1.   Qualifications of key personnel; The teams knowledge and experience with the use of water quality and watershed models in Florida includes but is not limited to the following:

a.       Spatially distributed hydrologic modeling and scaling

b.      Integration of hydrological models and remote sensing data into GIS

c.       Surface and groundwater interactions modeling

d.      Spatial and temporal land cover dynamics and scaling, spatial analysis

e.      Watershed characterization and modeling using Remote sensing and GIS

f.       Evapotranspiration estimation using satellite imagery

g.      SWMM Modeling (including groundwater recharge and event mean concentration water quality modeling) that simulates the full hydrologic cycle with continuous simulation seasonal modeling of long term rainfall (using DB-Hydro Database and BCB gauges) as part of the calibration and verification of the models.

h.      Two-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality analysis of estuary and tidal marsh systems including the design of the field instrumentation program, the analysis of physical and water quality data, and the hydrodynamic modeling.

i.        Water quality analyses, using the RMA4 constituent transport model to create a model for Nitrogen distribution within several coastal salt ponds.

j.      MODFLOW 3D modeling for consumptive use permits simulating groundwater drawdown on lakes and wetlands by pumping from wells and lakes.

k.   Development and application of a groundwater/surface water interaction model, using MOD-HMS, to analyze the operations of the Marsh Driven Operations Plan for pumps and detention basins, under the guidance of no-harm criteria and the Everglades restoration goals.

l.        Numerical modeling in the areas of pollutant transport, surface and groundwater hydrology

m.    Numerical modeling of wave refraction and diffraction, sediment transport, and shoreline change.

n.      Modeling of the groundwater flow produced in the Surface Aquifer System (SAS) and subsequent groundwater quality analysis.

o.    Developed a two-dimensional wave transformation model, using MIKE 21, to study wave transformation, at site of proposed waterfront development project, through barrier islands and across the shallow bathymetry of the sound during severe storms.

p.      Conducted a full harmonic study of the wave environment using the MIKE 21 Boussinesq wave model to characterize resonant harmonics and disturbance coefficients.

q.  Finite element model simulations of storm surge caused by tropical storms and hurricanes using the ADCIRC hydrodynamic software developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

      2.      Familiarity with South Florida water resources issues, constraints, policy influences, and stakeholder interests;

a.   The Team engineers expertise in a broad range of South Florida water resources projects including all scales of modeling: hydrologic, hydraulic, hydrodynamic, flood protection, water quality; environmental services: permitting, environmental assessments, restoration and remediation; design of water control structures: dams, levees, canals, pump stations, culverts, tidegates; and program/project management. The work has been completed for clients in the Federal, State, municipalities, as well as the private sector.

b.     Relevant externally funded projects of our team staff includes multidisciplinary engineering and science for watershed restoration hydrologic and hydraulic modeling applied to: stormwater management master plans, stormwater treatment, water quality assessments, flood control, water control structure design and modifications, water and wastewater infrastructure improvements, environmental assessments, environmental impact studies, environmental remediation, point and non-point source pollution control, and Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) investigations and permitting.

3.      List of Projects:

a.     Kissimmee Basin Modeling and Operations Study: Our researchers have participated in the various modeling tools being developed for this study to screen, formulate and evaluate alternatives to modify structural operations in the Kissimmee Basin in order to achieve a more acceptable balance between flood control, water supply, aquatic plant management, natural resource requirements of the Kissimmee River, the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes and downstream ecosystem impacts (Lake Okeechobee).

b.  Development of RSM model interface with the Everglades Agricultural Hydrology Model (EAHM): An interface modeling tool was written to link the SFWMDs RSM to the EAHM. This linkage code was written in C++ to allow both models to run simultaneously and exchange input and output information. This model interface was developed as a collaborative project between the SFWMD and the USDA.

c.     Ecohydrologic Modeling of Marsh Driven Operations in Everglades National Park: The primary objective of this project was to develop and apply a groundwater surface water interaction model to analyze the operations of the MDOP for S-332B, S-332C, and S-332D pumps and detention basins, under the guidance of no-harm criteria and the Everglades restoration goals. This work was performed for the South Florida Ecosystem Office of the National Park Service.

