Abstract
Accelerated stormwater runoff creates environmental problems in many urban communities. Methods of reducing runoff for individual residences are available, but are often recommended without sufficient analysis. For example, many states provide guidance on creating rain gardens, but few include information about how well rain gardens actually work. An analysis algorithm is presented to evaluate rain garden effectiveness at reducing stormwater runoff by promoting infiltration, evaporation, and evapotranspiration. Example simulations are presented based on an Ohio meteorological record. Results indicate that garden effectiveness is dominated by infiltration. Evaporation and evapotranspiration play minor roles in reducing runoff. Results also indicate that current rain garden design recommendations are often too conservative. Even for low permeability soils, rain gardens can be more effective than currently assumed. Common depth recommendations are reasonable, but area recommendations are also conservative. Residential rain gardens have a much better chance of reducing stormwater runoff than rain barrels. Their design recommendations should be revised to concentrate less on garden flora and more on the properties that promote desirable hydrologic performance.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of Baruch Blum, Maeve Goede, William Holman. Michelle Hummel, Alec Jokubaitis, Zijian Li, Henry Spradley and Ryan Stroud who assisted in defining and quantifying elements of this analysis.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 11 • November 2015
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 13, 2013
Accepted: Mar 19, 2015
Published online: May 28, 2015
Discussion open until: Oct 28, 2015
Published in print: Nov 1, 2015
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