THE HIGH
WATER MARK
THE NEWSLETTER OF THE FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION August 2026 - Volume 36, Issue 3
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THE HIGH
WATER MARK The Newsletter of the Floodplain Management Association August 2026 - Volume 36, Issue 3
Mission: To promote the common interest in reducing flood losses and to encourage the protection and enhancement of natural floodplain values. Chair Vince Geronimo Geronimo Engineering (916) 993-4606 Vince@geronimoengineering.com
Director Vance Skidmore Clark County Regional Flood Control District vskidmore@regionalflood.org
Vice Chair Millicent Cowley-Crawford Carollo Engineers MCowleyCrawford@carollo.com
Director Debbie Neddenriep Carson Water Subconservancy District debbie@cwsd.org
Secretary Clark Barlow Wood Rodgers cbarlow@woodrodgers.com Treasurer Connie Perkins-Gutowsky California Department of Water Resources Constance.PerkinsGutowsky@ water.ca.gov Past Chair Brent Siemer City of Simi Valley BSiemer@simivalley.org
Director Darren Suen San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency Darren.Suen@sjafca.org Director Mary Keller Placer County MKeller@placer.ca.gov Director Rohini Mustafa Riverside County RoMustaf@rivco.org Director Remi Candaele Q3 Consulting RCandaele@q3consulting.net
Photography in this issue provided by: Adobe Stock, Pexels, Pixabay THE HIGH WATER MARK
Director Satish Kumar Wood Rodgers skumar@WoodRodgers.com Director Ernest Conant Downey Brand econant@DowneyBrand.com Director Flannery Banks City of Santa Rosa, CA FBanks@srcity.org Director Katie Layden Woodard & Curran KLayden@woodardcurran.com Director David Smith West Consultants dsmith@westconsultants.com Executive Director George Booth (916)847-3778 fmaed@floodplain.org
CONTENT
Letter From The Chair Free Member News Federal/National News State News Call for Articles Restoring Coaching Post-Wildfire Watershed Management Symposium California Extreme Precipitation Symposium (CEPSYM) 2026 Big Changes to Floodplain Management are Coming Soon
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Director Carly Narlesky MBK Engineers 916-456-4400
Nevada Floods.org
water.nv.gov @NevDCNR @NevadaFloods 3
FMA
LETTER FROM THE CHAIR – “IT’S GOOD TO BE A FLOODIE” Vince Geronimo My last three letters told a bit of a story without my fully intending it that way. First, I looked back at the founders and mentors who built FMA. Then I looked at the Emerging Professionals who are carrying it forward. Most recently, I wrote about how our Board and our profession are adapting as the ground keeps shifting beneath us. Taken together, those three letters were really about our past, our present, and our future. Somewhere along the way, though, I realized I hadn't actually said why any of it matters. So here it is, plainly: none of this is really about floodplains. I know how that sounds coming from someone who has spent three decades studying hydrology, sitting through model runs, and arguing about recurrence intervals. But the maps, the mapping standards, the mitigation grants, the endless acronyms, they're not the point. They're the means. The point is that homes don't flood. Schools stay open. Roads stay passable when the storm hits. Every technical decision we make eventually affects someone who will never read the report. I think we all lose sight of that sometimes. It's easy to get absorbed in a floodway analysis or a levee certification and forget that the whole exercise exists to protect people who will likely never know our names. That's probably the most honest description of public service I can offer. FMA's mission talks about improving flood safety and enhancing stewardship of floodplain resources. Read quickly, it sounds procedural. Read slowly, it's a promise we're making to strangers. The good news is that none of us have to do this alone. Whatever your discipline (engineering, planning, ecology, emergency management, GIS, communications), you found your way here because floodplain management needs all of it. No single perspective solves this problem. A hydraulic model won't tell you how a neighborhood actually experiences risk. A land-use policy won't design the culvert. We need each other, and FMA is where that need gets met. That's what our committees, our conference, our mentorship program, and our luncheons are for. They're not just professional development for its own sake. They make every one of us better at the actual job, which is protecting the places people live. A stronger practitioner, mentored well and connected to peers who've solved a similar problem, makes better decisions when communities need them most. Better decisions mean safer communities. So as you go about your work this year, I'd ask you to hold onto that thread. The next time you're fussing through a LOMR, it's worth remembering who's on the other end THE HIGH WATER MARK
