Detention Ponds Research Articles

Sustainable development of climate change resources: About recycling of water resources in Maple Park, Taichung, Taiwan.

Water is an essential substance in the global environment that sustains the functioning of all ecosystems. In fact, the demand for water resources should not be limited to human activity systems. In terms of sustainable development of the environment, the distribution and development of water resources need to expand to the needs of other ecosystems on the planet. Taiwan is surrounded by the sea and is a typical island-type economic country. However, due to the young geology of Taiwan, the terrain is too large and undulating, so that the rainwater quickly flows into the ocean and is difficult to store. Taiwan has an average of 2,500 mm of rainfall per year[1].The rainfall in Taiwan is more than 2.6 times the global average, it is a country with abundant rainfall. At the same time, there is also a crisis of water shortage. Due to the narrowness, the steep mountains, and the heavily rain of typhoon, it quickly flows into the sea. So that even if the rain is more and more in Taiwan, it will not ease the problem of water shortage. Therefore, the application of circular economy and water reuse is more important. This study takes “Flood detention pond in Maple Park” as the object of discussion. Exploring how the Taichung City Government used the ecological park to achieve the role of reservoirs for flood detention and disaster prevention. In addition, how to use water resources efficiently to achieve sustainable development has become a major issue in modern times.

Effect of interflow and baseflow on nutrient runoff characteristics in agricultural area

The most common way of reducing non-point source pollutants from agricultural areas is the installation of reservoirs. However, this method is only effective for surface runoff of settleable pollutants. This study was conducted to estimate the effect of interflow, baseflow, and surface runoff on pollutant runoff in a small agricultural catchment. Runoff of organic matters, SS, and T-P were directly proportional to the rainfall variation, while ammonia and nitrate were inversely proportional to the amount of rainfall. The interflow and baseflow was only 46% of the total stream flow, but the nitrate load reached 78%. The interflow as a nutrient transport pathway should be considered for managing a stream water quality. It requires careful attention and appropriate control methodology such as vegetation to consider the influence by interflow. The reservoir as a dry extended detention pond (DEDP) has function of nutrient captor.

Chemophysical Evaluation of Green Sorption Media for Copper Removal in Stormwater Runoff for Improving Ecosystem and Human Health

Green sorption media, which includes the utilization of renewable and recycled materials, can be used as a means for nutrient and copper removal in various low-impact development facilities. In this study, a green sorption media mixture consisting of recycled tire chip, expanded clay, and coconut coir was physiochemically evaluated for copper removal potential in stormwater runoff to deepen the understanding of its application potential. Isotherm, reaction kinetics, and life expectancy tests were conducted using both the media mixture and the individual components of the green sorption media. In addition, the media mixture was analyzed to determine its life expectancy. Isotherm test results revealed that the media mixture follows the Freundlich model and that the coconut coir had the highest affinity for copper. Distinct dynamic adsorption models were explored to determine the most suitable model for implementation based on a column test data set. Five dynamic adsorption models, including the Thomas, Clark, Bohart-Adams, Wolborska, and modified dose-response models, were investigated and the media mixture data collected in the column test were fitted into these five models, leading to the selection of the best model with the highest correlation. The modified dose-response model outperformed others in terms of the overall media mixture and the coconut coir. Life expectancy estimation showed that the media mixture has a life span of 2.13 years with the chosen influent conditions and can be applicable for improving the performance of water quality management in stormwater detention and retention ponds, bioswale, and other stormwater best management practices.

Cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) of low-impact-development (LID) technologies in southern Ontario

