The Response of Runoff Pollution Control to Initial Runoff Volume Capture in Sponge City Construction Using SWMM

Abstract

Source facilities can manage stormwater runoff pollutants while also limiting runoff volume in China’s sponge city construction. However, there is no apparent link between source volume control and runoff pollution reduction. This research uses SWMM to develop a model based on the basic data of a city’s catchment zone in northern China in order to statistically examine the response relationship between the initial runoff volume capture of sponge city construction and the reduction effect of stormwater runoff pollution. Based on the dimensionless constant of the runoff pollution control curve, we suggested a novel approach for evaluating runoff pollution control effectiveness. This method was used to examine the response relationship between runoff volume control and runoff pollution control in three typical initial runoff volume capture facilities in the study area, namely bioretention, permeable pavement, rain barrels, and terminal storage tanks, under various design rainfall conditions. The dimensionless constant (Dc) has good practical application value and can quantitatively quantify the control effect of various facilities on stormwater runoff pollution. The Dc value of the source facilities is higher than that of the terminal control facilities, indicating that the source facilities have a higher ability to reduce rainwater runoff pollution than the terminal facilities, particularly the infiltration facilities. The research ideas and evaluation methods proposed in this paper provide an alternative approach for selecting and optimizing facilities during the planning and designing stages of sponge city construction, which can also be used in the monitoring and evaluation stage after completion to carry out a more effective evaluation of sponge facilities’ effects.