2020 Otto Jaag Water Protection Prize goes to Matthew Moy de Vitry

Sarah M. Springman, Rector of ETH Zurich, presents the Otto Jaag Water Protection Prize to Matthew Moy de Vitry. (Photo: ETH Zurich / Giulia Marthaler)

December 7, 2020 | Annette Ryser/Marianne Leuzinger

Matthew Moy de Vitry has been awarded the ETH Zurich Otto Jaag Water Protection Prize for his doctoral thesis “Public surveillance and the future of urban pluvial flood modelling”.

On 21 November 2020, Matthew Moy de Vitry received the ETH Zurich Otto Jaag Water Protection Prize, an award which recognises outstanding doctoral and Master’s theses in the field of water protection and hydrology. In his thesis, entitled “Public surveillance and the future of urban pluvial flood modelling”, Moy de Vitry showed that unconventional and potentially controversial approaches may be required to manage urban flash floods – an issue of increasingly critical importance due to climate change and urbanisation.

Innovative approaches for pressing issues

Matthew Moy de Vitry completed his doctoral research at the Urban Water Management department of Eawag in November 2019. His thesis, supervised by Professor Max Maurer and Dr João Leitão, was concerned with urban flood forecasting. Moy de Vitry noted that often the models used for this purpose are not sufficiently reliable, owing to a lack of the flood monitoring data which is needed for model calibration and validation. He therefore developed a number of innovative approaches involving the utilisation of alternative data sources – such as images and videos from traffic surveillance cameras or social media.

Improving flood risk mitigation

Moy de Vitry’s research offers a cost-effective solution for cities seeking to adapt to a changing climate with more intense rainfall. It could thus also help to mitigate the risks of flood events for urban populations and infrastructure. The prize awarded to Matthew Moy de Vitry underlines the importance of urban water management for environmental protection. He is delighted to have received the award and full of praise for the excellent research environment at Eawag with its close connections to ETH and support of dedicated staff, which enabled him to conduct such an extensive, in-depth doctoral research project.

In March 2020, having completed his PhD, Matthew Moy de Vitry began working as a web developer and data scientist at Hades Technologies Ltd, an ETH spin-off that develops data models for automatic detection of defects in sewers, using machine learning.

Otto Jaag Water Protection Prize

Professor Otto Jaag, who was renowned both nationally and internationally as a water protection pioneer, served as the Director of Eawag from 1952 to 1970. The “Otto Jaag Water Protection Prize” fund was established at ETH Zurich in 1980, two years after his death. The prize, awarded annually, is worth CHF 1000.

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      title => protected'Es überschwemmt und keiner sieht zu?! Oberflächenabflussmessungen im urban
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         nerhalb des Fliessgewässers installiert werden müssen. Deswegen sind Daten
          über Überschwemmungen im urbanen Raum nur selten vorhanden, was die Kalib
         rierung und Validierung von Überflutungsmodellen erschwert. In dieser Studi
         e wird ein Ansatz vorgestellt, bei dem marktübliche Überwachungskameras zu
         r Durchflussmessung eingesetzt werden.' (494 chars)
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      title => protected'Public surveillance and the future of urban pluvial flood modelling' (67 chars)
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      description => protected'<em>Motivation and objective</em><br /> Urban pluvial flooding is an issue o
         f increasingly critical importance due to climate change and urbanization. H
         owever, the numerical models used for flood forecasting and risk mitigation 
         suffer from a pronounced lack of monitoring data, which affects model accura
         cy. Monitoring data are necessary so the models, which contain undefined par
         ameters, can be calibrated and validated against real flood events. In parti
         cular, it is important that the models are able to reproduce flood behavior 
         in and around buildings, where the most damage is caused. However, conventio
         nal flow and water level sensors reach their limits in public spaces like st
         reets due to irregular topography, moving obstacles, and the risk of vandali
         sm. It has been suggested that surveillance cameras and social media could p
         rovide the necessary surface flooding data at a fraction of the cost of conv
         entional sensors. The objective of this thesis is to explore how trend-like 
         data can be extracted from surveillance footage and assimilated to boost the
          reliability of urban pluvial flood models. [...]<br /><br /><em>Motivation 
         und Zielsetzung</em><br /> Urbane regenbedingte Überschwemmungen sind aufgr
         und des Klimawandels und der Urbanisierung von immer größerer Bedeutung, a
         ber den numerischen Modellen zur Hochwasservorhersage und Risikominderung ma
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         rwachungsdaten sind notwendig, damit die Modelle, welche unsichere Parameter
          enthalten, gegen echte Hochwasserereignisse kalibriert und validiert werden
          können. Insbesondere ist es wichtig, dass die Modelle das Überschwemmungs
         verhalten in und um Gebäude herum nachbilden können, wo die meisten Schäd
         
