Engineering Strategies to Improve Environmental and Economic Outcomes from In-Stream 
Construction-Induced Suspended Sediment

Infrastructure development adjacent to rivers comes with substantial economic cost and environmental risk. There is considerable public interest to maintain the health of these sensitive ecosystems that provide economic, recreational, and aesthetic benefits. As such, development activities adjacent to rivers must abide by careful, considerate management decisions to ensure we do not harm these valuable resources. One of the primary environmental risks associated with river construction is the release of suspended sediment (referred to as “in-stream construction-induced suspended sediment”), which may be harmful to aquatic organisms and habitat under certain conditions.

This presentation will provide an overview of the current challenges we face as engineers when designing and constructing infrastructure adjacent to rivers (bank stabilization, bridges, outfalls, etc.) and propose solutions to better manage the environmental and economic risks associated with in-stream construction-induced suspended sediment. A brief discussion will be given on the mechanisms that result in adverse impacts due to suspended sediment and how those mechanisms relate to engineering design and construction management. This understanding will be used to illustrate the need for a more comprehensive management framework to link suspended sediment exposure risk with engineering design and construction management.

Presenter

Greg Courtice, MSc., BSc.
Water Resources Engineer

Greg Courtice is a water resources engineer that specializes in river engineering, ecohydraulics, and fish habitat compensation. He is currently working on a PhD in civil engineering from the University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus, where he is studying the management of suspended sediment releases derived from river construction activities. Greg received a BSc. in civil and environmental engineering in 2011 and an MSc. in water resources engineering in 2014 from the University of Alberta. After finishing his masters, he worked as a consulting engineer for Wood (formerly Amec Foster Wheeler) designing bank stabilization and other flood mitigation works in response to the 2013 Southern Alberta Floods. Through this work, he identified a problematic lack of understanding of suspended sediment management during river construction activities, which led to the inspiration for his PhD research. Greg received the 2014 CSCE Donald Stanley Award for best paper in environmental engineering for his masters work on stream modifications to enhance aquatic habitat in the Arctic and is the first researcher to publish studies related to understanding the link between river engineering design, construction management, and suspended sediment exposure risk within aquatic ecosystems.

Questions

For registration information, please contact Inderjeet Singh isingh@cea.ca.

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