CEE Engineers Receive Erb Family Foundation Grants

Source: Michele Santillan, CEE, UM

U-M CEE engineers have received two grants totaling more than $1.17 million from the Erb Family Foundation to research regional coordination, with a focus on optimizing wastewater and stormwater systems operations, and assisting residents and municipalities in managing these water issues using digital tools. 

CEE Associate Prof. Branko Kerkez is the P.I. for the second grant of $600,000 for a year, with a goal of transforming the management of stormwater in Southeastern Michigan using novel digital tools. The research team envisions an easy-to-use web app, accessible to anyone in the region, that will allow residents, community groups and municipal managers to personalize stormwater investments by interactively comparing options and choosing the solution that maximizes desired impacts. This approach will draw upon a wealth of untapped data, including sensors that are measuring regional infrastructure performance at unprecedented scales. By verifying stormwater investments using highly granular measurements, this approach will set an entirely new regional and national paradigm for reducing overflows, pollutant loads and flooding.