Low-Impact Development Practices to Mitigate Climate Change Effects on Urban Stormwater Runoff: Case Study of New York City

Abstract

AbstractUrban stormwater runoff management systems are usually designed to meet performance standards based on historical climate data, which are assumed to be stationary. Based on the evidence from climate change impact studies, in the near future, stormwater management systems, within the built environment, may need to meet performance expectations under climatic conditions different from historical climate. Considering the impacts of climate change on rainfall intensities and stormwater runoff peak flow and volumes, and in turn the effectiveness of mitigation, practices for urban stormwater management are desirable. This paper presents the results of a climate change impact study on urban stormwater runoff in the Bronx River watershed, New York City. Considering the impacts of climate change on watershed runoff, the potential for low-impact development (LID) controls to mitigate the impacts was investigated. Stormwater runoff and LID controls were modeled using the U.S. EPA Storm Water Management Model...