Goal and Function-Based Design, and Maintenance and

Monitoring

THE JOY OF INVENTION !!

"When you create you get a little endorphin rush. Why do you think Einstein

looked like that?" Robin Williams

We Are Currently in the Middle of the Age of Discovery

(Many Techniques Newly Developed Or RediscoveredOver A Relatively Short Period Of Time)

And Just Entering into the Age of Enlightenment(biological and design criteria incomplete and/or under development)

Things Required to Complete Any Task: 1. Time 2. Energy 3. Tools 4. Knowledge (data, experience, common sense)

"Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function must be one, joined in a spiritual union.“ - Frank Lloyd Wright -

“You can’t meet enough good people or learn enough in one lifetime”-Paul Fuhrmann, biologist with Ecology & Environment-

Ways to gain knowledge: Read all you can, SUBSCRIBE TO FREE MAGAZINES {Road & Bridge, Landscape Architect & Specifier News, etc) take classes and attend workshops and conferences, hang out with smart people (listen and ask questions), walk as many streams as possible, keenly observe nature, and when touring a completed project ask a member of the design team what they would do differently.

CLASS GOALS

• One of my goals is to have YOU say “I will never look at a stream the same again”

• Using the conceptual thought process, let’s break down complex problems into manageable units, & think the problem through to a goal-based solution.

• Your job is to think about what I (and other teachers in other classes) teach and decide whether it applies to either your situation, or situations you might encounter in the future

And my daughter, Dana Derrick (age 17) says

“You have to have that brain thing going on.” Actually she was talking about our basset Cleophus figuring out how to climb up on the bed, but hey, it applies here too!! THINKING HARD

HERE!

And remember, rivers like to meander and flood, typically those

are natural river functions.

If you can, let your river be a river!!

Let it breathe and have some freedom

STEPS IN A PROJECT• Initiate

• Plan & develop goals

• Gather data & analyze

• Conceptually develop how water should flow through the project

• Develop conceptual designs

• Analyze and develop the final design (P&S)

• Construction & Inspection: Original design team members should be involved in construction oversight

• Monitoring

Need To Propose & Refine Project Goals during the Planning Phase

The project goals should clearly define the intent and requirements of the project, specify measurable objectives (range of acceptable DO levels for instance), set parameters for project performance, assist with the design of a long-term monitoring plan, and assist with analysis of long-term project effectiveness.

Both short and long range goals should be set and can include:• Project justification (why built, benefits, drawbacks).• What the project will do (expected performance, safety, accessibility, multiple uses).• What physical parameters of the stream (or surrounding area) will be affected (slope,

sinuosity, thalweg location, substrate type and size, bank shapes, cross-sectional area, riparian corridor effects, etc.)?

• Impacts to the environment (construction impacts, WQ, terrestrial and aquatic habitats (improve, degrade), long term effects (reduction in diversity of habitat, etc.), ways that possible adverse effects can be mitigated).

• What the project will not do (vertical stability or possible adverse effects downstream not addressed, etc.).

• Estimated project life, and the amounts of monitoring and maintenance needed to ensure a productive project life.

• GOALS WILL GUIDE FLOW VISULIZATION, STABILIZATION TECHNIQUES USED,AND MONITORING ANALYSIS REQUIRED

GOAL: a broad statement that reflects a desired outcome

OBJECTIVES: are specific statements that state GOALS in measurable terms

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA: values, or a range of values used to evaluate the functional performance of a project

Scope and Goals are Defined

5.1 Background InvestigationsGeology and Geom orphologyEcologySedim ent CharacteristicsHydrologyChannel Form ing DischargeM ethods for Assessing Channel StabilityHistory

5.2 Field InvestigationsQualitative ObservationsChannel Geom etry SurveysBiota SurveysBed and Bank M aterials

5.3 Com putational M ethods for Channel Design

Integrate w ith Prelim inary Design

Scope & Goals are defined

5.1 Background InvestigationsGeology & Geomorphology / EcologySediment Characteristics / HydrologyChannel Forming Discharge / HistoryMethods for Assessing Channel Stability

