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This session will give an overview of National Weather Service (NWS) operations and how NWS warnings are communicated to emergency management personnel and the public. The session will then look at how NWS operations functioned during the passage of the remnants of Tropical Storm (TS) Fred in August 2021. The passage of TS Fred simultaneously produced numerous tornadoes in North and South Carolina and extreme flooding in parts of North Carolina. Though damage from tornadoes was light, flash flooding resulted in the loss of 56 homes and five deaths. The NWS outlook products discussed the possible hazards several days in advance. During the event, over 30 tornado warnings were issued, along with many flood-related products, including a “Flash Flood Emergency” product, which is the rarely used and most extreme warning product for flooding. For the Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina NWS office, this was one of the busiest days in its history due to the large number of high-impact products issued.
The world of engineering is facing challenges no one has ever tackled before. Some of these issues include climate change, efficient transportation solutions, maintaining adequate water supplies for a growing population, and putting light rail trains on a floating bridge. With these obstacles in front of us, we need the best and brightest on our teams. However, the profession is dismissing half of the population before they are ever given a chance. If we do not work together to encourage women to enter the field of engineering and stay in the field, we will all miss out on the innovations and contributions that come from their unique perspectives.
Both polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) can be found in lakes, rivers, streams, and municipal water supply and are harmful to humans and our environment. One may be lesser known in some regions, but widely recognized (and banned) on the west coast, mid-west, and locally in Greenville, South Carolina, and Asheville, Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, Town of Matthews, and Boone, North Carolina. PAHs are a group of chemicals created by heating or burning material that contains carbon. PAHs are present in coal tar sealers, asphalt sealers, and liquid propane (LP) derived sealers. Although coal tar sealers have a higher PAH level than other sealers, PAHs are present in high levels in asphalt and LP-based sealers. The speaker will provide insight from his position as the Southeast U.S. Director of the Asphalt Sealcoat Manufacturer’s Association (ASMA). The purpose of ASMA is to provide a common specification for asphalt-based sealers for use by governmental and private bodies to ensure both quality and environmental safety.
Los Angeles County’s newly-implemented Safe, Clean Water Program (SCWP) generates $300M per year to specifically address resiliency and stormwater issues by improving water quality, increasing drought preparedness, prioritizing Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), providing disadvantaged community benefits, and promoting green jobs, among other benefits. As the local communities work together to transform the landscape into a more resilient version of itself, one challenge looms large: how do we choose the best suite of projects to balance multiple benefits, maximize return on investments, and allow us to clearly and transparently measure our success? This session describes a groundbreaking collaboration between permitted municipal agencies and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that delivers consensus-based policy recommendations rooted in modeling and scientific rigor.
While the potential for utility delays is a well-known risk for all municipal capital projects, how you tackle these risks can have monumental impacts on the operational efficiencies of utility owners as well as the municipality. At the City of Charlotte, North Carolina, their roadway infrastructure Capital Investment Plan is funded every two years with approximately $100MM, accounting for 150-200 active capital roadway projects. The projects’ scopes vary, but the one constant is that the private utility providers—electric, gas, and telecommunications—will have unavoidable project impacts in most of the projects. In this session, staff from the City of Charlotte, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, and AT&T will share their approach, intentions, best practices, lessons learned, and areas of concern in their quest to achieve success for their organizations and partnership.
The Town of Ellington began experiencing contaminated wells in 2017, prompting them to take a close look at their winter material application. The findings were significant and prompted change. Several strategies were implemented to reduce salt usage and environmental impact. After the first year there were positive, noticeable results. These results were shared with the UCONN T2 and briefly with the NEAPWA. The strategies outlined can be adapted by any other town/state and will provide positive results.
In a post-pandemic world, public works officials will need to enhance their resiliency, add layers of redundancy, and most importantly–re-configure their systems to operate “virtually everything–virtually.” Beyond simply operating some…
On behalf of the Utilities and Public Rights-of-Way (UPROW) Committee, the presenters will present a “Dare to Ask” session discussing lessons learned from UPROW projects and management that didn’t go…
Ceasing to provide critical winter maintenance services during the pandemic was not an option. COVID-19 tests public agencies and the critical, emergency, and routine services that are provided to citizens every day. The public works industry has stepped up to the challenges of a worldwide pandemic. In this session, the presenter will walk through the COVID-19 pandemic timeline and how agencies responded over time to safely, effectively, and efficiently provide services to their citizens while keeping their employees and families safe. This interactive session will allow the speaker and attendees to discuss what was done in their organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal is to share how everyone was able to support their agencies during this pandemic and look to the future to plan for the next pandemic…that hopefully never happens.
Instituting large-scale changes cannot happen without employees supporting the process. As employees are charged with implementing the program, it is important that they fully understand why change is occurring and actively participate in the creation of the new process. Recognizing and engaging multiple change champions within your organization is the key to success, because the closer a change champion is to the other stakeholders impacted by the change, the greater your chance of success. This program discusses how to identify change champions, and how Niles tapped the abilities of their change champions to guide, develop and implement new and improved programs, winning the APWA Excellence in Snow and Ice Control and Management Innovation Awards.