of it. And the next time you're at an FMA event, whether it's a committee call, a symposium, or the conference itself, remember that showing up for each other is not separate from the mission. It is the mission. That brings me to one of my favorite times of the year. In just a few weeks we'll gather in Long Beach for FMA's 2026 Annual Conference, Navigating Changing Tides: Maintaining Resilient Communities, September 8-10. On paper it's three days of technical sessions, committee meetings, hallway conversations, and catching up with colleagues. In reality, it's where our profession becomes a community. Looking through this year's program, I'm reminded just how broad our work has become. We'll explore everything from flood after fire and artificial intelligence to nature-based solutions, coastal resilience, emergency management, and the next generation of floodplain professionals. Every session represents someone willing to share what they've learned so someone else can make a better decision back home. That's how stronger practitioners become stronger communities. And don't miss Wednesday evening. After a full day of flood hazards, resilient communities, and changing tides, we head out to the patio for the Poseidon Games. Eight challenges, food and drinks, and a trident for whoever ends up crowned Ruler of Atlantis. Somehow, that feels exactly right. I've been going to these conferences for twenty years, and the sessions are only half the reason I keep showing up. The other half is everyone else in the room. All of it comes back to the same thing: people coming together to protect communities they may never meet. Our communities may never know most of our names, they just refer to us as Floodies, but they'll live with the decisions we make. That's responsibility enough, and a mission worth sharing.
2026 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
FREE MEMBER NEWS FMA has always promoted the newsletter as a place where news travels freely in all directions. In reality, all of the content in the newsletter is generated by someone to share with everyone else, so it has always been flowing. In that spirit, we would like to open up the flood gates and offer a place for all of our members to share their pertinent news (related to floodplain management). In addition to sending in your articles, you can now share important information in a more condensed format. It is a posterboard of sorts, where our members can post job openings to support their programs, or any other news that would be of interest to other floodplain managers. It could be for any event or public activity that is not for profit (no advertising). Feel free to send in your news and we will share it in the next edition of the newsletter! Please email your news to George Booth at fmaed@floodplain.org.
JOB OPENING California Department of Water Resources Manager: Technical Assistance Unit Are you passionate about public service? Interested in leading a diverse technical team focused on flood risk management and public safety projects? We have an excellent opportunity to make a meaningful impact, advance community resilience, and help protect lives and property across California. Join our team—apply today! https://tinyurl.com/4tzayjwz
SAVE THE DATE Floodplain Management Association Annual Conference September 8-11, 2026 Long Beach, CA Visit – www.floodplain.org
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FEDERAL/NATIONAL NEWS For an Update of the latest disaster declarations visit: www.fema.gov/disasters Information on Flood Insurance Reform – Rates and Refunds: www.fema.gov/flood-insurance-reform-rates-and-refunds
ADVISOR UPDATE FEMA Updates for FMA Board: Due to changes in federal priorities in 2025, FEMA will indefinitely be unable to provide tailored updates to the FMA Board or newsletter. If you have a unique FEMA issue, feel free to reach out to FMA and we will advise to the best our abilities.
THE HIGH WATER MARK
STATE NEWS CALIFORNIA
GRANT PROGRAM
GENERAL UPDATES
Dam Safety and Climate Resilience Local Assistance Program The Dam Safety and Climate Resilience Local Assistance (DSCR) Program is a state-funded grant program that provides financial assistance for repairs, rehabilitation, and other improvements at existing state-jurisdictional dams. By investing in critical dam safety and climate resilience projects, the program helps reduce risks to downstream communities while improving California’s long-term water storage, flood management, and water supply reliability. Eligible projects include dam repairs that restore reservoir storage capacity, construction of new spillways and rehabilitation of existing spillways, seismic retrofit projects, implementation of Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO), and one-time sediment removal projects following wildfires or extraordinary storm events. These investments improve dam safety, restore operational capacity, and strengthen the resilience of California’s water infrastructure. The DSCR Program prioritizes projects that provide the greatest public benefit by protecting public safety, restoring water storage capacity, reducing flood risk, enhancing water supply reliability, protecting and restoring fish and wildlife habitat, and improving water quality. Email DSCR@water.ca.gov with questions about the program. • Information about the upcoming proposal solicitation period will be available on the program’s webpage later this year: https:// water.ca.gov/Work-With-Us/Grants-And-Loans/ Dam-Safety-and-Enhancements-Program.
