EBC Dam Management Program
Hydrology and Hydraulics in a Changing Climate
Thursday, March 27, 2014
GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc.
249 Vanderbilt Avenue
Norwood, MA 02062
Climate change is more than higher temperatures and rising sea levels. It is a wholesale
alteration of the hydrologic cycle through which water circulates within the environment. The
modern practices of hydrology, hydraulic engineering, and water resources management are
based in large part on historical data collected over many decades. Climate change may result
in past trends being no longer indicative of future results. Practitioners and professionals in
many fields will increasingly need to be able to call upon a variety of techniques to adjust their
designs and operational strategies to accommodate the new reality of changing trends in
rainfall, snowfall, runoff, and storm intensity.
DRAFT AGENDA
7:30 a.m.
Registration and Continental Networking Breakfast
8:00 a.m.
Welcome
 Daniel K. Moon, President & Executive Director, EBC
 David Gold, Special Counsel, Wilmer Hale
8:15 a.m.
Introduction
 Chad Cox, Program Chair and Moderator
Principal, GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc.
8:25 a.m.
Accounting for Climate Change in Civil Design
 Eric Nelson, Sr. Project Manager, The Bioengineering Group, Inc.
8:50 a.m.
Examining Recent Rainfall Trends in New England and Its Impact on Flood
Frequency
 David R. Vallee, Hydrologist-in-Charge
 Ed Capone - Service Coordination Hydrologist, NOAA
9:45 a.m.
Networking Break
10:15 a.m.
Finding balanced water management solutions for the Connecticut River
under a changing climate
 Katie Kennedy, Applied River Scientist, The Nature Conservancy,
Connecticut River Program
10:55 a.m.
Flood Hazard Evaluation and Resiliency in the Ear of Extreme Weather and
Climate Change
 Peter H. Baril, P.E., Hydrologist / Principal, GZA GeoEnvironmental,
Inc.
11:30 a.m.
Panel:
12:00 p.m.
Adjourn
Program Chair
Chad W. Cox P.E.
Principal
GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc.
249 Vanderbilt Ave
Norwood, MA 02062
781-278-5787
Cell - 781-760-6430
chad.cox@gza.com
SPEAKERS
Edward Capone - Service Coordination Hydrologist
NOAA/NWS/Northeast River Forecast Center
445 Myles Standish Blvd., Taunton MA 02780
508-824-5116 Edward.Capone@noaa.gov
Peter H. Baril, P.E., Principal/Hydrologic Engineer
GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc.
249 Vanderbilt Avenue, Norwood, MA 02062
(781) 278-3818 Cell: (781) 760-6419 peter.baril@gza.com
Peter Baril is a senior environmental engineer and Principal with GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc.,
working out of the Norwood, Massachusetts office. He has over 30 years of consulting
experience in water resources engineering. His primary focus is in surface water hydrology and
open channel hydraulics in support of GZA’s dam and water resources engineering
practice. He is Principal-in-Charge for a number of dam safety improvement projects for water
supply clients including The Metropolitan District, First Taxing District Water Department
(Norwalk), and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. He earned a Bachelor of
Science degree from Fairfield University and a M.S. in Hydrology while attending the University
of New Hampshire. Mr. Baril is a Registered Professional Engineer licensed in
Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Kathryn D. Mickett Kennedy, Applied River Scientist
The Nature Conservancy - Connecticut River Program
136 West Street, Suite 5, Northampton MA 01060
(413) 586 2349 Cell: (413) 588 1959 kkennedy@tnc.org
Katie Kennedy is an Applied River Scientist for The Nature Conservancy’s Connecticut River
Program, where she is working collaboratively to find ways to manage flows in the Connecticut
River that will benefit both people and the environment. Prior to working for the Conservancy,
Katie was a research associate at the Alabama Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit,
where she worked to understand the ecological response of aquatic communities to altered
flows and to create a framework for reaching consensus concerning flow management prior to
hydropower relicensing. Katie has a M.S. degree in fisheries from Auburn University. She is
presently finishing a doctoral degree, also from Auburn University; her dissertation is focused on
the use of aquatic biological monitoring data for management decision making in multiple-use
systems.
Eric Nelson, LSP, PG, Senior Project Manager/Coastal Geologist
Bioengineering Group, Inc.
18 Commercial Street, Salem, MA 01970
(978) 224-3139 enelson@bioengineering.com
Eric Nelson, LSP, PG recently joined Bioengineering Group as a Senior Project Manager. He
has more than 30 years of varied environmental consulting experience. He has successfully
served in a variety of project/program management and operations management roles for
respected engineering consultants. He has a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College in
Geology, a Masters from University of New Hampshire in Earth Science/Marine Geology, and
an MBA from Northeastern University. Bioengineering Group is a Woman Owned Business.
Wendi Goldsmith is founder and CEO of the Salem, MA-based firm whose mission statement is
"Building Sustainable Communities on an Ecological Foundation." Bioengineering Group has
had a leadership role in the Greater New Orleans Hurricane Storm Damage Risk Reduction
System planning, engineering, and construction management program which helped influence,
deliver, and shape institutional change for $14 Billion in flood infrastructure while also affecting
future programs and procedures.
David R. Vallee, Hydrologist-in-Charge
NOAA/NWS/Northeast River Forecast Center
445 Myles Standish Blvd., Taunton MA 02780
508-824-5116 ex. 232 david.vallee@noaa.gov
David Vallee is the Hydrologist-in-Charge of the National Weather Service’s Northeast River
Forecast Center. The center provides detailed water resource and life-saving flood forecasting
services to National Weather Service Forecast Offices and the hundreds of federal, state and
local water resource entities throughout the Northeast and New York.
David has worked for the National Weather Service for 25 years, serving in a variety of positions
including Senior Service Hydrologist at the Taunton Weather Forecast Office from 1993-2000
and as Science and Operations Officer from 2001-2006. David has extensive experience
leading hydrometeorological forecast and warning operations and directing weather research
and training programs. David’s research activities span a variety of topics including flooding,
severe weather forecasting and orographically enhanced heavy rainfall in southern New
England. David has served as the NWS lead investigator with the State University of New
York, at Albany, on a multi-year project addressing Land Falling Tropical Cyclones in the
Northeastern United States. This has improved the forecasting of heavy precipitation
associated with these land falling tropical cyclones as well as developing a better understanding
the mechanisms which lead to the recurvature and rapid acceleration of tropical cyclones as
they approach the Northeast. David has been leading an effort at the Northeast River Forecast
Center to examine changes in precipitation and temperature patterns across New England and
its impact on flood behavior. Most recently, David has been leading the NOAA National Service
Assessment on the devastating floods of September 9-16, 2013.