d.    Updated the Western C-11 Stormwater Master Plan Facilities Update in Western Broward County for Central Broward Water Control District. The project included data collection of hydraulic structures, basin land uses, water quality and seepage from Everglades.  XP-SWMM modeling and calibration to Hurricane Irene (1999) and No Name Storm (2000) , Flood Plain Encroachment Modeling for the 100 year 3 day storm (18.5 inches of Rainfall) to establish 100 year Flood Plain Elevation Criteria for all undeveloped land , and the planning for alternative design improvements (Culvert Replacements at key locations, Pump Stations, and Dredging).  The model included 65 Central Broward W.C.D. Sub-basins, South Broward Drainage District basins and pump station, the City of  Westons basin and its two pump stations, South Florida Water Managements S-9 Pump Station, S-13A control structure, and Levee seepage flow data.

e.     Stormwater Management Master Plan, City of Doral, FL: This project involved the development of a stormwater master planning numerical model in XP-SWMM. Modeling activities centered on defining the hydrologic parameters for model input, development of criteria for simulation of structural operations and analysis, QA/QC of modeling results, production of final reports and presentations to the client and the public.

f.       DERM-01 Stormwater Master Plan C-6 Basin, Miami, Florida. (2003)  The projects scope of work was to utilize an existing basin master plan and try alternative design model runs using XP-SWMM. The purpose for the project was to improve Flood Control and Water Quality within the basin.  Design alternatives included exfiltration trench, dry retention areas, ponds, conveyance upgrades and Best Management Practices criteria changes for local municipalities.

g.    SFWMD West Palm Beach Office, Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) - Data Compilation for the Lake Belt & L31N Pilot Project, West Miami-Dade County, Florida. The two pilot projects are being conducted in order to address uncertainties prior to full-scale implementation of their associated components. Was responsible to contact private and public agencies and obtain applicable modeling data, QA/QC the data for applicability. Agencies that data was retrieved and reviewed: US Corps of Engineers, SFWMD, DERM, WASD, USGS, Everglades National Park, EPA, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Geological Survey, NOAA, UM, FIU and FAU.

h.     Central Broward Water Control District, District Engineer Contract, Broward County, Florida. (1) Review of drainage design and related modeling for construction projects within the district. Plats, Paving-Grading-& Drainage Plans, and Lake-Canal-Drainage As-Builts were reviewed and recommended to the District Board for Approval. Permittees included FDOT District IV, FDOT Turnpike District, Broward County Engineering, Town of Davie, Town of Southwest Ranches, Cooper City, City of Hollywood, City of Sunrise, Broward County School Board, Geopak-BHA, Lennar Homes, GL Homes, Centex Homes, Rick Case Honda, Publix, St. Marks Church. (2) Modeling and design of several capital improvement projects including several culvert upgrades, CFD (FLOW-3D) model of a confluence of flow from two stormwater pump stations pumping into the C-11 Canal directly across from each other. Model and review of USACE spillway in C-11 canals to establish the head impacts on downstream sub-basins.

i.       Broward County Regional Central Park Modflow Groundwater Model:  Reasonable assurance was provided by conducting groundwater modeling. Scope included: Conducted a site vicinity environmental characterization using Federal, State, and local government database searches to identify potential and existing contaminated sites; Identified existing legal users and existing legal domestic users. Conducted supplemental irrigation volume calculations; Constructed MODFLOW groundwater models of the proposed groundwater withdrawal and demonstrated drawdown with respect to contaminated sites, existing legal users, existing legal domestic users, surface water bodies, and sensitive areas. The modeling impact assessments were conducted for the proposed withdrawal alone and the proposed withdrawal with the accumulative drawdown of all existing legal users and pending applications. Proposed locations of recharge wells and surface water pumps, irrigation schedules based on need, wells and surface water withdrawals were simulated.

j.      PG&E Indiantown Cogeneration Plant: Well Hydraulics, Water Quality and Groundwater Modeling:   Contracted by PG&E to answer questions from FDEP on the impact of the cone of depression on a nearby user, particularly a superfund site (Ameristeel Site) north of the plant.  We modeled the geochemistry and the geology to determine the groundwater flow zones.  Created contour maps of the groundwater flow and calculated the amount of drawdown on the Surface Aquifer System (SAS) from pumping the Floridian Aquifer. We then modeled the groundwater flow produced in the Surface Aquifer System (SAS). Groundwater water quality conditions were then evaluated based on modeling output.

