Is your stormwater system prepared to handle a year’s worth of rainfall in less than a week? That was the test for the City of Golden in 2013. Thanks to a proactive stormwater maintenance routine and reliable GIS data, the City incurred minimal damage. And since they were able to provide detailed reports on recovery efforts and costs, they received FEMA reimbursement within months.​

1. PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER
SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODING
DAN HARTMAN
Public Works Director, City of Golden, CO
Rain Check:
KIM SOULLIERE
GIS Coordinator, City of Golden, CO

2. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Be Prepared
The time to clean your
stormwater system…
…is not when it starts
raining.

3. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
September 2013
Colorado’s Front Range
received a year’s worth of
precipitation in one week.

4. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
City of Golden,
Colorado
• 10 miles west of Denver
• 9.7 square miles in size
• Approx. 18,000 people
• 1% growth ordinance
• School of Mines + Coors
Brewery
Public Works
and GIS
Tucker Gulch
Clear Creek
Kayak Park
Coors Brewery

5. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG

6. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
2013 Flood
1965 Flood
1896 Flood

7. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Golden’s
Flooding History
Coors home and Brewery
in 1896.

8. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG

9. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
September
2013 Flooding

10. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG

11. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG

12. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
How to Be
Ready:
Inspect and clean!

13. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG

14. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
The channel
under the bridge
was inspected
August 22

15. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
2013 Floods
Tucker Gulch at 7th Place
Aug. 22, 2013 Sept. 17, 2013

16. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG

17. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG

18. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
During the
Flood
Inspection and
maintenance

19. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
The Road to Managing the Stormwater
System with GIS and Cartegraph OMS
In 1988 Golden used hand drawn maps that had been
compiled over 40 years:
• No stormwater assets on the maps
• The City was in the mode of respond/react
• No ongoing reinvestment program

20. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Old Fashioned Mapping
Set targets and get in the plane.
Here’s what we learned in 1989:
Old Maps Actual Now
Pipe/channel 0 miles 26 miles 101 miles
Inlets 78 378 2,871
Manholes 0 0 1,009

21. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Created a Drainage Utility
• Dedicated source of funding which has allowed us to map,
maintain and replace
• Use impervious area to set fees

22. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
What is Mapped Today…
Maintained by
Golden
Maintained by
Other
Pipes 27 miles 41 miles
Channels 12 miles 21 miles
Manholes 498 511
Inlets 971 1,900
Outfalls 427 812
Storm Basins 64 220
Storm Chases 102 112
Sediment Traps 27 32

23. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
In GIS and OMS
Synchronized
• Layers are published from an
ArcSDE version using ArcGIS Server
• Services are synchronized in OMS
• Live updates of mapping and data

24. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Collecting the Spatial Data Today
Using a high accuracy Trimble GeoXH. Recently added the Trimble R1 paired to an
iPad using the GNSS Status App.
Trimble GeoXH Trimble R1 with iPad
GNSS Status App on iPad

25. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
How about the
attribute data? In
the past …
• Paper forms
• 1,000s of pages to sort and take
in the field
• Data entry staff
• Errors interpreting handwriting

26. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Today:
• iPad data collection,
inspections, and tracking
maintenance from the field
• Live updates to GIS and
Cartegraph OMS databases

27. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Productivity Increases
Storm inlet inspections tracked in Cartegraph per year
• 2009—596
• 2010—604
• 2014—1,203
• 2015—3,807*
• 2016—7,711**
* First full year of inspections with iPads and real-time integration of GIS and Cartegraph OMS in the field
** Many inspections are post storm drive-by inspections now being documented in OMS

28. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Live Updates for
Real-Time
Progress
Monitoring

29. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Tracking
Maintenance
with Filters
• Storm inlets not yet
inspected in 2017
(red dots)
• In the Tucker Gulch
drainage (blue dots)
• All inlets

30. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG

31. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
The Same Filters on
the iPad App
• The same filtered asset
layers are on the iPad
• When inspections are
completed the red
points change color
• Inspection tasks are
created on-the-fly
• Photos can be added to
inspections

32. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Attach Photos to Tasks to
Tell the Story
1 2 3

33. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
After Storm Events:
Component/Container Model to group assets that need inspection after storms. Generate tasks
more efficiently and track them in the dashboard.
Post Storm Inspections

34. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Work Order
Dashboards
Allowed for much faster
reimbursement from
FEMA

35. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
And Reports
This is a detailed report
for a task

36. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Or Use a
Custom Field
on Tasks…
FEMA <date> can be a
dropdown choice
Or a checkbox

37. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
To Create a
Summary
Report
• Special Event Name
summary example
• Report filters ALL tasks in
any division that have
“Special Event Name”
filled out

38. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Publish GIS Services with Pop-Ups
Access to data in GIS that is not in OMS, like parcels

39. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Crowdsourced Notifications with YourGov
Mobile App Website
Geolocated on Our Map

40. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Moving Forward
• Golden Public Works owns a DJI Phantom 4, obtained a Certificate of Authorization (COA), and a staff member went
through training. Future use for storm damage assessment, storm event monitoring, channel maintenance?
• More real-time data feeds?
• Private storm asset maintenance takeover?
• YourGov responses—ideas for increasing participation from the public?

41. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Photo from
the UAV

42. RAIN CHECK: PREPARING YOUR STORMWATER SYSTEM FOR HISTORIC FLOODI NG
Screenshot Placeholder
Delete this shape and replace with your screenshot, photo, or graphic.
Live Demo

43. THANK YOU!
ANY QUESTIONS?
KIM SOULLIERE
GIS Coordinator, City of Golden, CO
ksoulliere@cityofgolden.net
DAN HARTMAN
Public Works Director, City of Golden, CO
dhartman@cityofgolden.net
ROB GIBSON
Stormwater Supervisor, City of Golden, CO
rgibson@cityofgolden.net
SHAUNA PAULSON
Cartegraph Coordinator, City of Golden, CO
spaulson@cityofgolden.net

44. Cartegraph empowers cities and counties to
become high-performance governments.
UNCOVER MORE ABOUT HIGH PERFORMANCE AT CARTEGRAPH.COM