         
         pographie, beweglicher Hindernisse und der Gefahr von Vandalismus an ihre Gr
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Peña-Haro, S.; Lüthi, B.; Carrel, M.; Scheidegger, A.; de Vitry, M. M.; Leitão, J. P. (2019) Es überschwemmt und keiner sieht zu?! Oberflächenabflussmessungen im urbanen Raum mittels Videomaterial von Überwachungskameras, Aqua & Gas, 99(5), 44-50, Institutional Repository

Motivation and objective
Urban pluvial flooding is an issue of increasingly critical importance due to climate change and urbanization. However, the numerical models used for flood forecasting and risk mitigation suffer from a pronounced lack of monitoring data, which affects model accuracy. Monitoring data are necessary so the models, which contain undefined parameters, can be calibrated and validated against real flood events. In particular, it is important that the models are able to reproduce flood behavior in and around buildings, where the most damage is caused. However, conventional flow and water level sensors reach their limits in public spaces like streets due to irregular topography, moving obstacles, and the risk of vandalism. It has been suggested that surveillance cameras and social media could provide the necessary surface flooding data at a fraction of the cost of conventional sensors. The objective of this thesis is to explore how trend-like data can be extracted from surveillance footage and assimilated to boost the reliability of urban pluvial flood models. [...]

Motivation und Zielsetzung
Urbane regenbedingte Überschwemmungen sind aufgrund des Klimawandels und der Urbanisierung von immer größerer Bedeutung, aber den numerischen Modellen zur Hochwasservorhersage und Risikominderung mangelt es an Überwachungsdaten, was die Modellgenauigkeit einschränkt. Überwachungsdaten sind notwendig, damit die Modelle, welche unsichere Parameter enthalten, gegen echte Hochwasserereignisse kalibriert und validiert werden können. Insbesondere ist es wichtig, dass die Modelle das Überschwemmungsverhalten in und um Gebäude herum nachbilden können, wo die meisten Schäden verursacht werden. Herkömmliche Strömungs- und Wasserstandsensoren stoßen jedoch im öffentlichen Raum, wie Straßen, aufgrund unregelmäßiger Topographie, beweglicher Hindernisse und der Gefahr von Vandalismus an ihre Grenzen. Deswegen gibt es Interesse für alternative Datenquellen wie Überwachungskameras und soziale Medien, aus denen Oberflächenabflussdaten zu einem Bruchteil der Kosten herkömmlicher Sensoren gewonnen werden könnte. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, zu untersuchen, wie trendartige Daten aus Überwachungsbildern extrahiert und assimiliert werden können, um die Zuverlässigkeit von Überschwemmungsmodellen zu erhöhen. [...]

Moy de Vitry, M. (2019) Public surveillance and the future of urban pluvial flood modelling, 143 p, doi:10.3929/ethz-b-000397587, Institutional Repository

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Cover picture: ETH Zurich, Giulia Marthaler

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News Detail

2020 Otto Jaag Water Protection Prize goes to Matthew Moy de Vitry

Innovative approaches for pressing issues

Improving flood risk mitigation

Otto Jaag Water Protection Prize

Publications

Es überschwemmt und keiner sieht zu?! Oberflächenabflussmessungen im urbanen Raum mittels Videomaterial von Überwachungskameras

Public surveillance and the future of urban pluvial flood modelling

Video