Cost–effectiveness analysis on LID measures of a highly urbanized area

Abstract

Studies on the cost–effectiveness analysis on low impact development (LID) measures are demanded for guiding the plan, design, and construction of LID in rapidly and highly urbanized regions, such as many cities in China. In this paper, five single LID measures are given, including bio-retention (BR), infiltration trench (IT), porous pavement (PP), rain barrels (RB), and grass swale (GS), and three composite measures including IT + PP, IT + RB, and PP + RB. A detailed cost–effectiveness analysis on LID is presented using the case of Caohejing in Shanghai, China. Life cycle cost method is adopted to calculate the costs of these measures. Storm recurrence interval, without waterlogging of the drainage system, is applied as the effectiveness of a LID. In consideration of adding LID measures, an approach to calculate the storm recurrence interval without waterlogging is constructed. The aftermath indicates that RB, IT and their combination, IT + RB, are the three most suitable cost–effective measures to the study area.