LIVE - Poster Technical Session & Student Competition #2
Monday, November 8 | 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM EST

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ATTN: We need you – our conference attendees – to evaluate student participants in the poster competition where one student will receive the People's Choice Award! How do you know who is competing and how do you score them? A blue graduation cap next to a presenter's name indicates they are a student eligible to compete for the People’s Choice Award. As you watch their poster presentations, please make sure to complete the People's Choice Award Evaluation Form.

MOBILE TIP!  Scan the QR Code with your mobile device camera to complete the evaluation form. 

Alternatively if you were contacted by the Conference Planning Committee Student Activities Chair, Allison Lewis, and asked to serve as an official judge for the poster competition, please check your email for the link to the Poster Evaluation Form. Students participating in the poster competition are identified by a blue graduation cap.

Poster Category: Environmental Monitoring
Zoom Room #5

Moderator: Alvan Karlin

Quantifying Land Use Inputs in the Surface Waters of a Golf Course Community of South East Coastal Florida

Presenter: Zoie Kline
Interest in the quality of South Florida surface waters has contributed to the rising awareness of land use effects on water chemistry in residential neighborhoods, specifically Jonathan’s Landing. This residential area employs the land use of intense landscaping and golf courses. These managed greens flow directly into a groundwater dug lake that poorly holds back the intracoastal saline waters via floodgates. Additionally, all golf course water traps are culverted to the lake, surrounding canals used for flood management, and to the community marina which ultimately leads to saline waters. It is well known that increased use of fertilizers and pesticides have resulted in high nutrient accumulation and over-augmentation of ecosystems (Cohen, et al., 2007). Landscape enrichment ultimately leads to eutrophication, oxygen depletion, increased organism death, and aquatic habitat destruction that begins on a microscopic level (Cohen, et al., 2007). Residents expressed concern regarding locations that were stressed by copper sulfate applications to the point of a milky white substance in waters. They also noted their community ornamental gardens were dying, that there was a loss of butterflies, an increase of littorals in lake edges, algae blooms, and subsequently a fear for the general health of their pets and charges.

This gated community approached JERFSA (Jupiter Environmental Research and Field Studies Academy) to assist them in understanding the problem. Students monitored lake waters using surface water grab samples and a Ward's Natural Systems Benthic Sampler to determine water column health. Samples were collected in 500mL Nalgene bottles, placed in coolers and stored in the lab at 5°C. Waters were then tested for phosphate, copper, nitrate, pH, sodium chloride, conductivity, and total dissolved solids using a variety of probes, colorimeters, and titrants. Initial samples were taken after a 40 day moratorium on lawn maintenance to determine a baseline. Unfortunately, golf course lawn care was not halted. Nitrates, copper, and phosphates were found at baseline to be above background levels, but not reaching TMDL. It is expected that post moratorium, samples taken closer to the golf course will have increased levels of nitrate, copper, and phosphate that reach TMDL.

Quantifying Micro Flora and Fauna to Evaluate and Monitor the Lake Health of Jonathan’s Landing, A Coastal Southeastern Florida Golfing Community

Presenter: Natalie Price
Water quality health based on microflora and fauna is a cost-effective method to determine long-term surface water contamination. This is especially true for residential communities concerned with water health but lacking in funds or chemical expertise. A gated community on coastal Southeast Florida, Jonathan’s Landing, approached JERFSA (Jupiter Environmental Research and Field Studies Academy) to assist in monitoring their surface waters. This lake was constructed from groundwater exposure and is connected to the Intracoastal via flood gates. The area boasts of an integrated golf course (15,000 sqft) and marina containing 31 shared associations and approximately 1,178 homes on or near the water (Jonathan’s Landing POA, 2021). Year-round lawn care without a riparian buffer and golf course water traps culverted directly into waterways has created concern for ornamental gardens, the loss of butterflies, increased algal blooms, littoral invasions, invasive grasses, and what is believed to be “dead” waters or lacking healthy microflora and fauna.

It is well known that golf courses employ extensive use of pesticides and fertilizers. In South Florida, frequent flooding, sandy soils, and shallow water tables increase the chemical inputs from these facilities into local waterways, compromising water health. Indicator species such as protists, rotifers, copepods, cladocerans, and water fleas (Xiong et al, 2020; Paterson, 2019), help determine healthy waters while cyanobacteria show that water quality is substandard. Fourteen different sites were sampled using both surface water grab samples and Wards Natural Systems Benthic Sampler to determine water column health. Initial samples were taken after a 40-day moratorium on lawn maintenance to determine a baseline. Unfortunately, golf course lawn care was not halted. Samples were collected in 500mL Nalgene bottles and microorganisms were identified using a ZEISS West Germany microscope with a 10x ocular lens and a 6.3x objective lens, in less than 48 hours. In samples collected 25% were devoid of life and 75% contained varying amounts of protists, rotifers, copepods, cladocerans, water fleas, and filamentous algae. Baseline results indicate that water health is compromised near golf course water traps.

