Abstract
Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI), a sustainable engineering design approach for managing urban stormwater runoff, has long been recommended as an alternative to conventional conveyance-based stormwater management strategies to mitigate the adverse impact of sprawling urbanization. Hydrological and hydraulic simulations of small-scale GSI measures in densely urbanized micro watersheds require high-resolution spatial databases of urban land use, stormwater structures, and topography. This study presents a highly resolved Storm Water Management Model developed under considerable spatial data constraints. It evaluates the cumulative effect of the implementation of dispersed, retrofitted, small-scale GSI measures in a heavily urbanized micro watershed of Costa Rica. Our methodology includes a high-resolution digital elevation model based on Google Earth information, the accuracy of which was sufficient to determine flow patterns and slopes, as well as to approximate the underground stormwater structures. The model produced satisfactory results in event-based calibration and validation, which ensured the reliability of the data collection procedure. Simulating the implementation of GSI shows that dispersed, retrofitted, small-scale measures could significantly reduce impermeable surface runoff (peak runoff reduction up to 40%) during frequent, less intense storm events and delay peak surface runoff by 5–10 min. The presented approach can benefit stormwater practitioners and modelers conducting small scale hydrological simulation under spatial data constraint.
Highlights
Stormwater runoff has traditionally been considered as an undesirable product, managed to be removed as quickly as possible via man-made stormwater runoff conveyance systems to downstream waterbodies or treatment facilities [1,2]
Simulating the local hydrological effect of green stormwater infrastructure can be an important tool employed by local authorities to improve their understanding of such measures and for local promotion of their benefits
Since data constrains might be a limiting factor, relying on publicly available data platforms like Google Earth, as well as field measurements for land use land cover, topography, and stormwater network data collection was proved in this study as an effective alternative, and might be the unique option in some cases
Summary
Stormwater runoff has traditionally been considered as an undesirable product, managed to be removed as quickly as possible via man-made stormwater runoff conveyance systems to downstream waterbodies or treatment facilities [1,2]. These practices have altered the natural hydrology of urban water bodies and rivers [3]. The efficient and rapid conveyance of piped stormwater structures has further amplified these adverse impacts on urban streams [4,5,7]. New, innovative, and sustainable approaches to handle urban stormwater are needed
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