FULL SCHEDULE
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TUESDAY 11:00 a.m. - Noon: REGISTRATION & SPONSOR EXHIBITION
11:30 a.m. - Noon: LUNCH SERVED
TUESDAY Noon - 1:00 p.m.: Opening & Keynote Presentation
Mark Doneux
Watershed Management Solutions, LLC
TUESDAY 1:00 - 1:15 p.m.: GOLD SPONSOR PRESENTATION
1:15 - 1:30 p.m.: BREAK
TUESDAY 1:30 - 2:00 p.m.
Watershed Planning Room
Kyle Gonterwitz
City of Lawrence
Mitchell Goedeken
Burns & McDonnell
Aaron Jones
TREKK
The City of Lawrence needed a citywide stormwater watershed inventory and stormwater model development for all 59 of the City’s subwatersheds. The City of Lawrence last updated its stormwater master plan in 1996.
In 2021 TREKK Design group proposed a method of inspecting and photographing underground stormwater assets, logging data into the city’s stormwater GIS Utility Network, and developing hydraulic models using PCSWMM to evaluate the level of service for watersheds and project options for improvements within the City of Lawrence Municipal Storm Sewer System. This project required a detailed assessment of stormwater infrastructure within a densely developed area, presenting challenges for data collection and model calibration. Additionally, coordinating with multiple City departments to align the plan with current policies and future development needs added complexity. Another unique feature of this project was that it allowed the City and the consultant team to work together in the development of the overall data collection and stormwater modeling process. A series of modeling workshops were held so that the City could understand the model development, model simulations and model outputs. This approach then allowed the City to make decisions, plan the next phases and be part of the evaluation of different modeling processes and tools needed to meet the City needs for the short- and long-term. Watershed models of 24 subwatersheds have been completed in PC-SWMM with another 29 watersheds to be completed by the end of 2025. The final 6 watershed models will be completed in 2026 to provide the City with a complete set watershed system models of both enclosed storm sewers, open channels, and surface flow.
Civil Works Room
Jess Hartel
Heartland Conservation Alliance
Hunter Moore
Bridging The Gap
The Renewing the Blue: Restoring Land, Water, and Community Canopy project represents a collaborative effort to address the growing challenges of urban stormwater in Kansas City. Led by the City of Kansas City, Missouri, in partnership with Heartland Conservation Alliance, Bridging The Gap, Deep Roots KC, and the Mid-America Regional Council, this initiative focuses on restoring 200–250 acres of riparian habitat along the Blue River and enhancing green infrastructure throughout the lower and middle sections of the Blue River Watershed on public lands owned by the City of Kansas City, Missouri and Jackson County Parks + Rec. This presentation will focus primarily on the project’s riparian restoration, strategic partnerships, and community engagement components (core pillars), co-led by Heartland Conservation Alliance and Bridging The Gap (KC WildLands). These efforts are not only improving channel stability and water quality, but also fostering long-term stewardship by empowering neighborhood residents through education, hands-on restoration, and community-based programming. The work demonstrates how ecological recovery and community connection go hand-in-hand to build climate resilience in historically underserved areas.
In addition to riparian work, the project encompasses three other core pillars: community canopy expansion, native plant solutions, and policy and practice improvements—each supported by project partner organizations. Together, these pillars guide a holistic approach to landscape-scale restoration and climate adaptation. Attendees will also be introduced to the project’s visual identity, including the #RenewTheBlue campaign hashtag, and its tailored messaging strategy designed to engage diverse audiences—from youth volunteers and neighborhood residents to partner organizations and the general public.
The presentation will further explore the project’s detailed restoration work plan, including the baseline research and monitoring strategy and methods for invasive plant removal, direct seeding, bare root plantings, and wetland restoration. Ongoing maintenance and monitoring strategies will be discussed as essential components for long-term success. Ultimately, this session will illustrate how a collaborative, community-centered approach can effectively address urban stormwater issues while revitalizing natural systems and neighborhoods alike.
Funding for this project is provided by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) federal funding focused on addressing stormwater impacts.
MS4/CSO Programs & Standards Room
Christina Luebbert
Luebbert Engineering
Christina Luebbert
Stormwater management is one of the most complex and frequently problematic aspects of municipal land development plan reviews. This presentation focuses specifically on the most common stormwater-related issues that municipalities face during the permitting process, which often lead to delays, resubmittals, and compliance challenges. Drawing from practical experience from both sides of the table (as a plan reviewer and engineer for developers), the session will outline critical stormwater management issues that reviewers should watch for—including inadequate drainage calculations, missing or incorrect hydrologic data, improper BMP (Best Management Practices) selection or placement, noncompliance with permit requirements, incomplete erosion and sediment control plans, lack of long-term maintenance planning, poor integration with site grading, and insufficient documentation for regulatory agency coordination.
Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of how to anticipate and address these issues early in the review process. Emphasis will be placed on improving submissions, enhancing reviewer checklists, and promoting collaboration between applicants and municipal staff. The goal is to streamline stormwater review procedures while ensuring compliance with environmental regulations and protecting community infrastructure.
TUESDAY 2:00 - 2:30 p.m.
Watershed Planning Room
Lori Schrader
Stantec
Binay Sapkota
Stantec
HEC-RAS two-dimensional (2D) rain-on-mesh modeling has transformed how a community can assess flood risk. Routing rainfall through a detailed 2D mesh requires engineering considerations for embankments, structures, and detention to confirm the model represents the true basin response. Assessing the appropriate balance of including or ignoring potential upstream detention in flood routing is a challenge in H & H modeling. Modeling assumptions regarding smaller, upstream detention affect downstream results and often depend on the specific project goals. Stantec investigated the impacts of upstream detention on 2D rain-on-mesh watershed modeling through sensitivity testing. Stantec evaluated all known upstream detention under different scenarios to assess the impact on the downstream riverine flows and stage. These findings directly informed the modeling team’s approach to representing detention basins, balancing considerations of impact, downstream flow dynamics, and data availability. The study emphasizes the importance of aligning modeling assumptions with project constraints and provides considerations for incorporating detention features in hydrologic and hydraulic analyses.
Civil Works Room
Jack Renfro
HNTB
Madalyn Osborn
HNTB
The Roy Blunt Luminary Park Project in downtown Kansas City, Missouri (KCMO), is a transformative capital improvement project designed to cap a section of the I-670 corridor with a recreational park space. Spanning from Wyandotte Street to Grand Boulevard and located between North and South Truman Roads, the project will reclaim urban space and enhance connectivity between the Central Business District and The Crossroads Art District. Along with many project geometric constraints, the stormwater design team faced numerous challenges in mitigating impacts to the already overtaxed existing combined sewer system (CSS), especially at the Walnut Street bridge, which plays a critical role as the primary overflow path for roughly 156 acres of impervious drainage area in downtown Kansas City. Modeling of stormwater flows for various return periods validated reports of flooding in the area—especially at the intersection of Walnut Street and N. Truman Road—as well as overland flows that threaten nearby properties. A comprehensive stormwater management strategy was developed, including a multi-tiered system of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), biofiltration rain gardens, underground detention, and cistern-based storage for irrigation. However, full mitigation of surface flooding through storage alone was found economically infeasible, making preservation of existing overflow conveyance vital. The project reduced the I-670 tunnel’s direct rainfall exposure by covering 3.6 acres of its watershed. Due to geotechnical constraints and the proximity to tunnel walls, stormwater infiltration was limited; therefore, GSI focused on water quality improvements rather than infiltration-based volume reduction. The proposed drainage system is designed to convey up to the 100-year storm event through rain gardens and detention before discharging into the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) 54” stormwater trunkline, without increasing ponding depths at known low points under I-670. Additionally, the project replaces the MoDOT stormwater collection system in the tunnel, including the existing 8’x4.5’ reinforced concrete box culvert beneath I-670, and incorporates slotted drains for fire suppression and spill collection per National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) 502 tunnel standards. Overall, the Roy Blunt Luminary Park Project represents a balance of modern urban design and flood mitigation, prioritizing sustainable water management and system resilience, all while improving public space in a highly constrained and complex urban corridor. The project is currently in the final design phase, with certain phases of construction potentially beginning in late 2025 or early 2026.
