Framing the Challenge of Urban Flooding in the United States


Book Description

Flooding is the natural hazard with the greatest economic and social impact in the United States, and these impacts are becoming more severe over time. Catastrophic flooding from recent hurricanes, including Superstorm Sandy in New York (2012) and Hurricane Harvey in Houston (2017), caused billions of dollars in property damage, adversely affected millions of people, and damaged the economic well-being of major metropolitan areas. Flooding takes a heavy toll even in years without a named storm or event. Major freshwater flood events from 2004 to 2014 cost an average of $9 billion in direct damage and 71 lives annually. These figures do not include the cumulative costs of frequent, small floods, which can be similar to those of infrequent extreme floods. Framing the Challenge of Urban Flooding in the United States contributes to existing knowledge by examining real-world examples in specific metropolitan areas. This report identifies commonalities and variances among the case study metropolitan areas in terms of causes, adverse impacts, unexpected problems in recovery, or effective mitigation strategies, as well as key themes of urban flooding. It also relates, as appropriate, causes and actions of urban flooding to existing federal resources or policies.




Fact Sheet


Book Description










Approaches to Water Sensitive Urban Design


Book Description

Approaches to Water Sensitive Urban Design: Potential, Design, Ecological Health, Economics, Policies and Community Perceptions covers all aspects on the implementation of sustainable storm water systems for urban and suburban areas whether they are labeled as WSUD, Low Impact Development (LID), Green Infrastructure (GI), Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) or the Sponge City Concept. These systems and approaches are becoming an integral part of developing water sensitive cities as they are considered very capable solutions in addressing issues relating to urbanization, climate change and heat island impacts in dealing with storm water issues. The book is based on research conducted in Australia and around the world, bringing in perspectives in an ecosystems approach, a water quality approach, and a sewer based approach to stormwater, all of which are uniquely covered in this single resource. - Presents a holistic examination of the current knowledge on WSUD and storm water, including water quality, hydrology, social impacts, economic impacts, ecosystem health, and implementation guidelines - Includes additional global approaches to WSUD, including SUDS, LID, GI and the Sponge City Concept - Covers the different perspectives from Australia (ecosystem based), the USA (water quality based) and Europe (sewer based) - Addresses storm water management during the civil construction stage when much of the ecological damage can be done




Engineering Geology, 2nd Edition


Book Description

Engineering Geology is a multidisciplinary subject that interacts with other disciplines, such as mineralogy, petrology, structural geology, hydrogeology, seismic engineering, rock engineering, soil mechanics, geophysics, remote sensing (RS-GIS-GPS) and environmental geology. This book is the only one of its kind in the Indian market that caters to the students of all these subjects. Engineers require a deep understanding, interpretation and analyses of earth sciences before suggesting engineering designs and remedial measures to combat natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, debris flows, tsunamis and floods. This book covers all aspects of engineering geology and is intended to serve as a reference for practicing civil engineers, geotechnical engineers, marine engineers, geologists and mining engineers. Engineering Geology has also been designed as a textbook for students pursuing undergraduate and postgraduate courses in advanced/applied geology and earth sciences. A plethora of examples and case studies relevant to the Indian context have been included for better understanding of the geological challenges faced by engineers.New in this Edition• The concept of watershed and the depiction of watershed atlas of India• Latest findings by the Indian Bureau of Mines• Recent developments in coastal engineering and innovative structures• New types of protective structures to guard against tsunamis• Role of geology in building smart cities• Environmental legislation in India




Interdisciplinary Teaching About Earth and the Environment for a Sustainable Future


Book Description

Interdisciplinary Teaching about the Earth and Environment for a Sustainable Future presents the outcomes of the InTeGrate project, a community effort funded by the National Science Foundation to improve Earth literacy and build a workforce prepared to tackle environmental and resource issues. The InTeGrate community is built around the shared goal of supporting interdisciplinary learning about Earth across the undergraduate curriculum, focusing on the grand challenges facing society and the important role that the geosciences play in addressing these grand challenges. The chapters in this book explicitly illustrate the intimate relationship between geoscience and sustainability that is often opaque to students. The authors of these chapters are faculty members, administrators, program directors, and researchers from institutions across the country who have collectively envisioned, implemented, and evaluated effective change in their classrooms, programs, institutions, and beyond. This book provides guidance to anyone interested in implementing change—on scales ranging from a single course to an entire program—by infusing sustainability across the curriculum, broadening access to Earth and environmental sciences, and assessing the impacts of those changes.