DFI ACTIVITIES Levee and Coastal Rehabilitation Workshop a Success The DFI Seepage Control Working Group (SCWG) held its workshop on Levee and Coastal Rehabilitation in Miami, Fla., on February 12-14, 2014. This event expanded the group’s original focus on dams to include seepage control and ground improvement for levee and coastal restoration. Federal and regional agency speakers presented on the first day, and practitioners presented seepage cutoff and founda t ion s t r eng thening methodologies and related contractual, design, and research topics on the second day. David Paul, lead civil engineer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Eric Halpin, USACE, (photos by Herb Engler) (USACE) Risk Management Center (RMC), workshop and technical program chair, and vice chair, Gianfranco Di Cicco, DFI Trustee, GDConsulting LLC, developed an outstanding slate of speakers. Their efforts were supported by Mary Ellen Bruce, DFI technical activities manager and Elena Sossenkina, HDR’s national technical advisor on geotechnical risk for dams and levees and vice chair of U.S. Society on Dams (USSD). The technical program was packed with keynote, agency and practitioner presentations and revealed several topics of interest to be addressed by the SCWG in future workshops. The SCWG serves the dam and levee community by connecting owners/agencies with DFI contractors, consultants, researchers/academics, and manufacturers/suppliers to improve communication, align expectations, and define common goals among all parties. This collaboration will generate ultimate benefits to the public and to the entire industry while improving safety, quality and lowering construction risk and project cost. Eric Halpin, special assistant to the USACE Commander on Dam and Levee Safety, discussed the USACE’s levee safety program, the overall importance of the levee infrastructure in the U.S. and the challenge of assessing and managing its safety. The levee system supports the movement of goods along inland waterways that supply food exports all over the world. Halpin challenged DFI members to be advocates for the foundation industry in the following key areas: • Advocate – inform, champion and be a voice in the discussion • Educate – publish, hold conferences and workshops, provide online resources, help agencies educate on risk by understanding and speaking risk language • Collaborate – both internally within DFI and externally with key partners and international organizations • Cultivate – nurture the talent pool of young professionals to secure the future of the foundation industry Professor Gerald Galloway’s keynote address complemented Halpin’s lecture. Galloway outlined a process of risk management, high- lighting the importance of communicating risk to all involved parties. He echoed Halpin’s challenge to DFI members to be involved technically, educationally, ethically, and to enter into decision- making discussions to affect change in the levee safety arena. Bill Empson, senior levee safety program risk manager, USACE RMC and chair of the USSD’s Levee Committee, provided more details on the program. He outlined significant changes in USACE’s focus on organizational structure, design guidance, risk-based assessment, budgets, climate change, land use, and legislations. He also discussed the development of an updated Engineering Regulation (ER) that is scheduled to be completed in 2015. Bruce Muller, senior advisor for Design Estimates and Construction for Bureau of Reclamation, discussed the risk-based dam safety program that manages nearly 50,000 miles of canals in the U.S. Steve Durgin of National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) outlined their role in dam safety and evolving relevant geospatial tools. O t h e r a g e n c y presentations show- cased the work ongoing around the U.S. includ- ing projects undertaken by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency (SAFCA), efforts to respond to Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey, and the rebuild efforts in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. Representatives from the National Association of Flood and Richard Pinner (USACE New Orleans), Cary Talbot (USACE ERDC), John Rice (Utah State), James Mason (S&ME, Inc.) Stormwater Management Agencies (NAFSMA), Coast Builders Coali- tion, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2)/FHWA also presented. DFI members presented the state of practice of seepage barrier and foundation improvement technologies including: deep mixing, continuous trenching, jet grouting and ground improvement. Innovative case histories highlighted the technical sophistication and expertise within the foundation industry. The challenges and benefits of standardizing data management systems were discussed and warrant further discussion. Contracts and procurement issues prompted the usual active interest and could be the topic of the next workshop discussion. Please contact Mary Ellen Bruce at [email protected] for more information, to become involved in the DFI SCWG, and to submit suggestions for workshop/discussion topics. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • MAY/JUN 2014 • 31