New Director Appointed for DWR Thomas Gibson was appointed Director of the California Department of Water Resources by Governor Gavin Newsom on June 29, 2026. He was sworn in on July 6, 2026. Prior to his appointment as Director, Gibson served as Lead Deputy Director. He previously served as DWR’s General Counsel. Before joining DWR, Gibson was Undersecretary, Deputy Secretary and Special Counsel for Water, and General Counsel for the California Natural Resources Agency from 2014-2020, as well as General Counsel for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife from 2009-2014. • More information: https://water.ca.gov/ Executive-Bios-Director DWR Unveils New Vision to Strengthen Water Management and Climate Resilience in San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley is at a turning point, where longstanding complex and interconnected water management challenges are intensifying with climate change and creating mounting pressures for communities, agriculture, and ecosystems. To confront these growing pressures, DWR has developed A Vision for the San Joaquin Valley, an integrated plan with near- and long-term strategies to strengthen water management and climate resilience. This vision document builds on findings from three recently released DWR planning documents, the State Water Project Adaptation Strategy, San Joaquin Valley Conveyance Study, and the San Joaquin Basin Watershed Studies, to provide a coordinated roadmap to guide future investments and needed policy improvements. The vision prioritizes near-term actions that can deliver benefits quickly, such as pilot projects that capture high flows during wet years and store water underground. These efforts can provide multiple benefits, including flood protection, improved water supply, ecosystem support, and greater equity. A key focus is raising groundwater levels to reduce damaging land subsidence, which is currently reducing the capacity of key state and federal canals to deliver water where it is needed. • More information: https://water.ca.gov/News/ Blog/2026/May-2026/DWR-Unveils-New-Visionto-Strengthen-Water-Management-and-ClimateResilience-in-San-Joaquin-Valley
Watershed Resilience Program The Watershed Resilience Program supports planning projects to help communities that are experiencing the impacts of climate change. Pilot projects implemented in five diverse regions across the state formed watershedbased networks that jointly analyzed the unique risks to each watershed, such as reduced snowpack, sea level rise, and saltwater intrusion, and developed tailored adaptation strategies as part of their Watershed Resilience Plan. With all five pilot projects now complete, the data, strategies, and local knowledge will help inform statewide implementation and support the development of Proposition 4 funding guidelines. The Watershed
Continued on next page
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STATE NEWS (Continued) Resilience Program will offer more than $150 million in grants for planning and construction projects that help communities build more resilient watersheds that are better equipped to handle climate challenges. Information and updates on the Proposition 4 funding through the Watershed Resilience Program are available online. A summary report highlighting the successes and lessons learned from the Watershed Resilience Program will be released later this year. • Overview of pilot projects: https://water. ca.gov/News/Blog/2026/Jun-2026/RegionalWatershed-Resilience-Pilot-Projects-Guide-StatewideWater-Planning • Program webpage: https://water.ca.gov/WorkWith-Us/Grants-And-Loans/watershed-resilienceprogram NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM AND COMMUNITY RATING SYSTEM Certified Floodplain Manager Workshop at the 2026 FMA Conference in September DWR’s NFIP team will be holding the “How to Become a Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM) Review Course” again at this year’s conference in