Progress Report

CICEET Progress Report for the period 9/01/08 Through 2/15/09

Project Title: The StormWater Management Information System: Coastal Water Quality Enhancement Through the Use of an Internet-based Geospatial Tools for Planning Stormwater Management Systems
Principal Investigator(s): Richard G. Lathrop, Lisa Auermuller
Project Start Date: 9/01/07
Report Compiled By: Richard G. Lathrop

Figures
Figure 1

Figure 1
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Figure 2
Figure 3

Figure 3
Figure 4

Figure 4
Figure 5

Figure 5
Figure 6

Figure 6

Tables
Table 1

Table 1
Table 2

Table 2
Table 3

Table 3
Project Objectives for This Reporting Period
Geospatial tools are needed to place a proposed development and SWMS infrastructure into its watershed context. A geographic information system (GIS) inventory of the existing SWMS infrastructure is a critical first step. To be most effective, this information and these decision support tools also need to be readily available to a wide audience of target groups involved in the initial planning phases as well as the later review and permitting and finally ongoing maintenance and restoration. To address this issue, we propose to develop a suite of interactive internet-based geospatial tools or SWMIS (StormWater Management Information System) as a suite of innovative internet-based geospatial tools to enhance the input of data as well as facilitate the extraction of data for display, assessment and analysis purposes needed for the storm-water and sediment control planning/permitting/management/mitigation process. SWMIS will be geared to meet the needs of municipalities and counties in planning and managing their SWMS infrastructure. This proposed CICEET project is a collaboration between the Rutgers Center for Remote Sensing & Spatial Analysis (CRSSA) and the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JCNERR).

Objectives
Objective 1: Design and Develop Internet Accessible SWMIS.

Objective 2: Provide a geospatial inventory of existing SWMS infrastructure in relation to the watershed/hydrological system.

Objective 4: Develop on-line GIS tools/models to evaluate a proposed development project and SW management/mitigation plans to. The NJDEP Stormwater BMP Manual (2004) provides specific guidance for the evaluation of proposed development projects that will be translated into geographic rules as part of the geospatial toolkit of SWMIS. We will also use the results of the Front End Assessment to inform the software tool development.

Objective 5: Conduct training and outreach to local officials.

Tasks to meet objectives
Objective 1
Provide streamlined on-line data entry system - Previously completed and reported on

Provide geospatial viewer for query and display.

Objective 2
Digitize/attribute historical SWMS data;

Objective 3
Compile GIS for Toms River pilot study: DEM, soils, SWC/Hydro, parcels - Completed and Previously Reported On

List of possible mitigation targets (i.e., failing retention/detention basins needing BMPs);
An initial list of known mitigation targets for each municipality in the Ocean County study area, as identified in their Municipal Stormwater Management Plan, was provided by the Ocean County Planning department. The specific targets were geolocated in Time Period 3.

We also worked with the Ocean County Planning Department to request any additional information that municipalities may have on stormwater management infrastructure including maps.

Document time and costs for development of SWMS GIS database. - We have been recording the amount of time to populate the database, including both staff and volunteer time.

Objective 4
Trace downstream flowpath to identify sensitive receptors;

Objective 5
Front End Assessment;

Progress on Tasks
Objective 1
We previously developed an in-house version of the proposed geospatial viewer. Geolocation of the SW basin database is powered by a Google Maps interface customized with the Google Maps API. One of the key innovations of this approach is that we employ high spatial resolution road network, imagery, and terrain data, as provided by the Google Maps server rather relying on our own server capacity. To further refine this viewer as well as incorporate additional functionality we have contracted with a commercial firm, Vertices, Inc.

Objective 2
During this past reporting period we conducted a Quality Check of the SW basin geolocations. A total of 1,747 basins were found in the Ocean County Soil Conservation District office in hard copy format. These files were scanned into a digital .pdf format using volunteers from the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JC NERR). File names were standardized by SCD number and municipality and brought into Microsoft access. Ocean County Soil Conservation District provided a digital file showing the present status of all basins (Table 1). This file was imported into Microsoft access and joined by the unique value for SCD number. Note that an individual scd number could have multiple basins.

Objective 4
We have contracted with a commercial firm, Vertices, Inc. to include this functionality to the web-based geospatial SWMIS. This work is on task and scheduled for completion in late April. Figure 6 is a graphic example of the draft graphical user interface. Geospatial visualization of the SWMIS is powered by a Google Maps interface customized with the Google Maps API. One of the key innovations of this approach is that we employ high spatial resolution road network and map/imagery as provided by the Google Maps server rather relying on our own server capacity. Other GIS data sets specific to the project (e.g., storm water basins, ownership parcels) are accessed from our server.

Objective 5
Due to scheduling difficulties, we had to postpone a meeting with our key project collaborators during this reporting period. A meeting was held on March 12, 2009 to update the partners on progress and to solicit feedback at this "beta" stage of the project. In particular, we have solicited and hope to receive input on resolving some of the remaining geo-location issues we have encountered.

Difficulties
The recorded coordinate locations (as recorded in the original permit records) of the SW basins were often problematic. For example, the coordinates (as typed/written by the permittee on the form) were transposed, or using an outdated datum (that was correctable). Other permits records showed no on-the-ground evidence of a SW basin as being completed as originally permitted.

Data Generated to date
We have not finalized any of the datasets to the point that they are ready for transfer.

Project Objectives for Next Reporting Period
Objective 3: Undertake an analysis highlighting SWMS basins upstream of known impaired waterways.
The NJDEP Stormwater BMP Manual (2004) specifies that MSWMPs must also consider downstream features deemed as "sensitive receptors." Sensitive receptors include features sensitive to changes in water quality changes, ground water recharge and flooding. The bulk of the sensitive receptors will be identified using a combination of existing state level publicly available GIS data sets, as well as more specific county level engineering and soil conservation district data. Additional data will be developed by enlisting the help of municipal, county and state officials to document local knowledge (i.e., problematic culverts and bridges; eroding/widening stream banks).

Difficulties Encountered
The issues in geo-locating the SW basins has slowed progress on addressing Objective 3 during this last time period. We will address this objective during this time period.

Objective 4: Develop on-line GIS tools/models to evaluate a proposed development project and SW management/mitigation plans to. The NJDEP Stormwater BMP Manual (2004) provides specific guidance for the evaluation of proposed development projects that will be translated into geographic rules as part of the geospatial toolkit of SWMIS. We will also use the results of the Front End Assessment to inform the software tool development.

Tasks to meet objective:
Assess the water quality/quantity impacts of the proposed project;
Determine the potential runoff and loading impacts of contributing catchment basin;
Evaluate the conformance of the plan with existing regulations and red-flag outstanding issues.

Expenditures
While the nominal start date for this project was 09/01/2007, the final approval and funding did not start until mid-December 2007. We started the programming work on the database development before funding was finalized but held off on the other aspects of the project until the funding was on-hand. Thus this progress report does not reflect a full year of project work. The expenditures are within the range anticipated for the work accomplished to date.

We requested and received a no-cost budget modification to shift approximately $26,000 of salary costs to a sub-contract to Vertices, Inc. for the design and programming of the interactive mapping web application.