Dr. Balci has recently been appointed as the NYC Water/Deputy East Water Lead at WSP. Prior to joining WSP, she was the Assistant Commissioner of the Environmental Planning and Analysis at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. Pinar led the planning, design, and construction of the nation’s largest green infrastructure and innovative cloudburst management program to reduce Combined Sewer Overflows and improve water quality in New York Harbor while providing flood mitigation benefits and resiliency in environmental justice communities. The Cloudburst Management initiative was the first in the nation resulted in development of five “Cloudburst Neighborhoods” in socially vulnerable areas through an interagency effort and secured over $100M federal funding. Notably, she led the Tibbets Brooks Daylighting and Greenway project in the Bronx and developed NYC’s first Wastewater Resiliency Plan. On regulatory front, she managed the NYC’s Stormwater Management Program Plan under the Phase 1 MS4 permit and supported DEP’s CSO Long Term Control Plans and developed Use Attainability Analyses. Prior to joining NYC DEP, Pinar held multiple management positions at the South Florida Water Management District, where she was responsible for planning and providing policy, permitting oversight to an array of Everglades Restoration and Capital Projects.
In addition to her project achievements, Dr. Balci continues to elevate industry standards through numerous advocacy groups. She serves on the Water Research Foundation Research Advisory Committee, Former Board Member of the WateReuse Association and Executive Committee, Advisory Council Member of National Green Infrastructure Certification Program. She continues to serve as Project Advisory Committee Member of numerous WRF projects and contributed to the National Assessment of Stormwater Capture & Reuse with Pacific Institute. She is a doctoral faculty member at CUNY Graduate School and teaches classes on climate resilient cities and integrated water systems management.
