Watershed-Scale BANCS Assessment for Managing Open Channel Assets and Prioritizing Stream Restoration Projects
Jonathan Ricketts
Stantec
Columbus, Ohio
Our understanding of the primary non-point sources of sediment/nutrient loading continues to evolve and the findings are pointing to bank erosion as being one of the greatest. Historically, we have gone for the “low-hanging fruit” (i.e., point sources) to battle open water pollution, but our watercourses and bodies continue to struggle with sediment and nutrient issues as seen in harmful algal blooms occurring in the Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay, and other estuaries, bays, lakes, and reservoirs throughout the country. Now that we have a better understanding of the primary contributors of non-point sources, processes, and guidance documents are being developed to help communities track, manage, and devote resources to fixing the problems. While bank erosion is a natural process, anthropogenic impacts have significantly altered flow regimes and watercourses in most watersheds throughout the country, resulting in an accelerated rate of channel evolution/bank erosion. The scale of impact is substantial, and finding a starting place or process to address the problem may seem daunting for organizations that have ownership. So how do owners of open channel assets (OCA) manage and prioritize those assets to meet sediment/nutrient reduction goals through stream restoration projects?
This presentation presents a case study for one approach taken in northeast Ohio where implementation of a watershed-scale bank assessment for non-point source consequence of sediment (BANCS) assessment was/is being used to manage over 60 miles of OCAs (Rosgen, 2006). In this case study we will dive into the details of how the BANCS model was implemented, how shortcomings of the methodology were overcome, how the results of the assessment were analyzed, and how the outcomes were used to make decisions regarding stream restoration projects. In this case, the BANCS assessment was used as a relative comparison tool to inform decisions around prioritizing capital improvement projects. Using the BANCS assessment as a relative comparison tool removed the need to develop local regional curves while providing the necessary information to track the condition of OCAs, identify locations of greatest contribution, and rank and prioritize sites for stream restoration capital improvement projects.
About Jonathan Ricketts
6. Bio: Jonathan Ricketts, ME, PE, is a regional technical lead for natural systems design at Stantec with over 9 years of experience in the field. His love for stream restoration began during an undergraduate engineering course in fluvial geomorphology taught by the late Dr. Andy Ward at the Ohio State University. This exposure eventually led to his current passion for stream restoration and the betterment and preservation of our water resources and associated ecosystems. Over his nine years of experience Jon has provided engineering services to various communities, agencies, local watershed groups, and others on a multitude of watershed and river projects to manage and maintain open channel assets, identify and address sediment/bank erosion issues, restore streams and riparian zones, and address flooding of critical assets. Those services include sediment source and geomorphic data collection and assessment, alternatives analysis, H&H and sediment transport modeling, river restoration design, and various other services. When working on watershed and river projects, he prioritizes nature-based solutions over traditional hard approaches. Jonathan focuses on practical solutions that benefit both the communities which they are installed and the natural environments which they serve to improve. He thrives in working with multidisciplinary teams which are critical to successful nature-based solution projects and solving large complex watershed scale issues.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-ricketts-64677573/