MS4/CSO Programs & Standards Room
David Carani
HDR
Colleen Armstrong
St. Joseph Water Protection Division
Over the past decades, aging infrastructure, increasingly complex water quality issues, forever chemicals, and challenging economic conditions due to unprecedented events have strained municipal public works management across the country. This situation has been further complicated by federal and state regulatory processes that historically focused on enforcing individual Clean Water Act requirements on fixed schedules, without full consideration of all obligations that a utility may be facing or whether compliance efforts will even result in meaningful improvements in environmental and public health. The City of St. Joseph, Missouri (City) understands the challenges these traditional regulatory requirements frameworks can create for a public utility and its customers. The City’s current Combined Sewer Overflow Long-Term Control Plan (LTCP) outlines $464 million (in 2009 dollars) of collection system, wastewater treatment, and stormwater system improvements that the City would implement over a 20- to 30-year timeframe to achieve the goal of capturing 85% of the wet weather flow volume. This implementation schedule came with significant affordability concerns for the City and its customers, particularly lower-income households. Since 2000, the City has had to increase sewer rates by more than 400% to pay for these improvements, with additional rate increases anticipated. These burdens are likely to be exacerbated when new and evolving regulatory drivers continue to force additional upgrades beyond those required by the LTCP in the City’s wastewater and stormwater systems. In 2012, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed the Integrated Municipal Stormwater and Wastewater Planning Approach Framework to support communities in developing plans that balance long-term system improvements with environmental needs planning efforts. EPA’s Framework provides St. Joseph with a useful approach for developing a long-term investment strategy that appropriately prioritizes and schedules wastewater and stormwater work that protects human health and the environment, aligns with community priorities, meets regulatory obligations, and is affordable. This presentation will present the results of the City’s IP effort, including their approach for considering community affordability, identifying new capital and operating solutions, prioritizing green infrastructure, and the regulatory and financial outcomes.
TUESDAY 2:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Watershed Planning Room
Brent Johnson
Olsson
Brent Johnson
The Johnson County, Kansas Stormwater Management Program (SMP) and Olsson began master planning efforts for Watershed Organization (WO) 2 in 2019 and developed preliminary flood risk areas and prioritization scores using FEMA effective 1D hydraulic models for the risk assessment. Subsequently SMP developed and further refined the Risk Integrated Project Prioritization (RIPP) scoring approach since the completion of the watershed master plans. The new RIPP scoring approach expands the preliminary scoring by including multiple frequency recurrence intervals and using more detailed parameters such as velocity, depth of flooding at buildings, and roadway overtopping in the analysis. With the development of HEC-RAS 2D hydrologic and hydraulic modeling project for the Indian Creek Watershed, the opportunity arose to update the master plan flood risk project prioritization. The current 2D modeling provides robust, detailed data that can be extracted to inform us of flood risk and mitigation needs in the watershed. The challenge lies in working with a much more complicated flood surface generated with 2D modeling. The variability of flood elevations, velocities, and inundation frequencies that come from a 2D model require interpretation and judgement to get this information into format that can be input into the RIPP scoring approach. A standardized approach to how and what 2D model outputs are used to populate the RIPP scoring spreadsheet will be critical to bringing uniformity when comparing flood risk across many projects. The focus of this presentation will be the process Olsson has developed for extracting 2D hydraulic model data and loading it into the RIPP scoring spreadsheet. Our approach is both straightforward and repeatable, and we were able to leverage the more detailed modeling outputs and refine the RIPP scoring to provide a more accurate risk assessment that follows SMP methodology. Our presentation will provide an overview of the 2D model from the Indian Creek watershed, review the 2D modeling results, and explain the steps we developed for pulling information from the model and applying it to specific roadway and building flooding locations.
Civil Works Room
Carter Hubbard
Olsson
Nicole Wall
Olsson
Widespread and recurrent flooding is prevalent in rural communities, particularly those that are underserved in Eastern Arkansas. Through the NRCS PL-566 program and other related initiatives, various sponsors have proposed numerous improvements aimed at reducing flood losses. These projects are designed not only to address existing flood challenges but also to enhance community preparedness for increased flood risks resulting from unpredictable weather patterns. In some cases, the study methodologies employed differ from conventional NRCS PL-566 approaches, which typically emphasize broader, watershed-wide initiatives. The presenters will examine a range of planning and technical strategies derived from several projects. The discussion will encompass improvements such as extensive storm sewer upgrades, culvert replacements, regional detention facilities, and enhancements to regional conveyance systems. Furthermore, certain projects have incorporated nature-based solutions and water quality measures, with the overarching objective of safeguarding public health, safety, and other vital community resources.
MS4/CSO Programs & Standards Room
Jacobo Barriga
Bridging The Gap
Jacobo Barriga
Bridging The Gap’s Kansas City WildLands team conserves, protects, and restores over 1000 acres of remnant habitat throughout the metro by connecting people to the land and water around them. These remnant habitats are largely located in the Blue River watershed, and are proven to be more effective at providing ecosystem services to the communities around them. By prioritizing the intersections of people and science, and centering community-led ecosystem restoration, Kansas City WildLands improves water quality, reduces flood, stormwater and erosion risk, and preserves centuries-old habitats — our region’s original green infrastructure.