Identifying and Monitoring Algal Blooms in Coastal Southeastern Florida Residential Golf Communities

Presenter: Lucia Gonzalez
Algal blooms have been a growing concern throughout Southern Florida for many years (FLDEP, 2019). In Jonathan Landings (JL), a coastal community lake is constructed from groundwater exposure and connected to the Intracoastal via flood gates. The lake is surrounded by a 15000sqft golf course, a marina, and approximately 1,245 homes on or near the water (Jonathan’s Landing POA, 2021). Year-round lawn care without a riparian buffer and golf course water traps culverted directly into waterways has created concern. Recent events, such as the death of ornamental gardens, the loss of butterflies, littoral invasions, invasive grasses, and increased algal blooms, have led residents to contact Jupiter Environmental Research and Field Studies Academy (JERFSA) to assist in monitoring land-use effects on their lake. Viewed by residents as aesthetically unpleasing, it is not fully understood that not all algae types pose a threat to the environment (FLDEP, 2019). However, algal blooms can cause a number of problems for the habitats in which they occur: loss of oxygen, and the death of benthic plants and fish as well as microscopic life forms.

Initial samples were collected post a 40-day moratorium on lawn care. Golf course management did not cease during this period. Water was procured as surface water grab samples in 500mL Nalgene bottles, stored in coolers, and identified using a Neubauer Cell counting chamber and a ZEISS West Germany microscope with a 10x ocular lens and a 6.3x objective lens, in less than 48 hours. Sites were also photographed to mark bloom events and measure surface area coverage throughout the research. Four of the thirteen sites had visible blooms near the edges of the lawns, golf course water traps, and culverts. Although areas of algae were sizable and fluctuated with fertilization application, only non-harmful filamentous algae has been identified.

Poster Category: Innovation in Data Collection, Monitoring, & Modeling
Zoom Room #6

Moderator: Allison Lewis

FloodMap: A Framework for Displaying Hydraulic Model Output on the Web

Presenter: Myles McManus
To more easily visualize HEC-RAS or other Hydraulic model results for any user or stakeholder, RPS has created its own web application called RPS-FloodMap. The app brings the results from HDF output files to an interactive, online map, easily viewable on any platform. The results come to life through visualization tools include velocity particle tracing, flood inundation animations by simulation time step, and a gridded mapping of Water Surface Elevation (WSEL) or any hydraulic output values for comparison between different frequency storms and design scenarios.

The framework is built to be extensible in the data provided, such that a client would be able to upload additional model output and have it displayed in the web map, or an automated data pipeline would refresh results in an online-hosted repository every time a model is re-ran. The web map interface can also provide emergency managers the capability to have real-time events disseminated as forecasted flood inundation animations, as well as provide potential ‘What-if’ scenarios such as levee and dam breaches that could occur from forecasted hydrology / meteorology.

The framework leverages the RAS Tileserver provided from HEC to create the dataset and using a Hapi webserver. RPS would like to present the tool to open a dialogue for potential new applications and use-cases HEC-RAS output data. We would like to share the details on what technology was involved in the creation of this framework and how solutions outside of the H&H industry were leveraged in this product. By incorporating technology used in other technical fields, we can develop new ways of improving how we analyze, understand, communicate and interpret hydraulic model results. This application will reduce project latency and allow clients, the public and engineers to work together to come up with better solutions to inundation problems that are becoming ever more complex.

Data Integration – Visualizing Salmon Migration, River Water Temperature Profile and Stream Discharge for the Lower Columbia River Using a Temporal GIS-like Approach

Presenter: Richard Koehler
Planning and implementing eco-hydrology projects can require the integration and interpretation of different types of water resources data. For fisheries, an understanding of water temperature and river discharge properties will increase the chances of a successful project. To achieve project goals, data analysis and visualization tools are necessary to meet the information needs of researchers, managers, funding partners and the public.

