Suggest A Method Of Analysis To Improve The Current Storm Drainage System

The Florida Everglades is a region of tropical wetlands in south Florida. It consists of the southern half of the state, ranging from the Kissimmee River, Lake Okeechobee, and the Everglades. This watershed is referred to as the KOE. Water in south Florida once flowed from the Kissimmee River to Lake Okeechobee, then flowed southward over low-lying lands to Biscayne Bay, the Ten Thousand Islands, and Florida Bay. This shallow, slow-moving sheet of water created a mosaic of ponds, marshes, and forests. Over thousands of years this developed into the balanced ecosystem we know today as the Florida Everglades. In the later half of the 19th century, America was expanding and there was a nation wide push for progress. The idea for expansion led

These tasks go hand and hand with the City Public Works Drainage Division which administrates permits, and is responsible for the implementation and the execution of stormwater best management practices through the use of various resources such as personnel, and medium and heavy equipment. Public Works maintains more than 350 miles of storm sewer drainage system within the City and approximately 150 miles of drainage ditches and thousands of storm water inlets. Public Works crews work continually throughout the year removing trash and debris, mowing drainage ditches, vacuuming stormwater inlets, as well as other tasks to maintain a healthy drainage infrastructure. Unfortunately, the City is faced with the challenges of sustaining its extensive MS4 program and existing drainage infrastructure due to the lack of additional financial resources. Certain sections of the City’s drainage system are more than 50 years old and deteriorating. As the City continues to grow and expand, the need for repairs, retrofitting and maintaining the City’s existing infrastructure is as equally important as creating new capital projects.

The Everglades, a vast wetlands ecosystem made up of marshes and swamps, begins at Lake Okeechobee, a large lake in the center of Florida, and ends in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Bay. It is nearly 50 miles across and 110 miles long (Hinrichsen), and when viewed from the air, appears to be miles and miles of shallow water flowing through thick mats of grass. This perception has earned it the name “River of Grass”. Although it does flow like a river, the flow is so incredibly slow that, from a distance, it doesn’t seem to move at all.

For more than 50 years since the Central and Southern Florida Project, major ventures have been ongoing which have focused on the provision of fresh water for human-development projects and flood protection. In order to provide water for residential, commercial, and agricultural uses, the natural flow of hundreds of small rivers and streams contained within the Everglades were altered. Revisions included redirecting river flows from winding to straight, draining wetland areas to provide agricultural land, and channelizing rivers by creating high concrete banks to provide flood control. Consequently, the Everglades and its dependent natural community have been highly impacted in the most adverse way.

The Florida Everglades provides water to roughly 7 million people in Florida. There is on going issues with the Everglades water supply; for instance, it’s history,and the delayed problems are just two. There has been many acts to save it, and now we just can’t give up.

Storm water runoff gets formed by man-made areas such as driveways, parking areas and roofs. All of these types of surfaces are waterproof surfaces, so when they are placed around lakes, they tend to collect and transport precipitation over the land instead of allowing the water to penetrate into the soil. Storm water runoff affects the soil greatly along with all of the wild life and vegetation that needs the soil to live and form. That is the reason that areas of land around the lakes in Michigan have soil with lesser value than other

To begin, Withlacoochee River Park is both ecologically and hydrologically important, for not only does it supply most of central Florida with its drinking water, but also encompasses parts of the Hillsborough, Withlacoochee, Ocklawaha, and Peace rivers. The aquifer itself is unique, as it is at a higher elevation than

Some places are hit harder than others. One of the hardest hit areas is the Florida Everglades. The Greater Everglades Ecosystem is a region of the tropical wetlands south of Orlando Florida in the Florida watershed and it spans roughly 11,000 square miles (L. Perez, telephone interview, February 26, 2014). The Everglades used to be twice that size but much of it was redeveloped by humans for agricultural land to grow sugarcane (Babbit, 1994). The everglades is sometimes referred to as the “River of Grass” due to the water slowly flowing through vast grassland. The source of the water that has created the everglades comes from Lake Okeechobee 100 miles away in central

There used to be a thriving area full of lush plants and exotic animals along with many miles of water flowing through central Florida called the Everglades. A lot of water was drained for development and farming, leaving a queer 50% of the wetlands remaining. Many of the beautiful organisms dissipated due to the water purge. The U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) are trying to restore the national park's water system, hopefully bringing back its diverse ecosystem.

In 2015, an unusually wet winter triggered emergency draining from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades, flushing billions of gallons of water each day to protect South Florida from flooding. The results of this water being released has hurt other parts of the state: polluting coastal fishing grounds, scaring away tourists, and threatening to wipe out coastal and Everglade animals.

To address this issue, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and NYS DEC have recently increased their attention to stormwater management. Explicitly requiring permits for municipalities in New York State that are located near urbanized areas, and have their storm sewer system separate from their sanitary sewer systems. Unlike municipalities with combined sewer systems, an MS4 discharges untreated stormwater directly into the nearest body of water. This type of system can be detrimental for numerous reasons and has ultimately resulted in the EPA’s creation of a federal regulation known as the Stormwater Phase II. It was published in the Federal Register on December 8, 1999 and has since effected every MS4 community in New York State (US EPA, 2005).

The most prominent ecological feature of the Orlando area is the multitude of lakes. Some bass fishermen's guides claim there are up to 2,000 lakes in the greater Orlando area, if a person counts the lakes, ponds, and potholes and sinkholes, which occur with regularity in Orlando. Officially, according to the City of Orlando there are about 97 lakes, with names like Lake Beauty, Lake Druid, Lake Fairhope, Lake Hourglass, Lake Ivanhoe, Mud Lake, Red Lake, and Lake Winvah, among many more (City of Orlando).

The canal system is the major factor influencing ground-water levels and the movement of the saltwater interface in southeastern Dade County. The initial canal system, completed in 1967, was designed not only to prevent flooding but also to prevent excessive drainage, allowing for the inland movement of the saltwater interface. Subsequently, the primary changes to the system have been the addition of control structures and pump stations in response to changes in needs for water-level controls. The canals were equipped with flow-regulation structures both near the coast and inland, allowing water levels to be stepped down from structure to structure to prevent excessive drainage. However, the design and operation of this system lowered freshwater levels in the Biscayne aquifer, especially near the coast, allowing for the inland movement of saltwater during the drought years of 1970 and

Information that was used to develop my conclusions were relative to the history of Clearwater River such as the average normal discharge of 40,000cfs, the fact that the river can accommodate 55,000cfs before flooding will occur, and that with every increase of 2600cfs the river rises one foot. For example, this information helped to determine that four of the thirteen noted Peak Flood Discharges listed on the worksheet were not at flood stage as the river is able to accommodate discharges less than 55,000cfs. However, nine of the thirteen Peak Flood Discharges listed on the worksheet were at flood stage or drastically above; with the maximum rise of 17.77 feet above and a discharge rate of 101,200cfs. The average discharge rate of the top three noted floods per information on the Stream Gauge Data of Peak Flow Discharges is 93,613cfs, which is resourceful later in determining the extrapolated 75-year flood.

Following, a Puls flood routing method was used to simulate the event again with theoretical values. The relationship between discharge and discharge with storage over time was obtained and used to calculate theoretical values of discharge and water Level. These were compared with experimental results and a strong correlation was observed.