Stormwater Management
Stormwater is water that runs off surfaces during and after precipitation events. This water makes its way through drainage infrastructure to several places such as creeks, streams, wetlands, culverts, stormwater BMPs, oceans, ponds, or returns to the atmosphere as evaporation. At times drainage infrastructure needs repair or improvements due to:
- Changes to the surrounds – for example, a forested area is developed into a new subdivision or an area that was once zoned for single family homes is now a mall
- Degradation of infrastructure – according to the 2017 infrastructure report card (www.infastruturereportcard.org) the average age of the US’s 90,580 dams is 56 years old and will require 45 billion dollars to repair
- Technology Improvements – through water quality research, ordinances now require stormwater best management practices and erosion and sediment control practices
- Degradation of natural resources – when changes are made to surrounding landscape, burdens on the natural system can develop. These changes can cause channels to incise and wetlands to fill to capacity, both increasing water of flow that does not allow natural purification processes.
Stormwater management is key to assist with drainage issues. It is becoming an all too often occurrence as news and weather media advises of flooded conditions impacting our roads, bridges, businesses and even homes. Our landscapes are under constant change and with these changes the amount of runoff we experience also changes. To manage the stormwater and minimize flood conditions, it is often necessary to improve infrastructure. We have experienced staff members committed to providing sound and accurate solutions for your stormwater issues. Our surveyors and engineers are mindful of time constraints and can respond quickly to different needs and requests of clients. We assist our clients with infrastructure inventory, inventory assessment, improvement projects, and stormwater planning. With years of experience, our water resource team can assist you with all your stormwater management needs. LDSI staff members have served clients including USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service; State, County, and Local governments; utility companies; stewardship organizations; and private developers.
Natural Resource Restoration
Natural resource restoration primarily focuses on stream and wetland restoration; these resources are often overlooked, but vital as stormwater makes its way downstream. These stream and wetland resources can become degraded from excess runoff leading to enlarged channels, bank failures, encroachment on public utilities or structures, or become engulfed by the increase in water volume so that it cannot be treated before being discharged into sensitive waters. Degradations often lead to poor water quality and significant cost to customers to remove sediment from drinking water or loss of beach access/fisheries because of containments. LDSI’s water resource team has members with Master’s education and thirty years of experience within this discipline. We offer personalized solutions and have experience in managing any natural resource restoration need. We have worked on stream projects as small as a couple of hundred feet to projects with miles of restoration; wetland projects as small as half an acre to the restoration of 4,500 acres on a single project. Our team has experience totaling 122,000 linear feet of streams and headwater sloughs, 223,000 linear feet of ditch-plug and dikes, as well as 25,000 acres of wetland restored.
Stormwater Quality
Several of our water quality projects originated from developers need for stormwater or erosion and sediment control permits and the want or need to install an innovative stormwater best management practice (BMP). Other times our skills are requested by stewardship organizations or local governments that need to convert older stormwater BMPs into an innovative BMP that can increase water quality treatment. LDSI’s water resource team can provide our clients with innovative approaches to water quality, ensuring the most treatment for the resources expended. The team also works with clients to ensure that the BMP is not only a functional part of the infrastructure but is also atheistically pleasing. With many governing bodies now requiring annual maintenance and inspections, we can design the BMPs with maintenance in mind and also work with you to develop an operation and maintenance schedule.
Hydraulic and Hydrologic Analysis
LDSI’s water resource team has experience with H&H (hydraulic and hydrologic) projects from work on flood studies for bridge replacement projects to work with drainage water management agencies on their interconnected ponds and building an effective model to monitor water levels within connected detention basins. The members of the water resource team have experience in coordinating with local floodplain managers and FEMA to permit certified letters of map revisions (CLOMRs), letters of map revision (LOMRs), or NO-RISE/NO-IMPACT certifications. LDSI also has experience with floodplain feasibility studies; studies of flooding frequency and running statistical analysis as to the best course of action for a client to take to protect the community and residences from flooding that occurs at regular or irregular intervals.