This presentation demonstrates how large amounts of time-series data can be combined for an effective way to check for common patterns, suspicious data, anomalies, and outliers by using a raster base visualization tool. Graphics are generated for migrating salmon numbers, water temperature profiles and discharge data for the Lower Columbia River. The technique reveals unexpected results such as increased fish migration on Mondays. Also found - just the salmon summer runs, but not spring or fall runs, are severely affected by Pacific Decadal Oscillation conditions.

Time-based Patch Analysis Workflow

Presenter: Richard Koehler
Multiple hydrologic indices exist for determining streamflow attributes. These index values are often statistical metrics such as count, mean, median, standard deviation, and variance. One major weakness is that these indices do not address a basic property of streamflow – the configuration of the data.

Specifically, the poster will show the workflow steps needed for anyone to conduct a time-based patch analysis using FRAGSTATS (“fragmentation statistics”), a freely available program for spatial habitat patch analysis widely used in landscape ecology studies. The example used in the poster is the same case study of the USGS gage for the Colorado River at Lees Ferry as presented in the companion oral presentation “Quantifying Streamflow Configuration Using Time-Based Patch Analysis”.

The poster will include QR code links to the oral presentation, a paper submitted to the Journal of Landscape on time-based patch analysis, and instructions on how to create a time-based raster plot in ArcGIS.

Poster Category: Flooding, Flood Mitigation, & Floodplain Management
Zoom Room # 7

Moderator: Betsy Cody

Grassland Degradation and Its Effects on Natural Hydrology in Virginia and North Carolina

Presenter: Nicholas Ingold
Grasslands play a major role in reducing negative impacts of climate change. They contain 12% of carbon stock because of the large areas and a vast biodiversity (Note 1). But ever since the colonization of America, more than 90% of the southeastern grasslands have been converted for farms and urbanization or degraded resulting from climate change (Note 2), which have in turn altered natural hydrology by increasing runoff volume and peak. This study intends to determine the hydrologic effects of grassland degradation in selected areas of Virginia and North Carolina. Its objective is to develop and document a specific relationship between the changes in grasslands and alterations of natural hydrology. In this regard, this study will conduct an extensive literature review, analyses of aerial imageries, discussions with various stakeholders and researchers (e.g., conservation groups, universities, local planning departments, soil and water conservation offices, Cooperative Extensions), and hydrologic modeling of pristine, degraded, and future conditions. Results are expected to show that grasslands have been reduced in size which decreases the effectiveness of downstream stormwater systems, increasing flood risk and climate vulnerability of relevant communities.

References:
Note 1 - Janowiak, Maria; Connelly, William J.; Dante-Wood, Karen; Domke, Grant M.; Giardina, Christian; Kayler, Zachary; Marcinkowski, Kailey; Ontl, Todd; Rodriguez-Franco, Carlos; Swanston, Chris; Woodall, Chris W.; Buford, Marilyn. 2017. Considering Forest and Grassland Carbon in Land Management. USDA – U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report WO-95

Note 2 - Southeastern Grassland Initiative (https://www.segrasslands.org)"

Investigating cost-effective diversification and decentralization of flood control systems to cope with the uncertainty of flood events

Presenter: Sangmin Shin
Conventional flood control options such as ponds and wetlands have worked well to reduce or prevent flood events. However, recent flooding experiences suggest that the conventional approaches based on average or predictions for historical events need to accommodate unpredictable and uncertain events that exceed the expected. Various fields such as the military, financial investment, supply chain management, and ecosystems have considered diversification and decentralization in their systems to address uncertain and unexpected disturbances, which is conceptually verified by the “law of requisite variety: only variety can destroy variety”. An application for flood control would be the distributed configuration of diversified flood control options such as detention and retention ponds and wetlands, which are operated in a decentralized way (not highly relying on a single option in flood control). However, the distributed flood control systems require more costs in their construction and operations. In this regard, this study aims to investigate the tradeoffs between flood mitigation effects and cost-effectiveness of the flood control systems depending on the levels of diversification and decentralization of control options. We employ an integrated modeling approach of Arc-GIS, HEC-RAS, and HEC-HMS. HEC-GeoHMS in ArcMap creates input files for HEC-HMS, describing the drainage pattern of the basin. Then, HEC-HMS analyzes the runoff hydrographs using the data of various intensities of rainfall, which is used as the inflow hydrograph in HEC-RAS. Finally, HEC-RAS evaluates the alleviation levels of flood for the systems in various levels of diversification and decentralization of control options. The results show the contributions of a single centralized system (e.g., a single large detention pond) and a diversified and decentralized system (e.g., small scale detention and retention ponds and wetlands) to flood mitigation and well demonstrate the tradeoffs between the flood mitigation and cost-effectiveness depending on rainfall intensities and the levels of diversification and decentralization. The findings will provide useful engineering insights on how to incorporate the diversification and decentralization strategies into the current flood control systems to cope with unexpected and uncertain flood events in a resilient way.

