Case Study: Construction Project Tracking Application for Meeting NPDES Requirements

Client: Port of Seattle / Sea-Tac Airport Location: King County (Seattle), WA Contact for information management projects: Gayle Thompson

Project Background & Challenges

Under Sea-Tac Airport’s NPDES permit, the Port must submit monthly monitoring reports (DMRs) for stormwater runoff from all major construction sites. Because monitoring activities depend on construction status, both the Ports’ project managers and outside consultants need access to real-time project-status data, in a format that they can view and update. The Port had been storing such data in spreadsheets and shared it via e-mail — a process that produced multiple, out-of-sync versions, making it difficult to maintain permit compliance.

Solution

A web-based interface was selected as the best solution to provide everyone with real-time access to centrally stored data. Aspect developed the Construction Project Tracking (CPT) application, which features a simple user interface for entering and modifying data, running queries, and generating reports. This application allows environmental project managers (PMs) to create Environmental Impact (EI) questionnaires dynamically. It also features several automatic notification functions that trigger key activities throughout construction. For example, EI questionnaires are automatically e-mailed to engineering PMs; once they submit these questionnaires, the system then automatically notifies environmental PMs. Likewise, monitoring plans are required at certain points during construction; the CPT application automatically notifies consultants via e-mail when such plans must be submitted. Data from this application integrates easily with the Port’s existing Environmental Management Information System (EMIS) routines so managers can produce the monthly DMRs and other reports. Because of these features, the Port consistently meets its NPDES permit requirements.