Common causes and real solutions

Transcription

1 Common causes and real solutions your voters can support John A. Miller, P.E., CFM, CSM Associate; Water Resources Engineer Princeton Hydro, LLC L i l ti C itt Ch i Legislative Committee Chair New Jersey Association for Floodplain Management

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10 Not a social scientist Serve on municipal and county planning boards but not elected Member of Passaic River Basin Flood Advisory Commission and former member of Delaware River Flood Mitigation Task Force

11 Citizens in floodplains tend to be some of your most vocal constituents While you may want to say well, what do you expect living in the floodplain? This would not be wise politically Do you have a good sense of possible causes of flooding and solutions? You are here: so you have flood issues

12 What areas are in the floodplain? Risk assessment frequency of flooding (every couple years or long periods between events?) Flash flooding or do you have advanced notice? Do you have localized flooding, caused by undersized infrastructure, excess runoff from developed areas, combined sewers? Do you have an all Hazard Mitigation Plan?

13 You as the elected official hear: The river is filling up we need to dredge Trees are blocking the flow of water It s those upstream reservoirs spilling water Along the Delaware River Pennsylvania has no stormwater management

14 Humans have built in the floodplain without respect to risk N J h i d ltit d f New Jersey has experienced a multitude of severe events in the last decade

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16 Especially in smaller and more intensely developed watersheds, hydrology has changed, adding to the risk Precipitation is trending slightly higher, but more importantly, the rainfall totals for each event has grown

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18 New Jersey Statewide Precipitation: Dr. David Robinson, Office of the NJ State Climatologist

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20 We are going to have flooding: Flooding happens lessen the loss (NNF slogan) While it may be appealing to follow the blame game path, you are a leader and need to set a thoughtful agenda with real solutions If an idea or project solves all the problems give it some careful thought like many things, there are only partial solutions; there is no magic pill Flooding takes watershed thinking, not municipal or g g, p political boundaries

21 As an elected official, what are good questions I should ask experts? What are sources of solid information? Who can you rely upon for sound advice? What can I do to increase my communitys resiliency to flooding? Wh I fi d f di ii d l f Where can I find funding to mitigate and lessen future flood damage?

22 Issues are not that simple The river is filling up we need to dredge You say Your observation may be correct, but river conditions change dredging will not significantly add to the capacity of the floodplain. Trees are blocking the flow of water You ask Is the debris at a constriction such as a culvert or bridge? If so, call on public works. If not, removing may destabilize stream more, leading to more sediment.

23 It s those upstream reservoirs spilling water This is a hard one. While intuitively, it may be appealing to assign blame to dam owners upstream, the effects of reservoirs in a large watershed as one moves downstream becomes much less. Along the Delaware River Pennsylvania has no stormwater management Actually, municipalities of any significant size are actually under the same federal clean water act requirements as NJ. PA has better watershed hd management plans. It s not so simple.

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25 John A. Miller, P.E., PE CFM, CSM Associate; Water Resources Engineer Princeton Hydro, LLC Legislative Committee Chair New Jersey Association for Floodplain l Management