Assessment of low impact development stormwater management alternatives in the city of Bojnord, Iran

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study addresses the stormwater management challenges and opportunities in the recently growing city of Bojnord in the northeast of Iran assessing six Low Impact Development (LID) stormwater management alternatives using hydrological, social and economic criteria through a questionnaire survey and modeling effort. Hydrological and economic effects were assessed using the SWMM model and cost analysis, respectively. Different LID alternatives were evaluated using six different multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approaches including TOPSIS, VICOR, SAW, MEW, ELECTRE III, and NFM. Due to differences in the ranking results of the MCDM methods, three aggregation methods of Rank average, Borda, and Copeland were used to reach consistency in the ranking. Rain barrel installation has been assessed as the most preferred LID alternative and the pervious asphalt as the least preferred one. The evaluation and ranking of the alternatives with MCDM approaches facilitated the effective prioritization of sustainable LID alternatives according to various management objectives.