Helping El Cajon develop a master drainage plan

100,000 people call the Southern California city of El Cajon home. Like many cities of a similar size, El Cajon has an intricate storm water collection and conveyance system. Due to the complexity of its system, the city is developing a master drainage plan for their Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4). The master drainage plan will upgrade and implement a comprehensive Geographic Information System (GIS) to help manage and maintain El Cajon’s infrastructure. In order to develop this plan, the city needs a clear understanding of how storm water behaves. We used our MIKE URBAN FLOOD software to examine the complex interaction of storm water and overland flow paths, manholes, catch basins, pipes, canals and other natural and man-made features. Our work will enable the city to assess the current and future capacity requirements of the MS4 system to develop sufficient drainage capacity. This will help El Cajon control floods, prevent flooding-related property damage and manage the costs of long-term improvement projects.