet Weather Planning

Abstract

Historically, vulnerable communities have experienced water stress at disproportionally high levels compared to their more privileged counterparts. As such, utilities and local governments are becoming increasingly self-reflective about the need to more fairly serve their customers and rectify past inequities through strategic social impact policies, programs, and projects. Commitment to improving issues related to environmental justice (EJ) and equity in socially vulnerable areas is a first key step. But how do you implement this commitment? For example, what EJ and equity criterion should be used to aid with the selection and prioritization of wet weather infrastructure? And how can these criterion be incorporated into other aspects of project prioritization such as community impacts / co-benefits, constructability challenges, operation and maintenance considerations, etc.? This presentation will provide specific wet weather planning case studies where EJ and equity tools were applied to incorporate principles of EJ and equity in the prioritization and selection of wet weather infrastructure projects, ranging from Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) to CSO storage basins and tunnels. Tools presented will include EPA's EJ Screen, CDC's Social Vulnerability Index (CVI), The Trust for Public Land's Parkserve , among others. Subtle differences in how these criteria get applied, depending on the type of wet weather practice, will also be discussed. For example, GSI often provides a community benefit and must be evaluated differently than projects with a negative perception, such as an above-ground wastewater storage tank. Lastly, the presentation will provide examples to show how EJ and equity criteria are balanced with other decision-support criteria that make up a triple-bottom-line approach.

This paper was presented at the WEF Collection Systems and Stormwater Conference, April 9-12, 2024.

SpeakerRogne, Bryan

Presentation time

14:00:00

14:30:00

Session time

13:30:00

16:45:00

SessionWorkforce Development, Recruitment, and Community Collaboration

Session number22

Session locationConnecticut Convention Center, Hartford, Connecticut