A comparative cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) of a low-impact-development (LID) parking lot test-site is performed to quantify the environmental costs of the manufacturing, construction, transportation, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of three bioretention cells and three permeable pavement systems (PPS) located in Mississauga, Ontario, as well as a hypothetical stormwater management pond. The LIDs' influent and effluent water quality and volume data is used to quantify the environmental benefits offered by the LIDs. Ecoinvent v3 LCA database is utilized to create an inventory of the materials and energy used during the life cycle of the LIDs. Using TRACI 2.1 impact assessment method, an LCA is conducted to simulate impacts on ten midpoint categories using a functional unit of “1 m2 of impervious area treated”. It has been found that manufacturing of raw materials has the largest impact (∼50%) on ozone depletion, global warming, smog potential, acidification, carcinogenic emissions, respiratory effects and fossil fuel depletion. The LIDs offer a significant avoidance of eutrophication potential, non-carcinogenic emissions and ecotoxicity, which are all mostly associated with the water quality benefits offered by the LIDs. The bioretention impacts are ∼90% lower than the PPS′ on a “per 1 m2 of impervious area treated” basis due to its larger impervious area treatment relative to its size compared to the PPS. The benefits offered by bioretention are significantly higher on “per 1 m2 LID area” basis (∼12x), but comparable on “per 1 m2 impervious area treated” basis. The impacts normalized by per-capita emissions in Canada in the year 2005 show that the negative impacts of the LIDs are insignificant compared to the benefits they provide. A comparison of the LIDs to a traditional pipe-and-pond infrastructure of an equivalent treatment capacity reveals that the cradle-to-grave impacts of LIDs are ∼20% lower compared to the detention pond's, and the benefits accrued by the LIDs are ∼300% higher compared to the detention pond, making a strong case for the selection of LIDs over traditional stormwater management practices.

The Projected Impact of a Neighborhood-scaled Green Infrastructure Retrofit.

Climate change and its related factors are increasing the frequency of hurricanes, coastal storms, and urban flooding. Recovery from disasters can be slow, with jurisdictions failing to build back better, wasting time and money without improving resilience to the next disaster. To help attenuate floods and mitigate their impacts, Low Impact Development (LID) and the incorporation of green infrastructure (GI) is gaining in popularity. LID installs more natural methods of absorbing, redirecting, retaining, and filtering water, through GI installations such as rain gardens, detention ponds, and the reduction of impervious surfaces. LID is, however, primarily implemented and evaluated only on a local scale; few studies have assessed the broader impacts of GI on a larger scale. In fact, most performance calculators that evaluate the effects of GI are only useful at the site scale. Further, most advocates of GI propose its use in new developments, without much attention to retrofitting existing, suburban development. This article seeks to determine what the potential effects of retrofitting an existing, suburban neighborhood with GI for flood protection at a larger scale could be, using Sugar Land, Texas, USA as a case site. First, low-impact facilities are proposed and schematically designed at a site scale for a typical single-family lot. The volume of rainfall that can be retained on site, due to each incorporated feature, is then derived using the Green Values National Storm Water Management Calculator. Using this data, the total volume of rainfall that could be retained if all residential sites in Sugar Land incorporate similar facilities is then projected. The result show that Sugar Land has the capacity to capture 56 billion liters of stormwater water annually if all residential properties use LID. Additional benefits of the use of GI include reduced heat (37%), improved aesthetics and property values (20%), increased recreational opportunities (18%), improved water quality (12%), improved air quality (5%), increased green collar jobs (4%), reduced damage from harmful gas emissions (3%), and increased energy savings (1%), thereby surpassing conventional storm water management techniques [1].

Investigating Discharge Behaviour of a Sharp-Edged Circular Orifice Flow under Low Head from Unsteady Experimental Procedure and Computational Fluid Dynamics

A circular sharp-edged orifice is a hydraulic flow device used to measure and control the outflow from channels, detention ponds, reservoirs and tanks. In this study experimentation was carried out at the Soil and Water Conservation Laboratory, University of Ibadan to investigate the discharge coefficient Cd of circular sharp-edged orifice at low head. The experiment was conducted using four different orifice diameters (4.5, 6.0, 7.5, 9.0cm). Flow characteristics in Cd for each orifice diameter were observed. A relationship between Cd and likely independent variables that could affect Cd was determined from dimensional analysis. Simple and multiple regression models of these variables were established. The simulation experimentation of the flow was carried out using COMSOL Multiphysics with Navier-Stokes equation as the governing equation. Data were analysed using ANOVA at α0.05.It was found that the Cd increased as head reduced, and higher increase was observed at lower head. Coefficient of determination (R2) showed that 99.3% variability in Cd is due to Reynolds number-Re and Froude’s number-Fr but only significant at 4.5cm orifice diameter (P < 0.05). Simulation results were similar in trend to experimental results; however, 4.5cm orifice diameter had the highest Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 1.9877 for Cd and 0.029 for Fr and minimal errors observed as the diameter increased. This study demonstrated that Cd cannot be taken as a constant value when dealing with low head; however, the simulation was able to forecast the trend but could not predict the exact values.Keywords: Orifice, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Navier-Stokes equations, Discharge Coefficient, Open Channel flow.

