Upcoming Issue Author Spotlight: Paul Walansky, Stanley Consultants
The Spring 2012 Issue of the Florida Watershed Journal will feature papers that discuss cutting-edge aspects of Best Management Practices in Florida’s water resources community. Paul Wolansky is one of the authors that will be featured in this upcoming issue. Paul was kind enough to author a guest post (below) that highlights his upcoming paper. Many thanks to Paul for this information. We hope that our readers enjoy this preview of our upcoming issue.
Reviving the River of Grass: Estimating Operations and Maintenance Costs for Stormwater Treatment
A Guest Post by Paul Walansky, Stanley Consultants
The cost of construction is a significant factor when planning for water management infrastructure projects. With tightening budgets, annual Operations and Maintenance (O&M) costs are more closely reviewed. Today, these costs are given greater consideration in the planning phase as managers are asked to do more with less.
In response to planning needs for the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), a Water Resources Planning Tool was developed to estimate annual operational costs for alternative project configurations and proposed water management features. This automated tool allows water resources planners to easily estimate operational costs and more effectively evaluate total costs of proposed infrastructure improvements.
Several steps were performed to develop this tool, including: a comprehensive review of historical costs, audits, budgets, and salary data; an assessment of SFWMD assets, and a review of staffing and organizational charts. Next, functional activity assessments were performed for information needs matrices, schedules, work plans, technical memos, and cost methodology reports. A Microsoft Access Database was then developed for the SFWMD that incorporated the following features: Stormwater Treatment Areas, Eco-Sloughs, Eco-Reservoirs, Reservoirs, Wetland Managed Areas, and Flow-ways.
To use the planning tool, data is entered for a proposed feature on the “Estimating Screen” during the planning stages of the project. Based on the type of feature, the O&M tool selects the appropriate formulas and estimates the number of full time employees (FTEs) and O&M costs for: field operations, SCADA / hydro data management, exotic / aquatic vegetation control, aquifer storage and recovery, information technology and telemetry, public use facilities, and water quality, data acquisition and management.
The O&M Cost Estimating Tool generates a report that allows SFWMD planners to quickly estimate water management O&M costs for the activities associated with a proposed project. Water resources planners can easily estimate O&M life cycle costs, allowing them to quickly evaluate the total costs of proposed infrastructure improvements, and do more planning in less time.
Author:
Paul Walansky, PE
Paul has professional experience since 1999 in the design and construction management of water resources and coastal projects. His engineering background includes inspection and condition assessment of water control structures, niche expertise in Water Resources planning and design, local knowledge of South Florida hydraulics and hydrology, and familiarity with relevant regulatory and environmental requirements. Paul is currently serving as Water Resources Department Manager in Stanley Consultants’ West Palm Beach office.
FWJ 2012-2013 Planning Underway
The FWJ Executive Committee is planning our 2012-2013 publication schedule. To do this successfully, we are asking for your input on topics or themes you’d like to see covered in future issues. Please submit your ideas to lperez@brwncald.com. We would appreciate your input on topics or potential authors so we can continually improve our relevance and timely coverage of what is most important to the Florida water resources community.
Spring 2012: New Ideas in Stormwater BMPs
The Spring 2012 issue will feature four papers on stormwater BMPs and LID. If you are interested in becoming a subject matter expert for this issue, please contact Bill Lynch at BLynch@CORRADINO.com. More information will be posted on this issue as the publication date nears.
