Determining optimal locations for rainwater storage sites with the goal of reducing urban inundation damage costs

Abstract

Because of climate change, severe rainfall events that lead to lowland flooding and inundation problems are occurring more frequently, especially in urban areas, which have high population densities. In order to prevent inundation of urban areas, authorities in the Korean Government have set up integrated flood management plans and established spatial targets for rainfall runoff. These disaster prevention plans include measures such as improvements to the sewer pipe capacity and the construction of downstream pump stations, rainwater storage sites, and infiltration facilities. The main purpose of pervious design plans is to reduce the flood volume in target areas, and this research presents a new method for developing rainwater storage design plans while considering potential flood damage costs in urban areas. The new planning method for storage facility design was applied to a single watershed in the Sintaein basin in the city of Jeongeup, Jeonbuk, South Korea. The results indicated that flood damage costs could be reduced when this new concept for determining the location of storage facilities is used.