Long Beach. The ASFPM national certified floodplain manager program was established in 1998 to create a baseline testing of professional competence in floodplain management. The role of the nation’s floodplain managers is expanding due to increases in disaster losses, the emphasis on mitigation to alleviate the cycle of damage-rebuild-damage, and a recognized need for professionals to adequately address these issues. This certification program lays the foundation for ensuring that highly qualified individuals are available to meet the challenge of breaking the damage/rebuilding cycle on the nation’s human, financial, and natural resources. • Conference information: The preliminary program is available on https://floodplain.org/page/ AnnualConference. Community Rating System Users Group Meetings DWR hosts quarterly State CRS Users Group meetings that provide support and educational resources for communities that participate in the CRS, are interested in joining, or want to learn more about the program. During the meetings, attendees can share ideas, best practices, and hear from guest speakers about CRS-related topics. If you or your community are interested in attending a future meeting, please e-mail the State CRS Coordinator at Robert.Lampa@water.ca.gov. Program information is available on the Community Rating System webpage. THE HIGH WATER MARK
Upcoming meetings: • Wednesday, October 14: 10:00 am-12:00 pm. Register for the meeting to receive the meeting link and updates. Note: The 2026 meeting dates are subject to change. DWR’S MAILING LISTS Interested in news about DWR’s programs, grants, and partnerships? DWR has fifteen mailing lists that provide updates on the work we do. Subscription page: public. govdelivery.com/accounts/CNRA/signup/31790 QUESTIONS? Nikki Blomquist, Northern California Advisor California Department of Water Resources Nikki.Blomquist@water.ca.gov | (916) 820-7749 Salomon Miranda, Southern California Advisor California Department of Water Resources Salomon.Miranda@water.ca.gov | (818) 549-2347
HAWAII
NEVADA
See the latest news stories relating to Hawai’i’s floodplain management issues. For the transformed flood information platform from Hawai’i visit their exciting weekly blog at www.waihalana.hawaii.gov/
Nevada Flood Program and Updates The flood program continues to focus on floodplain management training. The Nevada Silver Jackets Team hosted the 3rd annual Nevada Watershed University on April 23, featuring presentations on innovative technology in flood mapping and forecasting, and applications of AI in floodplain management. On July 22, we hosted the first webinar of the Nevada Watershed U Summer Hot Topics webinar series- Emergency Response in Nevada 101. The webinar included resources for floodplain and emergency managers to report a local disaster, the disaster lifecycle, Nevada’s interstate emergency aid agreement and DRRA 1206. Nevada Silver Jackets plans to cover additional introductory material in the Hot Topics series including: Weather 101, CRS 101 and Flood Insurance 101. Outreach Updates
Some of the latest articles relate to the release of the MAT report for the Maui fires and the appeal period for Honolulu Preliminary Flood Maps, and much more, provided by the DLNR Engineering Division. For archived Wai Halana Newsletters (prior to 2018) – https://dlnreng.hawaii.gov/nfip/wai-halana/
CALL FOR ARTICLES! The FMA Newsletter welcomes the input of its members and now our extended family of readership to contribute to the conversation! Keep the great articles coming! We need to hear from all of you. There’s always room for more to join the ranks of published authors. Showcase your programs, projects, tools, policies, regulations or ideas to hundreds of floodplain management professionals throughout the U.S.! Articles must be submitted in Word format to fmaed@floodplain.org and may contain 2-3 small pictures. Preferred length is less than 850 words. For more details, call (916) 847-3778.
