WATERSHED PLANNING FOR HAZARD MITIGATION IN URBAN KARST ENVIRONMENTS USING INTEGRATED GIS AND REAL-TIME MONITORING

Watershed planning (EPA 319h) in urban karst environments presents the complex challenge of integrating surface and subsurface hydrology within a comprehensive management plan. Hazard mitigation of water quality and flooding issues, including those stemming from historic environmental inequities and those arising during development, requires an integrated approach of GIS and real-time monitoring network data. Urbanization exacerbates the problem with the addition of impervious surfaces and water quality threats. Residents in such areas are frequently disturbed and financially burdened by the effects of flooding and planning for emergency flood response requires near real-time data to properly prepare and act. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offers limited protection to citizens living near flood-prone areas caused by groundwater and spring flooding. Also, few cities have protection from surface water regulations that extend to protect groundwater quality, which can affect watershed planning implementation. The City of Bowling Green, Kentucky is built entirely upon karst and experiences frequent, unpredictable groundwater flooding and regular water quality issues, making it the ideal study area to develop a high-resolution, spatially dense flood and water quality monitoring network to capture real-time data both for preparedness planning and for response during a flood or contamination event. The development of a karst flood vulnerability index (kFVI) presented here, combined with existing water quality tools and modeling approaches, provides ways to address development and impacts on historically excluded communities during the watershed planning process. Implementing this type of system will allow public works, emergency managers, and residents to use the created framework and apply it to make recommendations on watershed planning to address citizen needs and develop improved management strategies for comprehensive development planning.