k.   Model Evaluation Study for Regional Scale Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR): This project involved the development of a procedure to evaluate numerical models for variably density groundwater flow with applicability to simulate ASR systems. In this project, modeling activities centered on defining the criteria for model selection, evaluation of existing numerical models, development of a simulation tool with SEAWAT, production of final reports and presentations to the client and the public.

l.      Stormwater Management Master Plan for Immokalee, FL: This project involved the development of a stormwater master planning numerical model in XP-SWMM. In this project, modeling activities centered on defining the hydrologic parameters for model input, development of criteria for simulation of structural operations and analysis/QA/QC of modeling results, production of final reports and presentations to the client and the public.

m.    Re-engineering FLOW program for the SFWMD: The FLOW program is a FORTRAN-based hydraulic model used by the SFWMD for calculating flow from culverts, spillways, weirs, and pump stations. The re-engineering work included reviewing the algorithms and the source code, the data transmission between FLOW and the databases DBHYDRO and DCVP, and developing and testing a new program (named NFLOW) to replace the existing FLOW.

n.      Method assessment for determination of appropriate sediment TMDL endpoints in Oklahoma: This project involved the development of a specific protocol for defining sediment Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). The project involved the statistical analysis of the habitat difference among 54 reference and impacted streams in the State of Oklahoma, adapting the SWAT model (Soil and Water Assessment Tools) to calculate flow and sediment loading from four Oklahoma watersheds, and the development of a model, based on Yangs Unit Stream Power Formula, to calculate sediment transport in river channels.

o.     Surface energy flux from agricultural fields using remote sensing: This study analyzed Landsat imagery of wheat and soybean fields in Northwestern Minnesota from 1997-2002 to study the latent heat flux from the two field employing the SEBAL model. The study also correlates yield to the modeled latent heat flux.

p.     Energy-carbon flux linkage: Use of ANN and remote sensing in estimating carbon and energy fluxes: This study used ANN technique to couple the carbon and energy fluxes for the grassland, forest and agricultural ecosystems. A separate study also used remote sensing-based  energy fluxes and land surface parameters (net radiation (Rn), soil heat flux (G), sensible heat (H), latent heat (LE), emissivity (e), albedo (a), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and surface temperature (Tsur) to compare two grazing fields of different grazing density in Mandan, North Dakota.

q.    Caribbean Coastal Scenarios: This project aimed at gathering and developing ecohydroclimatological database for coastal watershed of Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Cuba and Puerto Rico, modeling delivery of water, sediment and nutrients to coastal waters and development of practical scenarios of land-cover and climate change and their impact on the coastal biodiversity and marine biota.

r.       Transboundary Water for Biodiversity in the Mara River Basin, Kenya and Tanzania: Supported by USAID, the two year project will work closely with local collaborators in Kenya and Tanzania to understand the role of transboundary river (Mara River) in maintaining the biodiversity in the lower basins of Mara. This will involve hydrological modeling to estimate the spatiotemporal variability of the flow, the effect of water abstractions on the ecological functions of the Game Reserves and National Parks.

s.      Kissimmee River ecohydrological restoration evaluation using MODIS Data: This study uses MODIS-based fractional vegetation cover latent heat flux to evaluate the temporal and spatial changes as a result of the restoration.

t.      Impervious surface area (ISA) dynamics of south Florida: Spatiotemporal dynamics of ISA mapped using Landsat images and changes are used to explain the hydrologic and flood frequency changes of the area.

u.     Eutrophication of Florida Bay: using ANN, level of algal blooms (Chlorophyll a) was predicted from other environmental and water quality data. Publication highlighting this finding is accepted in Journal of Coastal Research.

v.    An Evaluation Modeling Approach of Contaminants of Concern under the Source Water Protection Program for the State of Florida: This study addressed, at least, two fundamental aspects of the source water protection program priorities in the State of Florida: a) identifying potential surface and groundwater contaminants from industries, crops and other potential groundwater polluting sources; and b) developing a scientifically based model, with a ranking scheme, that uses toxicity, mobility, and relative amounts of specific contaminants to identify and rank the top three contaminants of concern by industry and crop. The ultimate purpose of this project was to support programs that comply with federal and state laws, which call for the protection of groundwater supplies in the State of Florida.

