Incorporating Climate Change Analysis for Small Urban Watersheds
Jennifer Zebley, PE
Rummel, Klepper, & Kahl (RK&K)
Wilmington, DE
Rebecca Oaks, PE
Rummel, Klepper, & Kahl (RK&K)
Baltimore, MD
Allison Lau, CFM
Philadelphia Water Department (PWD)
Philadelphia, PA
Authors: Zebley, Jennifer K., PE, Oaks, Rebecca M., PE, Lau, Allison, CFM
In 2014, the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) created the Climate Change Adaption Program (CCAP) to assess climate change impacts on PWD infrastructure and operations and to integrate climate considerations into planning and design. The CCAP provides future precipitation projections for the Philadelphia area for each decade through 2100. The Ecological Restoration Design team at PWD is using this information to guide their future restoration designs to mitigate the potential effects of climate change and ensure designs are resilient for a changing future.
Specifically susceptible to climate change are urban outfall channels that are already sensitive to flashy urban flows. An ongoing project in the northeast corner of Philadelphia currently has severe bank erosion, downcutting, and exposed utility lines. An ecological restoration for this channel is being designed that will reduce bank erosion, provide volume management, and protect existing infrastructure. As part of this project the CCAP data is being utilized to evaluate how future climate effects will impact this site area. The data used considers the increase in runoff due to climate change over the coming years and demonstrates both high and medium estimates. The data included precipitation depths for the 1- through 100-year storms for each decade starting in 2020 and ending in 2100. The precipitation data was then routed through both HydroCAD and HEC-RAS to determine the various impacts to the community as climate change continues to progress.
The main objectives of the project are to provide protection for damaged PWD infrastructure by designing a stable outfall and stream channel, repair and/or replace any existing PWD infrastructure as needed, create a low stress stream environment that will promote long-term stability and infrastructure protection, and employ a stream and floodplain restoration approach that promotes functional uplift and ecological improvements.
The presentation will review the climate change studies done on this site including the anticipated change in precipitation for each decade over the next century and how this data has informed the current outfall restoration project. It will also include how we are using this information to ensure a sustainable and resilient design is implemented.
The presentation will review the climate change studies done on this site including the anticipated change in precipitation for each decade over the next century and how this data has informed the current outfall restoration project. It will also include how we are using this information to ensure a sustainable and resilient design is implemented.
About Jennifer Zebley, PE
Jennifer Zebley, PE is a Project Engineer I RK&K in the environmental, water resources department with 7 years of experience in water resources engineering, modeling and mapping, and stream restoration design. She has a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering and a Master of Civil Engineering from the University of Delaware.
Abous Allison Lau, CFM
Allison Lau, CFM is an Engineer with the Philadelphia Water Department’s Ecological Restoration Planning Group. Prior to joining the group in fall 2025, she spent five years in the Climate Change Adaptation Program (CCAP), where she served as the subject-matter expert on coastal and non-tidal riverine flooding and was a key contributor the utility's first Climate-Resilient Planning and Design Guidance. Allison holds a bachelor's degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering and is a Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM). She also holds a Masters in City Planning, where she concentrated in land use and environmental planning.
About Rebecca Oaks
Rebecca Oaks, PE is a Project Manager at RK&K in the environmental, water resources department with 10 years of experience. She has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from University at Buffalo and a Master’s of Science in Environmental Engineering from John Hopkins University. Rebecca is passionate about working in community spaces and restoring natural environments that work with communities to support habitat enrichment and water quality goals.