Cadets Addison Bieger and Marshall Kobylski, both senior civil engineering majors, are at Fort Irwin with their faculty advisor, Col. Meyer, deputy department head of West Point's department of civil and mechanical engineering. They are here to work with engineers from Fort Irwin's Directorate of Public Works and from the Los Angeles District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, or USACE, to prepare a new storm water management plan for the garrison involving the design of storm runoff systems. The engineering projects will help prevent the kind of damage experienced during the storm, which hit Fort Irwin, Aug. 25, 2013.
The new management plan, designed to accommodate a 100-year storm, is replacing a previous storm water runoff management plan from over 35 years ago, which was designed to manage 25-50 year storms. "Our academic studies have really helped us," Bieger said. "But it's a lot more challenging to adjust to real-life constraints. The terrain is a lot different, and we have to account for Fort Irwin's isolation, how to get certain materials out here, from a long distance away, and figuring out how we can best do that."
Kobylski said that their first job was to work with USACE and Fort Irwin engineers to prioritize a list of projects required as part of the storm water management plan. They are now designing the number-one priority projects - the repair and expansion of the North Tank Trail Channel, and creating new basins above the channel, which will serve to collect debris and water during a storm event. As an added benefit, water pooling in the basins during storms will help recharge the aquifer that supports Fort Irwin. Read More