The Flood Awareness Communications Team (FACT) is focusing on creating outreach materials that address flood events in drought conditions and discussion flood events across the state. The next high water mark unveiling event in Nevada is coming up! The Carson City High Water Mark Bike Tour is scheduled for Saturday, 8/15 and will include three of the local high water mark installations, including the new Riverview Park sign. The goal is to connect the public with Carson City’s outdoor recreation activities and how they tie into local floodplain management. Nevada Events 2026 7/22 – Emergency Response in Nevada 101 8/13 - Weather 101 8/15 – Carson City High Water Mark Bike Tour TBD – Flood Insurance 101 TBD - CRS 11/8- 11/14 – Nevada Flood Awareness Week 2026
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Photo Credit: Flannery Banks
RESTORING COACHING Flannery Banks, PE, CGL Maybe you’re retraining a career field operations employee for an office-based role like Civil Engineering Technician, onboarding a recent graduate, or developing someone in a specialized, niche area. If you’ve accepted a leadership position, one of your primary functions is to coach or develop others. Even without a supervisory title, if people trust and turn to you for guidance, you’ll find yourself coaching too. Nearly half of Americans played competitive sports in high school or college, so most of us have watched good coaching firsthand — yet somewhere between the locker room and the office, we set those instincts aside and expect staff to figure it out on their own. In the professional setting, we differentiate between mentoring, a power differential where the mentor is usually an expert, and coaching, an equal or neutral relationship, where the coach helps the coachee find their own solutions through guided questions. However, I’m simply going to use the term coach as one who teaches others. “They Just Don’t Get It” I’ve heard many supervisors voice this exact frustration. But watch a track coach work with an athlete, and you’ll rarely hear “run faster.” Instead, you’ll hear something specific: shake out your arms, you’re losing power through a tense upper body; let’s work on some drills to decrease your foot contact time; you’re landing too far behind your foot strike, so shift forward slightly. The coach breaks an abstract goal into observable, correctable pieces. THE HIGH WATER MARK
In the office, sometimes those steps are skipped. “I need XYZ to write better” or “I told them this already” treats the gap as a motivation problem when it’s usually an instruction problem. A genuine novice often can’t self-correct because they don’t have a proficient understanding of what “good” looks like sufficiently to spot their own errors, let alone fix them. Telling someone to try harder doesn’t help if they don’t clearly understand what to change. If you’ve given feedback but aren’t seeing the change you expect, try: clarifying what’s lacking, breaking the task into smaller pieces, offering tools they may not know exist, or having them sit beside you as you work, narrating your thinking. This is especially useful for inexperienced staff, giving them a real-time look at your thought process. Especially when retraining an operations employee, it lets them “see the sausage making” — your final product doesn’t come out of your brain polished on the first draft. Three Things at a Time (Max) When coaching performance, resist the urge to give an extensive or vague list of fixes. Pick the two or three that matter most, holding the rest for the next round. For example, teaching concise writing might mean walking through cutting superfluous language (“collaborate” instead of “collaborate together”), keeping one idea per sentence, and leading with the actor and action (“it was determined that” becomes “the review team determined X”).
Templates Plus A blank assignment (“write me a report”) hands a novice a problem with no reference point. A template plus one annotated example, with brief notes on why each piece exists and where to find more detail if needed, gives them a structure to fill in rather than a blank page to fear. An email status-report template with sample language, a short explanation of what each section should accomplish, and a pointer to two well-written past examples will get you a better result, faster, than a verbal explanation alone. It also builds a resource your team can reuse long after you’ve moved on. Reframe If you’ve explained something clearly once and the result still isn’t there, the instinct is to repeat the same explanation, louder or more insistently. Try a different one instead. A new metaphor, a different order of steps, or a worked example instead of an abstract description often makes something “click” that a repeated explanation never will. This isn’t about the person; it’s about finding the angle that connects with how they process the concept. The Payoff Coaching well is slower up front. It’s easy, but lazy, to default to venting about staff who “don’t get it,” which also dodges your own accountability as a leader. Precision, patience, and a willingness to try again are what separate a frustrated supervisor from one whose team excels, even without them in the room. That’s the difference that gets noticed by the people you coach. Staff who are taught, rather than left to guess, build real competence and confidence. They also stay. People who feel invested in tend to stay engaged, while sink-or-swim environments quietly lose talent. Compounding, the people you coach will become the coaches your team needs to continue to excel.
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POST-WILDFIRE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT SYMPOSIUM George Booth The FMA Post-Wildfire Watershed Management Symposium, on April 14 and 15, 2026, was a great success. About five dozen people gathered in Yucaipa, California to associate, learn and share experiences dealing with a burnt watershed. There were eight presentations, two panels and an excellent bus tour fieldtrip. We heard of the significant challenges, successes, and losses associated with wildfires in the counties of Riverside, Los Angeles and San Bernardino. We learned much about changes in hydrology after the watershed burns. In many cases it takes many years for the runoff characteristics to return to what they were before the fire. Of course, the flood insurance rate maps do not reflect the increased flow nor the non-Newtonian hydraulics, and the debris. Consequently, post fire flood hazard communication is critical. Thanks to the FMA post-fire committee, this was the second such symposium and its popularity and interest is growing. If you have interest in post-fire watershed management, you might consider attending an upcoming virtual technical workshop on post-fire hydrology June 2026.
