Abstract
Use of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) to mitigate urban runoff impacts has grown substantially in recent decades, but municipalities often lack an integrated approach to prioritize areas for implementation, demonstrate compelling evidence of catchment-scale improvements, and communicate stormwater program effectiveness. We present a method for quantifying runoff reduction benefits associated with distributed GSI that is designed to align with the spatial scale of information required by urban stormwater implementation. The model was driven by a probabilistic representation of rainfall events to estimate annual runoff and reductions associated with distributed GSI for various design storm levels. Raster-based calculations provide estimates on a 30-m grid, preserving unique combinations of drainage factors that drive runoff production, hydrologic storage, and infiltration benefits of GSI. The model showed strong correspondence with aggregated continuous runoff data from a set of urbanized catchments in Salinas, California, USA, over a three-year monitoring period and output sensitivity to the storm drain network inputs. Because the model runs through a web browser and the parameterization is based on readily available spatial data, it is suitable for nonmodeling experts to rapidly update GSI features, compare alternative implementation scenarios, track progress toward urban runoff reduction goals, and demonstrate regulatory compliance.
Highlights
The continued expansion of impervious cover disrupts natural hydrologic cycles, increasing runoff from storms [1], which enhances the entrainment and transport of sediment, nutrients, bacteria, metals, pesticides, and other pollutants [2,3]
best management practices (BMPs) are a key component of low impact development and increasingly include small-scale green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) such as infiltration or bioretention features widely distributed throughout the urban landscape
We introduced a novel method for tracking the runoff reduction benefits of GSI with a design optimized to the meet the needs of stormwater managers that uses probabilistic rainfall inputs, raster-based cloud computation, and web-based tools for delineating individual drainages
Summary
The continued expansion of impervious cover disrupts natural hydrologic cycles, increasing runoff from storms [1], which enhances the entrainment and transport of sediment, nutrients, bacteria, metals, pesticides, and other pollutants [2,3]. BMPs are a key component of low impact development and increasingly include small-scale green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) such as infiltration or bioretention features widely distributed throughout the urban landscape. Where traditional “grey infrastructure” uses engineered hard structures, GSI uses plants, soils, and landscape design to reduce runoff and pollutant entrainment close to where rain falls to restore the natural hydrologic functioning of urbanized landscapes. The welldocumented co-benefits of GSI include water quality improvements [5], reduction of local flooding risks [6,7,8], recharging groundwater [9,10], and climate change impact mitigation via carbon dioxide uptake [11,12] and reduction of the urban heat island effect [13]
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