5.2 Field InvestigationsQualitative ObservationsChannel Geometry SurveysBiota Surveys / Bed and Bank Materials

5.3 Computational Methods for Channel Design

Integrate with Preliminary DesignFrom Dr. Chester Watson

Considerations – A Balancing ActConsiderations – A Balancing ActConsiderations – A Balancing ActConsiderations – A Balancing ActTopography, Soils, Geology

Wastewater & Urban Flow

Flood Discharge

Subsurface Flow

Sediment Transport

Hydraulic Equilibrium

Water Quality

Slope Aspect

Alignment

Vegetation

Wildlife Protection

Variable Conditions

Ownership & Access

Impacted Areas

Design / Permitting

Visual Impact

Recreational Needs

Implementation Cost

Maintenance Cost

Funding/ Politics

Constructability

Maintainability

Risk

Public Perception

Purloined from Gerry Hester, Southern Nevada Water Authority

DOES SYSTEM INSTABILITY EXIST OR DO PROJECT GOALS REQUIREM ODIFIED DISCHARGE, SEDIM ENT LOAD, PLANFORM , OR CHANNEL GRADE?

DETERM INE STABLE CHANNEL DIM ENSIONS (W IDTH,DEPTH, AND SLOPE)

DETERM INE PLANFORM PROPERTIES (SINUOSITY, M EANDERW AVELENGTH, AND AM PLITUDE, AND RADIUS OF CURVATURE)

NO

DESIGN LOCAL BANK STABILIZATION OR HABITATFEATURES

DOES PRELIM INARY DESIGN M EET PROJECT GOALS?NOY

ES

COM PUTE NEW CHANNEL FORM ING DISCHARGE IF REQUIRED

NO

NO

YES

COMPUTE NEW CHANNELFORMING DISCHARGE IF REQUIRED

DOES PRELIMINARY DESIGN MEET PROJECT GOALS?

DESIGN LOCAL BANK STABILIZATION OR HABITAT FEATURES

DETERMINE STABLE CHANNEL DIMENSIONS (W, d & S)

DETERMINE PLANFORM PROPERTIES (S, , A, & Rc)

DOES SYSTEM INSTABILITY EXIST OR DO PROJECT GOALS REQUIRE MODIFIED Q, Qs, Planform, or S

From Dr. Chester Watson

Stabilizing a stream is sometimes kind of like grabbing a snake in the middle!

Luxuries We Like To Have• The “Luxury of Space”• The “Luxury of Time” (nature

strengthens the project over time)• The “Luxury of Monitoring”• The “Luxury of Adaptive Management”

Think conceptually regarding functions, use Derrick’s “LAW OF EXTREMES” to understand how things work. Example-ditch narrow & deep, or 5 ft wide & 1 inch deep

The First Site Visit• Is always the most important site recon.• The best decisions are usually made in the field during the first site visit.• All project shareholders, interested persons, and agency personnel who will

comment on the permit should be present. Experienced personnel should be involved. THINK INCLUSIONARY, NOT EXCLUSIONARY!!!!

• One facilitator (without an agenda) should EXTRACT goals (both long and short term) and knowledge from the group. Understanding and hopefully compromises should be reached on conflicting goals.

• Existing flow and erosion processes should be analyzed. How water needs to flow through the project (related to project goals) and what functions need to be restored, should be discussed in a conceptual manner.

• Conceptual designs should be formulated so as to make water behave as required (what structures/plantings are needed?)

• The effects of the proposed project on the stream and riparian area should be analyzed (near field, far field, upstream and downstream). Future changes in the stream system and their effects on long-term project performance should be examined.

Last Law of River

Engineering:When in over your head, go get

help! Dr. Biedenharn says that at the end of this

workshop, “the class participants should have a higher level of confusion, similar to the level of

confusion currently experienced by the instructor(s)”!

IF ANYONE SAYS THEY HAVE ALL OF THE ANSWERS, THEY DON’T!!!

Never be something that you are not!!

Teamwork is key!!