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CALIFORNIA EXTREME PRECIPITATION SYMPOSIUM (CEPSYM) 2026 Michael Nowlan If you attended the CEPSYM event at UC Davis in July, this may be a repeat performance, but I plan to offer some color commentary, so perhaps it will still be of interest to you too. As always, the CEPSYM draws a healthy crowd of federal, state and local government officials as well as private consulting interests, and this year was no different. There were over 120 professionals in attendance, yours included. I have got to talk to my transportation folks and see what the deal is with I-80 east through Davis between Highway 113 and the Yolo Bypass. Every year the drive back to Sacramento seems to get slower and slower. Anyway, this year’s CEPSYM theme was “Who Owns the Rain?”. The symposium was a mixed-precipitation event this year and was much more fast-paced than the drive home. There were a variety of topics and many discussions on rain, snow, floods, droughts, and water supply/storage issues. I am well aware that we straddle the boundaries of floodplain management when we talk about water supply, but these issues can and do affect one another, so I will quote Jacques (the French-accented cleaner shrimp in Finding Nemo) and say, “I shall resist”. It is worth listening and trying to see the bigger picture on this one. We started the morning session with an award to Thomas Painter for his contributions in forming the Airborne Snow Observatories (ASO), which assists in more accurately quantifying the snow water equivalent and melting characteristics of the snow pack. As always, the award was a well-deserved (and lengthy) testimony of his important work. The first morning session by Rachel Weihs (Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes) discussed the latest research associated with accurately predicting the freezing level of incoming storms. Closely estimating the freezing level allows for a more accurate prediction of the immediate runoff from rainfall (for flooding) and the snow volume that might accumulate from any future event. As pointed out by Rob Hartman, the accuracy of the freezing level is most important when it falls in the middle elevations of the watershed, where increases or decreases will result in significant changes to contributing area, and therefore greatly affect runoff predictions. The second session was delivered by Jim Peifer (Executive Director of the Sacramento Area Regional Water Authority), discussing strategies for addressing
climate driven changes in American River basin precipitation. After the morning break, Caity Peterson from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Water Policy Center discussed how winter stormwater can be available for storage and beneficial use in the Central Valley. Rounding out the morning session was a video presentation by Karrigan Bork (UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences). The title of this session was the same as the theme of the overall symposium, and focused on water rights in the state of California. A significant portion of the sessions touched on groundwater storage capacities, getting the water to groundwater storage, and the water rights hurdles that are associated with diverting water to storage. As it has been said many times, extreme precipitation includes both an extreme abundance of precipitation as well an extreme lack of precipitation, and California is definitely subjected to both extremes. The intertwined relationship between water supply and flood storage no longer resides only in upstream surface reservoirs. It is now reaching out into the waterways that will be used to move floodwaters to groundwater storage through managed aquifer recharge efforts. The two afternoon sessions were lively panel discussions led by Tim Washburn and Ben Tustison, our two committee co-chairs that oversaw the formulation of the whole symposium. Both Tim and Ben have stepped into the role that Gary Estes (beloved founder of CEPSYM) filled for so many years. Gary was an attendee this year and it looks like Gary’s legacy will live on successfully with folks like Tim and Ben at the helm. Special thanks also go to this year’s planning committee, which included Alan Haynes, Michael Anderson, and Kathleen Schaefer. The final two panels were focused on the Sacramento River Watershed and the San Joaquin River Watershed, respectively, providing boots on the ground perspectives from the Yuba County Water Agency, Sites Reservoir Authority, the Sacramento Regional Water Authority, the Freshwater Trust, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Turlock Irrigation District, the Water Policy Institute, the State Water Resources Control Board, and the California Department of Water Resources. The consensus from both panels is that we can all learn from each other, that there is much more to done, and that we need to find more and better ways to fund the continued progress. Continued on next page
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As wonderful as the conversations were at the symposium, there needs to be more open discussion about making it all work. We need to safely capture more water for water supply and long-term sustainability. No doubt. Since overdraft has been depleting the groundwater supply, and making more space, we have plenty of distributed groundwater storage capacity. No question. I do not want to diminish the great importance of trying to store every drop we can for future use. The problem remains, “How do we get very large amounts of water quickly into the ground, from the watershed from where it is raining to where the groundwater storage exists?”. There are a lot of things to consider between those two ends of the equation. The idea of marrying Flood Mitigation and Managed Aquifer Recharge is fantastic, the logistics are a nightmare. If climate change results in longer periods of dry conditions in between even larger flood events, then we have a problem making it all work, with the infrastructure we’ve got. Extreme flood events happen over very
