Civiltech’s Tom Liliensiek, P.E., CFM, participated on a panel of experts presenting the IDOT requirements for Preparation of Location Drainage Studies and Location Drainage Technical Memorandums at the ACEC Illinois District 1 Drainage Seminar on April 16 and 17. Tom was joined in the presentation by Agar Shirani, IDOT Hydraulics; Jeremy Streator, IDOT Hydraulics; Krashan Singhal, WSP; and Dave Kleinwachter, CBBEL. ACEC Illinois organized the event and serves as a liaison between IDOT and the consultant community.
Tom is an ongoing member of the committee, comprised of both professional consultant engineers and IDOT representatives, that organize and prepare the presentations for the Drainage Seminar. This year the committee began preparing in late 2022, determining what would be included and doing peer reviews on individual presentations. Perry Masouridis, IDOT Hydraulics Section Chief, leads the committee. 
The purpose of the Drainage Seminar is to present the requirements for all the different types of Drainage Studies with industry professionals. Also, the IDOT Drainage Manual is used as a key reference and guideline by many industry professionals, and an exciting component of this year’s Drainage Seminar was the announcement that an update is going to be released in 2025! Some key updates to the Drainage Manual will include more recent rainfall data and updates to the bridge scour analysis computations.
Tom’s role in the presentation included the introduction of the other participants and an overview of the Location Drainage Study. Tom also explained requirements for exhibits, content in the body of the study, calculations, and required attachments.