Rainfall–Runoff Analysis for Sustainable Stormwater Drainage for the City of Madinah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Design of urban drainage infrastructure depends on the rainfall pattern and runoff volumes. Under the current impacts of urbanization and industrialization in the Kingdome of Saudi Arabia (KSA), there is a need to review the guidelines for design of drainage infrastructure. In this study, a methodology is developed to investigate the impact of variations in rainfall on the capacity of drainage infrastructure for the city of Madinah (Taibah), KSA. Rainfall data collected from Madinah Municipality was analyzed to determine the normal annual rainfall (average of the annual rainfall for 30 years). Data consistency was checked using double mass curve technique, and the design rainfall (DR) was estimated by Gumbel Extreme Value Distribution. The Mann-Kendall test was run at 5% significance level on rainfall time series over the period 1985–2015; however, no significant trend was observed. Urban drainage schemes are designed for peak flows based on DR. The true values of DR are difficult to estimate due to uncertainties associated with variations in estimation procedures and data limitations. An attempt is made to elaborate the impact of data errors (both systematic and random) on DR to facilitate engineers in selecting safety factor for design of urban drainage infrastructure. The stormwater trunk-sewer was designed to safely convey the runoff for an area around the Masjid-e-Al-Nabawi. Rainfall–runoff modeling was performed by Rational Method to find the peak flow and Nash GIUH. It was found that there is about 20% change in diameter of trunk sewer for change in return period from 2 to 10 years.