User Story
By Shawnetta Grandberry, Senior Program Manager, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Compliance Construction Management and Inspection
Carlsbad is a unique coastal community located in north San Diego County. Incorporated in 1952, the "Village by the Sea" community has grown to over 115,000 residents and encompasses 39 square miles. The Carlsbad watershed includes seven miles of coastline, three lagoons, and four creeks situated at the terminus of a hydrologic area that receives runoff from five nearby cities. When it comes to water quality protection, Carlsbad has earned a reputation for being one of the most environmentally sustainable cities in San Diego County.
However, being environmentally sustainable does not mean that Carlsbad is immune to the forces of urban growth. Urbanization contributes to increased levels of pollutants in our nation's water bodies. This is largely a result of dense residential and commercial development dominated by impervious surfaces. A typical city block generates five times more polluted runoff than a woodland area of the same size, increasing the risk of water quality degradation.
In 2013, Carlsbad was issued a municipal stormwater permit by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board. The permit requires the city to protect water quality through the installation of treatment control best management practices (TCBMPs). TCBMPs are structures that prevent pollutants from entering our waterways. The city is responsible for ensuring that all privately owned TCBMPs are not only installed and inspected but also maintained according to long-term maintenance agreements.
As part of this effort, the city is responsible for creating and maintaining an inventory of all TCBMPs, inspecting structures, verifying maintenance, and pursuing enforcement actions when necessary. Results of these efforts are reported to the Regional Water Quality Control Board annually; failure to comply with the municipal permit can result in enforcement actions and/or significant fines against the city. Effective asset management became unsustainable because of ever-increasing additions to the TCBMP inventory, conflicting information from owners and responsible parties, and the outdated procedures used to maintain the program.
A common challenge among municipal agencies is how to implement comprehensive data-driven programs that meet regulatory requirements while maintaining sustainable levels of efficiency, resources, and public engagement. Municipal stormwater professionals understand the need to shift from old paradigms about asset management and begin to develop streamlined models that integrate software applications into compliance results. Unfortunately, many of the stormwater management applications available on the open market only focus on one or two regulatory aspects such as inspections and mapping, and have not kept up with the challenges faced by regulatory agencies to develop more comprehensive data management solutions.
"Another common problem faced by municipal stormwater professionals is that, typically, they are not software specialists or data analysts," said Nate Johnson, business systems specialist for the City of Carlsbad. "While many have environmental backgrounds, most are not equipped to manage or synthesize large datasets into meaningful, reliable, or even actionable information."
With the fervent demand to go paperless/digital, the quality and quantity of data needed to manage municipal programs have increased exponentially. Local governments need to develop streamlined software models that create an interactive experience for the public and foster greater transparency in operations.
Under the city's old data management system, information was siloed into different parts of the organization and kept by a variety of staff members with no real ability to integrate or view data as a cohesive program. "Program management was cumbersome, costly, time-consuming, and paper driven—requiring multiple workflows; the use of six different software systems; and the review of engineering plans, drawings, and documentation from hundreds of projects, owners, and operators," Johnson added. In 2013, there were 714 structures on the city's TCBMP inventory. Currently the city provides oversight for 1,625 privately owned TCBMP assets divided among 300 homeowners, homeowner associations, and maintenance companies—a 127 percent increase in less than 10 years.
ACTION System Technical Architecture—The existing GIS deployment is packaged into a single user end point by configuring web applications, developing new data scripts, and integrating back-end data with reporting and analysis systems
In collaboration with several internal departments, the city has developed the Automation, Compliance, Tracking, Inspection and Owner Notification (ACTION) System, an innovative comprehensive asset management platform that does the following:
Monique Larragotia, geographic information system (GIS) administrator for the City of Carlsbad, said, "The most innovative feature of the ACTION System is the use of GIS technology to provide an interactive experience for the TCBMP community."
The ACTION System creates a big-picture perspective of watershed compliance, using a rich set of cross-site analytics that enables the city to prioritize sites, schedule inspections, interact with the community, and review maintenance records throughout the city's network of privately owned TCBMPs.
The system expands the existing GIS deployment by configuring web applications, developing new data scripts, and integrating back-end data with reporting and analysis systems—packaged into a single user end point. This combination resulted in a completely digital and cohesive asset management platform, with technical architecture designed solely by leveraging internal resources.
"Ultimately, GIS enables the ACTION System to provide a simple way to measure the effectiveness and impact of TCBMP asset management while virtualizing the program as an integrated network," said Larragotia.
Inspectors Using the ArcGIS Field Maps App—ArcGIS Field Maps is used for field data collection and inspections. In addition to capturing photos of TCBMP conditions and locations, Field Maps provides structure information, directions, and easy-to-use forms
The creation and deployment of the ACTION System platform was an innovative and complex process which required the following:
Data processing is aided by scheduled Python scripts and dynamic filtering.
"The most complex and innovative part of the process was the development of the custom schema needed to ensure the data model could accommodate the GIS data, TCBMP records, and external data input without exposing or jeopardizing the integrity of existing data," explained Larragotia.