Reducing Stormwater Nitrogen with Denitrifying Bioreactors: Florida Case Study

AbstractGrowth of suburban areas has led to significant nonpoint source nitrate (NO3−) pollution. Wet detention ponds reduce peak flows but are not designed to reduce NO3− loading downstream. Denit...

Sustainable Management of Reservoir Water Quality and Quantity Through Reservoir Operational Strategy and Watershed Control Strategies

Water quality impairment is a serious health concern for reservoirs; two strategies were used to control reservoir outflow quality: (1) control of reservoir inflows with implementation of structural best management practices (BMPs) at the watershed, and (2) management of reservoir outflows by reservoir operational strategy. To assess the effectiveness of two strategies on reservoir water quality, an extension of the Sustainability Index (SI) for water quality was defined. Additionally, a quantity-based SI for supplying of downstream water demands was defined. So il and water assessment tool was linked to a reservoir simulation model (CE-QUAL-W2), and coupled with multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm. The proposed model was applied in four different scenarios on Alavian reservoir and its watershed, in Iran, during a 6-year time horizon. Four BMPs, named detention ponds, filter strips, parallel terraces, and grade stabilization structures, were used. The results indicated that application of the proposed approach provides the best set of solutions for decision makers to manage outflow quality and quantity. Whenever the watershed management strategy is not possible/practical, the reservoir operational strategy in selective withdrawal scheme would improve reservoir outflow quality by up to 77%. On the other hand, when the reservoir downstream water demand satisfaction is necessary, the watershed management strategy, or selective withdrawal scheme would be improved when the reservoir outflow dissolved oxygen concentration SI by up to 30 and 52%, respectively. Among the applied BMPs, filter strip had more effect on reducing nutrient loads and it was the most chosen BMP.

Improving Urban Drainage Systems Resiliency Against Unexpected Blockages: A Probabilistic Approach

Considering the increase of flood hazards in many large cities, the rehabilitation of hydro-urban infrastructures is an important concern for the municipal authorities. A probabilistic approach based on Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) is presented in this study to improve the resiliency of urban drainage systems when they are subject to unexpected structural blockages. The approach is integrated with SWMM simulation model and an evolutionary search algorithm to find the best set of rehabilitation measures under a significant number of blockage scenarios. Experimental results on the west zone of main drainage system in Tehran city indicate that proposed approach outperforms the conventional hydraulic-based methodology in terms of cost effectiveness and functionality. Results also show that adding the redundancy to the system by bypass lines in bottlenecks is considerably more efficient for flood mitigation and the increase of system resiliency under blockage incidents rather than using conventional methods such as detention ponds and enlargement of the channel sizes.

DEPOSITION OF SEDIMENTS IN DETENTION POND

Suspended sediment is the pollutant of primary concern to the urban rivers that results in adverse environmental and economical effect. Detention pond may become the structure that can be indirectly used to remove a portion of suspended sediment. Although the ponds were initially designed to control the increased quantity of runoff associated with impervious areas in the urban landscape, the ponds have been increasingly used to reduce the concentration of contaminants in the runoff. Experiments on deposition of sediments in detention pond and other related aspects such as sediment concentration dispersion and efficiency of the pond were investigated in this study. The kaolin concentration (150 mg/L) has been used as a cohesive sediment material and the range of the discharge is from 0.006 m 3 /s to 0.016 m3 /s. For horizontal distribution, as the diameter of sediment particle is 0.013 mm and particle settling velocity, ωs = 0.8 x 10-4 m/s, the shear flows and settling velocities give an effect of sediment concentration in the detention pond. As the time increases, the sediment concentration decays. The vertical distribution of suspended sediment concentration is uniform according to the small Rouse number at each point. The deposition rates depend on inlet velocity of the pond, an increase from 4.725 x 10-3 g/sec m2 in inlet area to 5.715 x 10-3 g/sec m2 at outlet area. The sediment trap efficiencies of the model is 20 % which is less than the sediment trap efficiency of the prototype due to only cohesive sediment material was used in this experiment

Development of Artificial Soil Formulations and Investigation of their Characteristics

Compositions of artificial soils, including sand, clay, chalk, lime cake, by-products of wet magnetic separation, plant residues, sediment from silt detention pond in different proportions have been developed. Samples were examined in laboratory and field conditions. It is shown that climatic factors influence the course of soil processes. The main physicochemical properties of artificial soil and indicators of its fertility are determined. It was revealed that the samples of the obtained artificial soils can be recommended for further use in the restoration of technogenicdisturbed territories.