w.    A Case Study of Modeling and Evaluation of a USA Southeastern Watershed: This study is tests the ability of modeling to simulate the hydrologic and hydraulic behavior of a watershed as a holistic approach to manage non-point source (NPS) runoff and pollution. The Simulator for Water Resources in Rural Areas Water Quality (SWRRBWQ), a watershed management computer code, was implemented and evaluated. Its capacity to simulate water yield and other variables for two of the Little River experimental watersheds in Georgia was evaluated. The watersheds (i.e., watershed B and its subwatershed K) are part of the Upper Little River System in the Gulf-Atlantic Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States. The prime objective was to simulate monthly and annual water yield. Water yield was the key indicator to evaluate the predicted, individual and comparative, hydrologic behavior of the two watersheds and to define prediction effectiveness.

x.      Development and Evaluation of a Geographic Information System Based Method to Estimate Flooding Susceptibility in an Area of Broward County, Florida: This investigation developed a GIS-based multi-class index overlay model to determine areas susceptible to inland flooding during extreme precipitation events in south Broward County, Florida. The investigation used airborne laser terrain mapper elevation data and depths estimate from the US Soil Conservation rational formula. The method shoed some potential as a predictive tool for flooding susceptibility but needs further optimization.

y.     Development of a Mathematical and Computer Model to Assess Water Quality Impacts of Hazardous Compounds from Minor Gasoline Spills in the Inter-tidal Zone of the Miami River, Florida: The objective of this investigation was to develop a model to predict transport and fate of gasoline components of environmental concern in the Miami River by mathematically simulating the movement of dissolved benzene, toluene, xylene (BTX), and methyl-tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) occurring from minor gasoline spills in the inter-tidal zone of the river. Computer codes were based on mathematical algorithms that acknowledge the role of advective and dispersive physical phenomena along the river and prevailing phase transformations of BTX and MTBE. Phase transformations included volatilization and settling. The model uses a finite-difference scheme of steady-state conditions, with a set of numerical equations that was solved by Gauss-Seidel iteration. A numerical validation process was conducted by comparing results with analytical and numerical reference solutions. Sensitivity analysis and other user-friendly software were built-in with the model code embedded. This computer model can be used for the rapid assessment and management of the effects of minor gasoline spills on inter-tidal riverine water quality.

z.       A Study on the Hydraulic Regimes of the Miami River, Miami-Dade County, Florida: This investigation fills up a gap in the understanding of the hydraulics of the Miami, River in Miami-Dade County, Florida. First a historical overview is provided with emphasis on the changes to the natural system. Available data was qualified to estimate the range of flow regimes and associated indicators, including Froude Numbers and characteristic regimes. A critical analysis was included to estimate the pros and cons of available data as a basis to establish volumetric balances in support of contaminant transport analysis.

aa. Applicability of the Stream Water Quality Model QUAL2E to Slow Velocity Subtropical Canals in Florida: This investigation assessed the applicability of the stream model QUAL2E in modeling the Tampa Bypass Canal and the Caloosahatchee River in Florida, both being slow velocity subtropical canals. Verification, calibration and validation were conducted. Hydraulic parameters used predictions from the hydraulic routines of model HEC-2. Simulations were conducted to evaluate the impact of nutrient laden water from the Everglades Agricultural Area.

bb. Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Delineated Wellhead Protection Area in Dade County, Florida: the Northwest Wellfield: This effort addressed the comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of the Wellhead protection Program (WHPP) in the North Wellfield of Dade County, Florida. Conclusions and recommendations were critically offered regarding the impact of land uses and zoning criteria. WHPA and WHEM were models included in the comparison.

cc. Intermediate-scale Field Studies and Modeling of Contaminant Fate Processes in the Unsaturated Zone: This investigation supported the field testing validation of unsaturated flow and transport modeling support of the modeling efforts by the US Department of Energy to develop state-of-the-art computer codes within the low level and high level radioactive waste management agendas. Important contribution is the development of controlled data bases that can be used for future assessment of flow and transport models.

dd. Investigation on  the effect of hydrodynamic dispersion parameters on process optimization of S-109 partial waste retrieval using support from DOE. Pilot scale experimental studies are used to determine transport parameters of cesium. 3D numerical models are used to simulate the behavior of the contaminants

ee.  Research on the transport behavior of UXO chemicals in tropical soils, which focuses on physicochemical characteristics of chemicals. Inverse optimization methods are used to estimate the dispersion, adsorption, and biotransformation parameters and subsequently applied into 3D models to predict the fate of nitroaromatic compounds in the environment.