1. City of Ithaca Local Flood Hazard Analysis
Cayuga Lake Watershed Network
Update, November 2018
Liz Moran, EcoLogic LLC

2. Acknowledgements FUNDING
This project is funded through a Title 11 Environmental Protection Fund grant from the New York State Department of State to the City of Ithaca.
PROJECT MANAGER
Michael Thorne, Superintendent of Public Works
PROJECT CONSULTANTS
US Geological Survey, Barton & Loguidice, NYS Water Resources Institute, EcoLogic, T.G. Miller, and Watts Engineering & Architecture

4. Three Questions
How do rainfall and lake level affect the risk of flooding in the City?
Where is the flood risk greatest?
What can be done to mitigate the risk?
Geography is destiny

5. Tools Design Storm Modeling and Inundation Maps (USGS)
Project impacts of streamflow events (e.g., 2-, 10-, and 500-year events) under three Cayuga Lake level conditions

6. Tools Continuous Simulation Modeling (NYSWRI)
Use long-term stream gauge records to calibrate a model relating precipitation to discharge and water surface elevation
1976, Journal of the American Statistical Association

7. Constructing a Useful Model
Capture local knowledge (Municipal Consultations)
How do the model projections match your experience?
Critical infrastructure?

8. Solutions, Please! Watershed approach essential--become a sponge--
Physical and institutional measures
City: levees, channel maintenance, green infrastructure, stormwater fees
Upstream municipalities: retention, streambank stabilization

9. What’s Next Finalize modeling and use to test scenarios
Identify critical areas
Recommended actions
Presentations to Board of Public Works, Common Council, Water Resources Council, TCOG and others