Flood Mitigation from Surface and Subsurface Hydrology in Suburban Southwest Florida: A Case Study of the Florida Gulf Coast University Campus

Presenter: Kallie Unger
This ongoing research since 2017 has investigated the role of ecosystems and landscape in flood mitigation, focusing on Fort Myers, Florida where state regulations require residential and commercial developments to install stormwater detention ponds for water quality protection. These ponds are widely misconstrued as flood protection, when in fact our previous research on the suburban campus of Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) demonstrated that runoff storage - thus flood mitigation capacity - is minimal in the campus ponds but successfully achieved by the extensive campus wetland system. Current research extends the analysis to integrate groundwater conditions and investigate the impact of wet-season water table changes on flood mitigation capacity. In Fort Myers, rainfall during the wet weather season (June - September) constitutes some 65% of the annual average 135 cm, so the water table elevation fluctuates strongly over the course of a year. The research uses data for the 2020 and 2021 wet weather seasons from a network of elevation gauges on the FGCU campus, collected daily or weekly through visual elevations since 2017 by a crew of volunteers from the FGCU AWRA Student Chapter at 14 wet stormwater detention ponds and 24 surficial groundwater stations (piezometers). Beginning in 2020, data are available at 10-minute intervals from automated stations at 5 ponds and up to 7 piezometers, producing much higher resolution on elevation changes. Results from 2020 documented that surface water elevation per unit rainfall was dependent on wetland spillover, that is, hydration of wetlands during the wet weather season enabled the landscape to detain much more of the runoff than when wetlands were not engaged, i.e. the dry weather season. However, that mechanism may exist for only part of the wet weather season, and cease if the wetlands are filled to capacity when the water table reaches its seasonal maximum. Results from 2021 will test the hypothesis that high water table during the wet weather season may compromise the pond-wetland systems’ ability to capture runoff from storm events and mitigate flooding. The conclusions will have broad implications for future management decisions throughout Florida about landscape design for flood mitigation.

Wind, Water, and Public Safety: Socioeconomic Disparities in Local, State, and Federal Regulations on Housing Unit Hurricane Safety in South-Central Florida

Presenter: Meagan Siegfried
Hurricane mitigation policies in the U.S. encompass a wide range of planning and response measures, including flood- and wind-resistance building codes for structures potentially exposed to hurricanes. In Florida, many code modifications arose from “lessons learned” about structural failures in past events, extending back to the great Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928 that where destruction in rural residences produced thousands of fatalities; through codes modified after Hurricanes Andrew in 1992 and Charley in 2004. In many historic events, lower-income communities experienced greater risks – and greater losses – partly because regulatory protections were unequally specified and/or implemented. The objective of this research was to identify, characterize, and quantify certain hurricane-safety risks to residents of Florida owing to different residential structural requirements, particularly with respect to differing socioeconomic status. The research took a special focus on areas impacted by the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane that remain susceptible to safety threats today.

The analysis first identified and characterized Federal, state, and local policies and regulations for structural protections. Florida’s building codes require site-built residences in designated zones to withstand high winds (150 - 160 miles per hour (mph)) and rise above inundation (lowest occupied floor 1 - 2 feet above FEMA-determined Base Flood Elevation (BFE)). Other Florida residences, manufactured homes, are subject to Federal regulations, which specify wind protection only to 100 mph (in designated hurricane zones) and elevation only at the BFE (in FEMA-designated floodplains). Manufactured homes are affordable-housing options, but expose residents to greater probability of wind and/or inundation damage, placing disproportionately higher risk on lower-income residents during extreme events.

The analysis next quantified manufactured vs. site-built homes housing units in selected counties, all subject to coastal/lakefront flooding and high-wind events. Manufactured homes constituted only 9.5% and 2.7% of residential units in Lee and Palm Beach Counties, respectively – two populous, growing, higher-median-income counties. GIS analysis showed those counties hold nearly 20,000 homes within FEMA-designated floodplains. By contrast, rural, lower-income Hendry and Glades Counties had a smaller number (9,500) but greater proportions (40.1%, 50.6%), such that nearly half their populations experienced the greater hurricane risks of manufactured homes.