New methodology of evaluation of best management practices performances for an agricultural watershed according to the climate change scenarios: A hybrid use of deterministic and decision support models

Climate change is a primary driver that alters water pollution hotspots in watersheds, which complicates the use of Best management practices (BMPs) for diffuse pollution mitigation strategies. The objective of this study is to evaluate future changes in BMPs on total phosphorus (TP) loads to the river system, depending on climate change. Current weather data were collected from 2000 to 2010 and future weather data from 2040 to 2050 were obtained from regional climate model simulations based on Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5 scenarios. This study describes various BMP implementation plans at affordable cost that are adapted to different weather conditions, current (for 2000–2010) and future climate scenarios (for 2040–2050). The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), i.e., one of the deterministic models for watershed management, was used to estimate total phosphorus (TP) removal efficiency of various types of BMP at two crop fields (rice paddy and soybean fields) in the Yeongsan River (YR) watershed of Korea. The Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II), i.e., one of the artificial intelligence (AI) models for decision support framework, was applied to obtain allow for trade-off analysis between two conflict objectives, the maximum TP load reduction against implementation costs. The SWAT simulation results showed that the model performance based on the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency and percent bias was acceptable for simulating three parameters; daily flow discharge, monthly sediment loads, and TP loads in the river. As a result, monthly sediment loads and TP loads increase remarkably under all future climate change scenarios except for July, when a comparable amount of precipitation is recorded during the present and future conditions. New implementation of BMPs, therefore, will be required for future climate change scenarios to achieve 50% TP load reduction in the given watershed condition. Interestingly, parallel terraces which showed good efficiency in reducing TP loads at both fields under the current weather condition cannot be effective any more under the worst-case weather scenario in the future climate. In such a case, detention ponds can be proposed as BMP alternative to parallel terraces. Overall, this study not only demonstrates that watershed management plans using BMPs should be adjusted according to climate change scenarios, but also that the hybrid use of SWAT model and AI can help in refining existing and future BMPs at affordable cost.

Biomass decaying and elemental release of aquatic macrophyte detritus in waterways of the Indian River Lagoon basin, South Florida, USA

Decaying experiments of four major aquatic macrophyte detritus, namely cattail (Typha orientalis), water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes), hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) and maidencane (Panicum hemitomon), were conducted using the litterbag technique in the stormwater detention pond of South Florida, USA. Dry weight and chemical composition of remaining biomass were dynamically determined during the 185-day decay experiment. The results showed that decomposition rates (k), and the derived turnover (t50% and t95%) were species specific. The k values decreased in the order of hydrilla (0.0123 g day−1) > water lettuce (0.0082 g day−1) > maidencane (0.0049 g day−1) > cattail (0.0031 g day−1), whereas t50% and t95% varied in the reverse way. Biomass properties including concentrations of C, N, P, lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose, and the ratios of C/N, C/P, N/P and lignin/N affected decaying rate of the studied aquatic plants. The dry mass loss and concentrations of C, N, P, lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose and ratios C/N, C/P, N/P and Lignin/N of plant detritus were significantly affected by species, decaying time, and their interactions. However, the influence of species differences was greater than that of decaying time on those indexes. The estimated amounts (kg) of nutrients and metals released based on k values for the waterways of the IRL basin (water surface area 15.6 km2) were N 126.85 × 103, P 8.89 × 103, Zn 408.20, Pb 97.95, Cr 128.99, Mn 313.03, and Cu 82.40. Water lettuce contributed most, accounting for 52.13% N, 56.81% P, 74.95% Zn, 59.58% Pb, and 74.65% Mn, followed by hydrilla, cattail and maidencane. For Cr and Cu, cattail had the greatest contribution of 65.77% and 54.15%, respectively, followed by water lettuce, hydrilla and maidencane.

