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Overview of the Basin Sediment Management for Unique Island Topography Workshop, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico March 11th, 2022
Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org
Citation: Soil Erosion Research Under a Changing Climate, January 8-13, 2023, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, USA .(doi:10.13031/soil.23504)Authors: Damarys Acevedo-Acevedo, Burton C. Suedel, E. Michelle Bourne, Pat N. Deliman, Carlos E. Ruiz, Rhonda E. Fields, Ismael Pagán-Trinidad, Luis Villanueva-Cubero, Dave Hampton, Billy E. Johnson, Tim Dekker, Jack W. Milazzo
Keywords: Low Impact Development, Nature Based Features, Erosion, Sediment Transport, Water Quality, Basin Sediment Management.
Abstract
This presentation summarizes the Basin Sediment Management for Unique Island Topography Workshop hosted in-person and virtually at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (UPRM) Department of Civil Engineering & Surveying, in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico on March 11, 2022, attended by approximately 80 federal, state, local, and academic organization participants. The workshop focused on planning, designing, and building with Natural and Nature Based Features (NNBF), Green Infrastructure (GI), and Low Impact Development (LID) opportunities for unique tropical island topography and included seven presentations from subject matter experts, a discussion on limitations and problems with prior projects, and two concurrent breakout sessions. Pre-workshop activities included a field trip to multiple sites in the Añasco watershed conducted on March 9, 2022, which served as a base case for the workshop (Figures 1 & 2).
The field trip provided participants a unique perspective of the island‘s topography and post 2017 Hurricane María issues and impacts. During the breakout sessions, participants identified new project opportunities for NNBF and GI-LID at two selected sites from the field trip. Each group developed alternatives for their chosen site and identified concepts that could turn into great opportunities for the surrounding communities and significantly benefit the state of practice in Puerto Rico‘s unique tropical island topography. The purpose of the workshop was to assemble subject matter experts from multiple disciplines to conceptualize research and development geared towards identifying tropical island EWN®-GI-LID design questions that lead to demonstration projects and research strategies. These projects and research strategies evaluated outcomes for designing, constructing, and integrating EWN®-GI-LID types of features to assist in minimizing environmental damage from storm events. For the workshop, participants reviewed prior island best management practice designs and methods with a focus on projects using NNBF construction methods consistent with EWN® principles. Alternative designs and construction methods were identified and discussed in context with integration of existing conventional construction techniques. By the end of the workshop, participants were able to: 1. Identify technical design successes and lessons learned from prior tropical island design projects for basin sediment management; 2. Discuss opportunities and challenges of candidate island design techniques using EWN®-GI-LID technologies; 3. Identify EWN®-GI-LID design techniques that could be implemented for basin sediment management with unique short time of concentration limitations; and 4. Identify design techniques that could be used for managing sediment removal in drinking water reservoirs to recover design capacity while promoting EWN®-GI-LID techniques.
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