short periods of time, far shorter than the time it takes to redistribute the water to groundwater recharge areas and infiltrate it. Where do we put the flood waters while they are waiting to be recharged without compromising flood protection? Certainly, the irrigation distribution systems do exist, but they were sized for much, much, smaller flows than flood flows. And, infiltrating the water into the ground can take weeks/months. The reality should be setting in. We will need even more short-term flood storage, given these predictions of climate change. It seems like we are trying to funnel an atmospheric river through a fire hose. Between the runoff in our upstream watersheds and the depleted groundwater basins there is an engineering “mountain” that must be first surveyed, and then connected somehow by many very large conduits. I, for one, look forward to the challenge of better integrating these two monumental issues and making them work more wholistically, for the benefit of all parties on both sides of the mountain. We all live on the slopes of this mountain.
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BIG CHANGES TO FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT ARE COMING SOON Eric Simmons, HDR and FEMA (retired) Carl Walker, Walker Floodplain Management, LLC The International Code Council will publish the new 2027 International Codes (I-Codes) by the end of the year. How will the 2027 I-Codes and their adoption in California, Nevada, and Hawaii impact your work? Now is the time to be familiar with future requirements. Provisions from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) publications ASCE 24-24 Flood Resistant Design and Construction and ASCE 7-22 Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures (Supplement 2) are being incorporated into the 2027 I-Codes. Key floodplain management changes are listed below, and one can revisit the August 2023 and May 2024 editions of The High Water Mark newsletter to learn more about the ASCE updates: • Transition to a Risk-Based Approach: The 2027 I-Codes include design and construction standards based on a structure’s Risk Category (or Flood Design Class) and Mean Recurrence Interval (MRI) of flood events. Flood Design Class 1
2
3
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• Expansion of the Flood Hazard Area: Floodresistant design and construction standards will be applied to new construction and substantial improvements to existing buildings located within the mapped 0.2% annual chance (500-year) floodplain. • Performance Based Procedures for Design: Consideration of foundation selection, damageresistant materials, floodproofing, planning, and utilities as well as enhanced requirements with rising ocean levels in floodplains impacted by coastal hazards. The 2027 I-Codes include classification of buildings and other structures (Flood Design Class) based on risk to human life, health, and welfare associated with damage or failure due to flooding, and by nature of their occupancy or use. Minimum elevation requirements for new buildings and structures within the 2027 I-Codes are based on the Mean Recurrence Interval flood event as summarized below.
Use or Occupancy Buildings that are normally unoccupied and pose minimal risk to the public if damaged or fail due to flooding (ex: agricultural structures) Buildings that pose a moderate risk to the public if damaged (ex: most residential, commercial, and industrial buildings) Buildings that pose a high risk to the public if damaged or fail due to flooding (ex: community centers, schools, nursing homes) Buildings that contain essential facilities and services necessary for emergency response (ex: police and fire stations, hospitals, power generating facilities)
Mean Recurrence Interval 100–year (1 percent annual chance flood event) 500–year (0.2 percent annual chance flood event) 750–year (0.13 percent annual chance flood event) 1000–year (0.10 percent annual chance flood event)
“One of the most reliable ways to ensure increased performance and resilience of our nation’s built environment is the widespread adoption and enforcement of up-to-date, modern building codes and standards.” -ASCE
THE HIGH WATER MARK
Figure 1. FEMA flood zones (as of July 2026) for a portion of the City of Salinas. The orange color is shaded Zone X, which is a moderate hazard area representing the 500-year floodplain outside the SFHA. Source: NFHL
Expansion of the Flood Hazard Area Transitioning to a 500-year flood standard for most new buildings may be dramatic for some communities. Disasters the past quarter century (for example San Diego and Helene in 2024, Southern California in 2023, Montecito in 2018, Oroville and Harvey in 2017, Sandy in 2012, and Katrina in 2005) demonstrate the need for safer floodplain management standards and requirements for construction in floodplains. It should be noted that a 500-year flood event has a 6% or greater chance of occurring during a 30-year mortgage. It’s worth adding that expanding the regulatory flood hazard area for new buildings does not directly impact flood maps from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). However, little attention was historically given to the mapped 500-year floodplain. The boundaries for these shaded Zone X areas (example below) are often outdated, wildly conservative, or not mapped. Building Code updates may increase attention on these zones as well as the need for readily available flood elevations and revised hazard maps. Strengthening building standards in communities with a large 500-year floodplain is striking even if the change does not affect most jurisdictions. Floodplain management is complex because it involves human adaptations, variable weather patterns, and natural systems along streams and the coast. It is also complicated due to technical data based on engineering analyses, intricate requirements that change, and regulations from all levels of government. Updates to building codes necessitate extensive outreach and training in safe practices.