Stormflow and suspended sediment routing through a small detention pond with uncertain discharge rating curves

Abstract Ratings curves are commonly used for computing discharge time series from recorded water stages or for hydrograph and sediment graph routing through detention ponds. Numerous studies have demonstrated that these rating curves are often linked with significant uncertainty. Nevertheless, the uncertainty related to the use of these rating curves in sediment estimates has not been investigated so far. Hence, in this work, we assess the impact of using such uncertain discharge rating curves on the estimation of the pond outflow (discharge, sediment concentration and load) from a small detention pond located in a small urban catchment in Poland. Our results indicate that the uncertainty in rating curves has a huge impact on estimates of discharge and sediment fluxes in the outlet from the reservoir, wherein the uncertainty in the inlet rating curve plays a more important role than the uncertainty in the outlet rating curve. Poorly estimated rating curve(s) may thus lead to serious errors and biased conclusions in the estimates and designs of detention ponds. To reduce this uncertainty, more efforts should be made to construct the rating curves at the pond inlet and to gather more data in extreme conditions.

Island topographies to reduce short-circuiting in stormwater detention ponds and treatment wetlands

Urban stormwater is an increasing environmental problem for cities worldwide. Many cities have turned to green infrastructure solutions, which provide water treatment and retention while also harnessing other ecosystem services. This study considered the design of detention ponds and treatment wetlands with the goal of improving hydraulic performance (specifically reducing short-circuiting) while also increasing habitat diversity. Fifty-four basin topographies, including a variety of islands and berms, were compared to an open and a traditional serpentine basin. Using scaled physical models the hydraulic performance of each design was evaluated using tracer studies to construct the residence time distribution and to visually observe the circulation pattern. In addition, the earthwork construction cost and habitat diversity index (based on the Shannon-Weaver entropy measure) were estimated at field scale. The results reveal multiple design options that improve hydraulic performance, relative to both the open and serpentine basins, and which represent a range of habit diversity and cost. General guidelines for optimal configurations are discussed.

Risk-based quantification of the impact of climate change on storm water infrastructure

Storm water detention ponds are usually designed to store-and-release the runoff of extreme rainfall events based on a selected return period, e.g., 100 years. The design storm is typically a recorded historical event or one that is extracted from historical intensity–duration–frequency (IDF) curves. In essence, the selected storm and the resulting design are deterministic. In this research, the inevitable natural weather variability and its impact on the uncertainty of extreme events are simulated and quantified. This study builds on the results of a previous study where a stochastic weather generator, LARS-WG, was used to generate an ensemble of series with a 30-year length of hourly rainfall in the city of Saskatoon, Canada, based on the statistical properties of historical rainfall. Here, the most critical day (24-h rainfall) of each of the series is identified as a possible realization of the design storm. The runoff of each realization of the storm events is routed to a storm water pond in Saskatoon using the XPSWMM model. The critical runoff volume collected in the pond throughout the 24-h duration is also identified. Empirical probability distributions are fitted to the critical values of runoff volumes collected in the pond and compared with the current design storage. Exceedance probabilities and expected flood risk are estimated from the probability distributions for the baseline period (1960–1990), as well as under three projected future (2014–2100) scenarios of climate change (RCP 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5). Along with the magnitude of expected risk, this method provides the probability of the infrastructure’s failure due to uncertainty. The proposed risk-based approach presented in this study provides a way for municipalities to quantify the risk associated with their selected design values and for tangible and meaningful interpretation of the risks that projected climate change might pose on storm water infrastructure. The main finding of this study is that the distribution of rain throughout the storm event may play a more important role than the total rainfall depth when water ponding/flooding is the major concern. It is further concluded that risk analysis must be tailored to the type of infrastructure under consideration.

Modeling the Effects of Introducing Low Impact Development in a Tropical City: A Case Study from Joinville, Brazil

In tropical countries like Brazil, fast and uncontrolled urbanization, together with high rainfall intensities, makes flooding a frequent event. The implementation of decentralized stormwater controls is a promising strategy aiming to reduce surface runoff and pollution through retention, infiltration, filtration, and evapotranspiration of stormwater. Although the application of such controls has increased in the past years in developed countries, they are still not a common approach in developing countries, such as Brazil. In this paper we evaluate to what extend different low impact development (LID) techniques are able to reduce the flood risk in an area of high rainfall intensities in a coastal region of South Brazil. Feasible scenarios of placing LID units throughout the catchment were developed, analyzed with a hydrodynamic solver, and compared against the baseline scenario to evaluate the potential of flood mitigation. Results show that the performance improvements of different LID scenarios are highly dependent on the rainfall events. On average, a total flood volume reduction between 30% and 75% could be achieved for seven LID scenarios. For this case study the best results were obtained when using a combination of central and decentral LID units, namely detention ponds, infiltration trenches, and rain gardens.

