Can You PROVE It? A conversation with Dr. Christopher Foley from P4 Infrastructure

Episode 006: “It will likely be cheaper, but more importantly, everybody will understand what's going on. And with GIS layers and data, you can actually show the general public what's going on,” explains Dr. Christopher Foley, president and co-founder of P4 Infrastructure. Dr. Foley has nearly 40 years of experience in civil engineering. Today, Dr. Foley joins host Ty to talk about why he decided to co-found P4 Infrastructure, how to use IOT to track and gather real-time data, and how having more data at your fingertips can save everyone money on stormwater infrastructure while still achieving the goal of clean water.

Not all stormwater infrastructure is created equal. In many cases, there are no sensors put in to actually track the accumulation of water or to see how certain surfaces or retention ponds are performing. Without this data, people cannot make the most economically efficient decisions for green infrastructure and low impact development. Often they will end up spending more and more money on solutions that they are never actually testing while missing out on other tools they could be capitalizing on. By installing sensors and putting all of the information into a widely accessible database and national map, everyone can make smarter stormwater management decisions.

Transparency is best for everyone. It ensures that taxpayer money is being properly spent and can even save money in the long run. True transparency cannot exist without real-time data tracking from IOT systems. Learn more about the importance of data, and the work P4 Infrastructure is doing to advance stormwater management technology.

Quotes:

• “That data now becomes a much better way of understanding how the whole system performs, not only your data and your infrastructure, but also everybody else's data and their infrastructure collectively serving as the stormwater management tool for the community or the region.” (8:25-8:43 | Dr. Foley)
• “The minute your models are more close with reality, you have more tools at your disposal to devote to stormwater management.” (15:38-15:47 | Dr. Foley) 
• “It will likely be cheaper, but more importantly, everybody will understand what's going on. And with GIS layers and data, you can actually show the general public what's going on.” (29:05-29:16 | Dr. Foley)
• “Instead of having people fill out forms and submitting things that nobody ever looks at, you simply drop into a database, download the information, synthesize it, and display it on a national map.” (30:20-30:31 | Dr. Foley)
• “It’s a relatively small amount of money for knowledge that is incredibly important and a lot of times people like to operate without the transparency, because then there's really no questions that can get raised. But the transparency is important because it benefits everybody, the designers, the constructors, the municipalities, and the taxpayers. Everybody will get a better product when you know how well it performs.” (35:26-35:51 | Dr. Foley) 

The views expressed are that of the individual and do not represent the opinions of any companies past, present or future.

Connect with Ty: 

Connect with Ty on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tygarmon/

Sign up to be a guest: https://forms.gle/whijSz9Tio3iZda57

Check out The Stormwater World Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9hVXVJ5oXplf_V9XOPpR6A

Podcast Website: https://stormwaterworld.com

Connect with Dr. Christopher Foley:
https://www.p4infrastructure.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-m-foley-01825818/

chris.foley@p4infrastructure.com

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