THINK INCLUSIONARY

NOT EXCLUSIONARY

Results of Monitoring • Determines if project goals were accomplished

• Detects the need for maintenance or repair in a timely fashion.

• Provides a basis for designing repairs, if needed.

• Detects changes in stream characteristics.

• Provides valuable insight into stream behavior, & long-term performance and effects of stabilization works

• After appropriate analysis, design criteria for future stabilization works can be improved.

From Charlie Elliott

Levels Of Monitoring EffortLevel 1: Visual observation of the site with written report.

Level 2: All activities performed during a Level 1 monitoring effort plus a permanent photographic and\or videotape record of the project area. Photos should be shot from fixed and marked locations (GPS).

Level 3: A Level 2 effort plus some physical measurements of the site (possibly using the typical low-flow water surface elevation as a datum).

Level 4: Level 3 effort plus a comprehensive survey of the stream.

Level 5: "The Whole Tamale". Level 4 monitoring effort plus any additional data deemed relevant, including, but not limited to: sediment size and gradation; water quality; roughness and conveyance analysis; fish habitat and biomass analysis; etc.

NOTE: Monitoring should also take into account the pre-project history of the site and whether project goals and functions were achieved. Some members of the original design team should be on the monitoring team.

Maintenance Considerations• Even properly designed works require some maintenance eventually.

• The ability of the designated agency to perform maintenance needs to be assessed during the design phase.

Why is Maintenance Required?• Was damage due to conditions that are not expected to recur?

• Was the original design criteria not conservative enough?

• Is the method itself at fault?

Aftercare

You will never get everything correct the first time around

• If you do it was a miracle

• Or you are the luckiest person on the planet

• Or it has not rained yet

• Or the project is overbuilt

• All projects should take two years to construct. Build it, monitor over the first year, then repair & apply adaptive management as required (based on project goals), then monitor some more.

TOP 6 REASONS THAT I SEE STREAM PROJECTS FAIL

• Project goals and functions not thoroughly thought out• Start and end points wrong (project did not go far enough

upstream or downstream, or both)• Scour at the toe, or foundation failure of foundation –

dependant stabilization methods• Inadequate keys• Inappropriate use of redirective methods (not applicable)• Folks simply did not understand where water was going and

what was guiding it. YOU HAVE TO THINK LIKE WATER AND SEE WHAT WATER SEES!!!

Where do you start & end?? (THIS AINT GOOD)

KESHEQUA CREEK, NUNDA, NEW YORK

Attack Angles, Thalweg Profile, &

cross-sections.

Note: There are

sine waves for both stream

planform, & the

vertical profile!

Longitudinal ProfileLongitudinal Profile

Purloined from Brad Humber, The Nature Conservancy

HOW STREAMS NATURALLY DISSIPATE ENERGY !!

HOW TO TELL WHEN A POOL

IS WORKING PROPERLY

Looking US at a properly functioning pool, note

roostertail dies out at DS end of pool during bankfull event, 9/1/2005, McKinstry

Creek, Delevan, NY

Gravel-cobble bed, 1% slope, rural, pool-riffle-pool

Looking US at a properly functioning pool, note

roostertail dies out at DS end of pool during bankfull event, 9/1/2005, McKinstry

Creek, Delevan, NY

Gravel-cobble bed, 1% slope, rural, pool-riffle-pool

Looking DS at a pool that is not functioning as well, fast water

through length of pool. Needs to have more volume in pool (greater

depth) McKinstry Creek, Delevan, NY

STREAM DIMENSION GENERALIZATIONS FROM LUNA LEOPOLD

• “Channel width tends to increase downstream as the square root of the bankfull discharge”

• “Mean velocity at bankfull is, for small to medium size rivers, about 5 feet per second”

• “A single sequence of a pool and a riffle usually has a length along the stream of 5 to 7 channel widths”

• “The radius of curvature for most channel bends is about 2 to 3 times the channel width”

• “The bankfull level closely corresponds to the mean height or mean elevations of the point bar that commonly extends streamward from the convex bank of a channel bend”

TIME FOR QUESTIONS

RememberWE all live

down-stream !!