A governmental agency wishes to identify and prioritize construction sites that present a significant threat to the aquatic environment.
The objective of this project is to enable the agency to focus its limited resources on reviewing construction site proposals that most warrant a detailed evaluation.
BACKGROUND
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources regulates construction activities
that disturb five or more acres of land. Each proposed construction project is
required to have a stormwater management plan that details the steps to be taken
to control erosion on the site and minimize impacts to nearby streams and
wetlands. Annually, WDNR receives several hundred proposals for construction
projects that must be evaluated for potential downstream water quality impacts.
The quantity of projects received exceeds the availability of personnel to
review all projects. There is currently no automated means to screen and
prioritize these project proposals.
PROJECT TASKS
This project is designed to:
1) Identify those construction projects that present a significant threat
to the aquatic environment, based on the occurrence of aquatic features of the
landscape within a designated buffer zone surrounding each construction site.
2) Prioritize the "at risk" sites [i.e. high, medium or low] in order to
create a ranking for detailed Agency review of projects.
Information in paper and digital format that will be used in the analysis include construction site locations, soils, wetlands, water features and endangered plant and animal species.