도시 리질리언스 향상을 위한 재해별 그린인프라 유형 고찰

The purpose of this study is three-fold: 1) to analyze the categories of green infrastructures according to related disciplines through literature review, 2) to draw the categories of green infrastructures according to the natural disasters, and 3) to propose application measures of the green infrastructure to enhance urban resilience. To reach these goals, 381 papers have been studied through literature review and frequency analysis for recent 5 years. The results of the study are as follows: First, 26 categories of green infrastructure are established according to function and scale, and the categories of green infrastructure whether in engineering, natural science, and social science are analyzed through frequency analysis. Second, this study has drawn the major categories of green infrastructures that can reduce damages by flood, heat island, and drought. The major categories of floods are green roofs, permeable pavement, detention ponds, etc; the major categories of heat islands are green roofs, trees and parks; and the major categories of drought are green roofs, parks and detention ponds. Third, we discuss the utilization measures of green infrastructure according to the multi-scale strategy to improve overall robustness to enhance urban resilience. This study emphasizes the necessity of enhancing the robustness of the urban system in response to disaster by establishing networks of hub and link with green infrastructure.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon contamination and source profiling in watersheds serving three small Wisconsin, USA cities

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) continue to be common environmental contaminants. The anthropogenic sources of these compounds are broadly classed as petrogenic and pyrogenic, but more importantly specific sources including activities such as coal burning, oil spills, and application of coal tar sealants can be identified based on several types of data analysis. Several studies have focused on PAHs in sediments of lakes, streams, and stormwater ponds in larger urban areas, finding contamination arising from a number of different sources and correlating well to land use in the nearby watershed. We report here a study of PAH concentrations and source identification for river and lakebed sediments in and upstream of three smaller Wisconsin municipalities: Eau Claire (Eau Claire River), Stevens Point (Plover River), and Racine (Root River). PAH concentrations increased with increasing developed land cover and impervious surface. Concentrations within the cities and upstream agricultural or residential areas do not rise to the level found in larger urban areas or stormwater ponds servicing industrial or commercial land use, but can rise to a level that exceeds the Threshold Effects Concentration (TEC). Concentrations in areas with natural landcovers were very low, with the exception of one sample in a wetland with unusually high organic content. Multiple lines of evidence indicate that coal tar-based pavement sealants are a primary source of the contamination in all three cities. PAH concentrations reported here are likely conservative, and these results indicate that even smaller cities using detention ponds as a stormwater management practice should be prepared for costs of contaminated sediment disposal.

Applying fuzzy logic to open data for sustainable development decision-making: a case study of the planned city Amaravati

The Indian State of Andhra Pradesh is in the process of designing and constructing a planned capital city on the southern banks of the Krishna River at Amaravati. This region will see a significant increase in urban land cover and impervious surface area (ISA) under the 2050 draft perspective plan from the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority. As the city central zone sits on the former floodplain of the Krishna River and is subject to concentrated rainfall during monsoon seasons—this increase in ISA risks increasing flood risk through preventing infiltration of storm water and causing increased peak storm water flow (NRSC 2014). The State has announced plans for a “zero-flooding city” through implementation of technologies including green roofs, porous pavement, and detention ponds (ADC 2017). This study aims to facilitate these efforts through mapping of present and future land usage, regional flood risk, and environmental services utilizing open-source data in order to maximize efficiency of installed green infrastructure and minimize future flood damages. A map of relative soil infiltration capacity was created through fuzzy overlay of sand percentage, clay percentage, and bulk density at several depths. Relative flood risk maps for both present-day land cover and a 2050 scenario were developed using several factors: elevation, flow accumulation, surface runoff, and soil properties. A novel Relative Environmental Services Provided Index is proposed here to in order to encourage cost-effective and ecologically sound development through composite visualization of carbon storage, greenery, runoff coefficients, and soil flood prevention.