The City of Austin Watershed Protection Department (WPD) is charged with protecting the lives and property of City of Austin residents from flooding, erosion, and water pollution. To that end, WPD has developed watershed models to answer a variety of questions related to erosion and water pollution. The impetus for these models was the Stream Functional Pyramid developed by Harman et al (2012), which linked hydrology with geomorphology, chemistry, and biology. WPD then adapted this framework to include the human/social component in watershed science. With this framework, they are able to examine how these components interact with each other using four modeling techniques: sociological modeling, superforecasting, physics-based watershed models, and deep learning algorithms. Mr. Porras will discuss sociological modeling and superforecasting briefly, but focus this presentation on physics-based modeling and deep learning algorithms. Using these models at a fine scale, WPD is able to identify problems and propose solutions.

The Network for Engineering With Nature_® (EWN) invites you to the N-EWN Knowledge Series: A Continuing Education Series about Engineering with Nature—Watershed Modeling Efforts in the City of Austin with Abel Porras, Supervising Engineer, City of Austin Watershed Department. This 1-hour Zoom webinar took place September 19, 2024 at 12:30pm ET.

For previously recorded seminars, please visit the N-EWN Seminars page.