The TCBMP asset management schema expanded the existing GIS deployment. GIS datasets were filtered to identify and extract private TCBMP assets. These GIS features became the basis for the custom schema where GIS features were flattened and joined to existing historical TCBMP records in Excel. Additional tables were created to manage annual field inspection data for each structure as well as to accept user input tables. These additional tables were linked back to the TCBMP assets through a series of database relationships.
The originality of the ACTION System approach was in the creation of the comprehensive digital platform, which allows the TCBMP community to update and access data previously available only to the program manager. The city improved communications with the TCBMP community, reduced the need for information requests, provided a more professional platform for customer service, and created an online presence to improve TCBMP outreach and education efforts.
ACTION System Inspection and Verification Tracking Dashboard—The dashboard provides the city with an overall view of program compliance while increasing accountability, accuracy, efficiency, and effectiveness in managing TCBMPs.
The ACTION System includes editing applications specifically developed for the end users and the program manager. "These tailored applications are made up of several key components that set [the system] apart in originality and approach from other municipal asset management programs," said Johnson, who designed the technical architecture for the ACTION System.
GeoAI Hot Spot Analysis Performed within ArcGIS Pro—Hot spot analysis helps the city focus outreach to and engagement with TCBMP owners/operators who may need additional inspections, information, or escalated enforcement.
The ACTION System benefits from the use of what the city calls "light GeoAI" which is an innovative mechanism for data-driven decision-making, faster inspections, and engagement with the TCBMP community. GeoAI applies spatial and deep learning techniques to help solve complex problems and derive deeper insights from data analysis. The use of light GeoAI improves efficiency in inspection scheduling and field time management.
Using GeoAI proximity filtering tools for projects that have high-priority structures is essential for inspection scheduling. The system also uses an analysis matrix to automatically calculate the condition of structures based on compliance variables. This improves condition scoring and reduces the time it takes an employee in the field to perform the inspection.
Optimized clustering utilizes machine learning to determine natural clusters in the ACTION System data. These classifications are considered unsupervised and do not require preclassified features to train the clustering of datasets. Optimized clustering analysis is used by the city to group and classify hot spots or areas of potential concern. This hot spot analysis helps the city focus outreach to and engagement with TCBMP owners/operators who may need additional inspections, information, or escalated enforcement to comply with the requirements.
The ACTION System provides a comprehensive way to measure the effectiveness of the TCBMP program while virtualizing it as an integrated network. The city has explored the possibility of applying one or more existing metrics, without adhering to a particular methodology to measure operational effectiveness. Metrics are regularly assessed and monitored to determine how well the ACTION System is progressing in achieving its objectives. When evaluating existing and proposed policies, other key metrics could arise that help meet objectives and inform system improvements.
Key performance indicators are incorporated into metrics such as cost, responsiveness, community satisfaction, time management, and elimination of obsolete processes. In addition to meeting the objectives of the TCBMP program, the ACTION System produced the following measurable results:
The long-term benefit of the ACTION System lies in its operational efficiencies; this has had an overall positive impact on not only the TCBMP community but also Carlsbad as a whole. Feedback has been encouraging and is primarily focused on system innovations, real-time experiences, access to interactive maps, and improved responsiveness. The following is actual feedback from the TCBMP community:
"The new system is really cool!"
"I actually like the way the new system works, very easy to do and quick."
"I look forward to reviewing the parcel map to identify the structures on my lot, and also for the ability to upload the verification documents."
"The software platform is user friendly and quite easy to correlate locations with [TCBMP] Identification #s. It is a huge improvement to the paper forms we have used in the past. Well done!"
"Way to take advantage of the platform—super creative approach!" "Congrats on such a great program! We use GIS and Survey123 but didn't realize it was capable of so much more. Will be using this as an example moving forward!"
"TCBMPs are valuable to the community because they help engage public awareness of emerging water quality issues and inspire public partnerships for pollution prevention," Johnson concluded.
Systematic innovation in the way the city and the TCBMP community convey compliance information using the ACTION System has created a measurable shift in thinking, norms, processes, and relationships. When project managers think of resources, they often think of money, materials, or assets that can be invested in acquiring technology, hiring consultants, or purchasing new equipment and services. When we shift our thinking to interpret environmental management as a resource and consider compliance as a catalyst for change, municipal agencies can implement policies that leverage technology, energize collaboration, and foster sustainability.
Municipal governments can no longer just provide public services; they should also be in the business of offering sound solutions, progressive policies, and professional expertise that—when combined—create a synergistic effect that makes sustainable environmental management realistic and attainable.
"Taking Carlsbad's municipal stormwater compliance program to the next level by integrating existing software to create the new ACTION System, while at the same time leveraging the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the internal project management team, has been a transformative process for both the city and the TCBMP community we serve."
ArcGIS enables the efficient collection, management, and analysis of data and information critical to an effective stormwater program.