NV5 has been providing the County of San Diego Watershed Protection Program continuous flow monitoring at select Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) outfalls within the County’s unincorporated jurisdictional area. Continuous flow monitoring allows accurate estimates of flow rates in the County’s MS4 and provides real-time data to plan targeted field investigations that may lead to successful dry weather flow observations and eliminations.
NV5 developed the MS4 Flow SystemTM to specifically help municipalities identify, assess, and eliminate non-stormwater flows in their storm drains. The web-enabled flow data system relies on ultra-sonic sensors, wireless data loggers and a customizable web portal. The near real-time data is sent to a customizable web portal, where it is organized and displayed to create a hub of data interaction, interpretation, and collaboration among those involved in the project.
As part of an on-going project, NV5 has been deploying this flow data system in more than 30 deployments throughout the County’s MS4 network to collect accurate measurements of real-time flow rates and trends to establish baseline flow conditions, measure the effectiveness of strategies implemented toward reducing or eliminating dry weather flows and estimate pollutant load reductions. Project staff have been provided access to near real-time flow conditions via the web portal to evaluate flow patterns utilizing site-specific graphs and reports of the daily, weekly, and monthly flow patterns. The County’s staff use the data and statistics to determine when significant flows were occurring and to schedule dry weather flow observations for a higher probability of success at finding a meaningful source of the flow pattern.
NV5 also developed and implemented automated text and email alarms to notify County staff when site-specific flows reach specified high flow thresholds.