Performance Based Procedures for Design ASCE 7-22, Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures, Supplement 2, was published in May 2023 – too late for adoption within the 2024 I-Codes. The 2027 I-Codes include the performance-based procedures for design and construction within the floodplain, including the expansion of the hazard area to the 500-year floodplain as defined on a Flood Insurance Rate Map. ASCE 7-22 Supplement 2 also assigned a building or structure’s “Risk Category” (Flood Design Class in ASCE 24-24) and the corresponding MRI assigned to each Risk Category. This standard also updated flood load equations for hydrodynamic forces and debris impact. By reference to ASCE 24-24, the 2027 I-Codes contain new requirements for dry floodproofing, including annual inspection documentation, enhancements to maintenance plans and flood operations plans, and requirements for permanent signage of substantially impermeable walls. State Building Code Updates After the publication of the 2027 I-Codes, each state follows their own set of procedures for adoption of updated codes. The State of Hawaii has adopted a core set of building codes based on the International Building Code, International Residential Code, and International Existing Building Code. The four counties within Hawaii have 2 years following State adoption of Codes to amend local codes. The governor, however, suspended Hawaii’s Continued on next page
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Building Code Council from updating state building codes to support housing initiatives. Building Codes in Nevada are adopted locally after an adoption committee prepares suggested regional amendments. In California, Building Code adoption is typically a stringent, state-level overlay above the I-Codes rather than less restrictive. State Building Standards are in California Regulations Title 24 (Part 2 - California Building Code, Part 2.5 - California Residential Code, and Part 10 - California Existing Building Code). These are updated every three years. The 2025 edition of Title 24 became effective January 1, 2026, and the 2028 California Building Codes, including the 2027 updates to the I-Codes, will become effective January 1, 2029. The California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) is beginning the adoption process for this next update. Comment opportunities for the public are anticipated. The adoption timeline is below. The Code Advisory Committee within CBSG accepted applications for their 2027-2029 term. A community Floodplain Administrator or Building Official is encouraged to be familiar with State/ region/county building code adoption processes. This includes taking advantage of any opportunities for providing or monitoring public comment during the code adoption cycle.
Local or State adoption of safer flood standards leads to less flood damage to new construction, resilience to extreme weather events, improved ratings under the Community Rating System, and less expensive flood insurance. These benefits should be balanced with the costs and administrative burden in enforcing floodplain management requirements. Codes and the safety they afford are important to residents and should be considered in context with other priorities such as protecting the environment, housing affordability, and economic development. This topic is part of our 2026 conference where hundreds and hundreds of professionals will associate on all aspects of floodplain management. In the meanwhile, a community can implement safer floodplain management standards now to protect new construction and public safety. ASCE 24-24 is available for free to ASFPM members. ASFPM also provides model ordinance language for ASCE 24-24 adoption. We look forward to seeing you in Long Beach!
Figure 2. CBSC Triennial Code Adoption Cycle for 2028 Building Standards
THE HIGH WATER MARK
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THE HIGH
WATER MARK The Newsletter of the Floodplain Management Association