Urban Storm Drainage Planning

WWE’s experience with urban drainage dates back to the founding of the company in 1961. WWE’s founder, Kenneth Wright, P.E., oversaw preparation of the original Urban Storm Drainage Criteria Manual for the Denver Metro area in 1969. WWE has been involved in advising the Mile High Flood District (MHFD) and assisting with updates to the manual ever since. WWE has used this knowledge of sound urban drainage principles to develop drainage and water quality criteria for many municipalities in Colorado and across the U.S. The urban drainage principles and practices that were established in the Urban Storm Drainage Criteria Manual remain largely unchanged today and are a testament to the sound drainage engineering approach that WWE has followed for over 50 years.

WWE staff have worked with many local governments in Colorado and elsewhere in the U.S. to develop storm drainage criteria manuals addressing drainage, flooding, and stormwater quality.

Flood Control and Permitting

Since the 1960s, WWE has been responsible for numerous floodplain modeling projects and regulatory floodplain/floodway assignments including Conditional Letters of Map Revision (CLOMRs), Letters of Map Revision (LOMRs), and Flood Hazard Area Delineations (FHADs). WWE has extensive experience with floodplain and floodway regulations, management, and policies and with those who regulate them, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Mile High Flood District, and multiple local and state agencies.

WWE is a member of the Colorado Association of Stormwater and Floodplain Managers (CASFM). We employ Professional Engineers, Certified Floodplain Managers, Certified Professionals in Erosion and Sediment Control, Licensed Appraisers, and LEED Accredited Professionals.

WATERSHED EVALUATIONS

WWE has excellent background in watershed assessments, water quality data evaluation, and source water protection for complex watersheds including addressing the issues of multiple stakeholders, non-point and point source management, wildfire effects, and integrated management of resources to protect water supply.

WWE’s background in watershed and waterbody planning and protection is broad, and WWE has considerable experience with auditing ongoing surface water and groundwater monitoring programs.  WWE has also played a major role in the development and on-going maintenance/management of monitoring programs, including source water protection and evaluation of water quality and quantity aspects of water supply.  Our project team consists of leading national experts in structural and nonstructural methods of source water quality improvement. 

In addition to overall watershed modeling experience, WWE has strong experience with nutrient reduction in wastewater treatment plant discharges, nutrient controls in development, stormwater BMP implementation, erosion and sediment control, nutrient trading, nonpoint source controls, stormwater BMP performance, water quality assessment, wetland science, waterbody control regulations, and expert testimony.

Stormwater Modeling

WWE is experienced with multiple hydrologic, hydraulic, sediment transport, and water quality models used for a wide range of stormwater applications. Examples of recent WWE stormwater modeling projects include using HEC-HMS to route flows and estimate the increase in runoff rates from forested watersheds that have been impacted by wildfire, using CUHP and SWMM to simulate the hydrology at a Department of Energy facility, and using HEC-RAS to evaluate channel hydraulics and base flood elevations in regulated floodplains. WWE has also recently used the Water Quality-COSM model developed by Ben Urbonas of the Urban Watersheds Research Institute for statistical hydrologic analysis, development of water quality capture volume curves, and pollutant load estimates.

WWE has the ability to link many of these models to GIS, which can aid in model parameterization and visualization of results. WWE has applied these models and others, ranging from spreadsheets created in house to complex two-dimensional water and debris flow models, to assist clients with analysis of hydrology, hydraulics, and, in some cases, water quality. WWE has prepared models for application on projects around the U.S.