Effect of Aggregation of On-Site Storm-Water Control Devices in an Urban Catchment Model
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 14, Issue 9
Abstract
Spatially distributed on-site devices such as detention tanks and bioretention are becoming more common as a means of controlling urban storm-water quantity and quality. One approach to modeling the cumulative catchment-scale effects of such devices is to resolve the catchment down to the scale of a land parcel or finer, and then to model each device separately. This involves computational and input data demands that may be impracticable, especially in planning or preliminary design stages of storm-water system design. To reduce these demands, the spatial resolution can be coarsened by aggregating land parcels and devices, but this may compromise model accuracy. The focus of this study was examination of the effects of aggregation on predictions of water quantity and quality (for a representative contaminant, total suspended solids) for detention, infiltration, and bioretention devices. A detailed model for urban storm water improvement conceptualization simulation was set up for a catchment with 810 source areas and associated devices, and the model was then reduced to three aggregation levels (55 devices, seven devices, and one device). The influence of aggregation was assessed by comparing the predictions of the aggregated models against the predictions of the detailed model. Aggregation had little effect on the predictions of maximum concentration ( difference compared with the detailed model), load , and baseflow when the devices were sized in proportion to the impervious area and when there was high soil permeability. Aggregation to a single device increased peak flow compared with the detailed model, by up to 38.1% for bioretention and less for other devices. The peak flow increase was a consequence of reducing the range of travel times in the aggregated drainage network. Aggregation to seven devices had considerably less effect on peak flow (up to 8.7% increase). Addition of variability to the size of the devices introduced further aggregation effects. Methods to extend the aggregation approach to cater for variability in device sizing are proposed in the paper. The results of the study suggest that aggregation can be used to reduce computational and input data demands, with little penalty in terms of prediction accuracy.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers wish to acknowledge EcoWater for providing spatial data for the model, the MUSIC developers for providing a model import routine, and Annette Davies for comments on a draft of the paper. This work was funded under the New Zealand Foundation for Research Science and Technology Contract No. UNSPECIFIEDC09X0309.
References
Berthouex, P. M., and Brown, L. C. (2002). Statistics for environmental engineers, 2nd Ed., CRC, Boca Raton, Fla.
Bierkins, M. F. P., Finke, P. A., and de Willigen, P. (2000). Upscaling and downscaling methods for environmental research, Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Bloschl, G., and Sivaplan, M. (1995). “Scale issues in hydrological modelling: A review.” Hydrolog. Process., 9(3–4), 251–290.
Bosley, E. K., II. (2008). “Hydrologic evaluation of low impact development using a continuous, spatially-distributed model.” MA thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ., Va.
Burton, G. A., Jr., and Pitt, R. (2001). Stormwater effects handbook: A tool box for watershed managers, scientists, and engineers, CRC, Boca Raton, Fla.
Carter, T., and Jackson, C. R. (2007). “Vegetated roofs for stormwater management at multiple spatial scales.” Landsc. Urban Plann., 80, 84–94.
Chang, C. L., Lo, S. L., and Huang S. M. (2008). “Optimal strategies for best management practice placement in a synthetic watershed.” Environ. Monit. Assess., 153, 359–364.
Chiew, F., and McMahon, T. A. (1999). “Modelling runoff and diffuse pollution loads in urban areas.” Water Sci. Technol., 39(12), 241–248.
Elliott, A. H., and Trowsdale, S. (2007). “A review of models for low impact urban stormwater drainage.” Environ. Modell. Software, 22(3), 394–405.
Elliott, A. H., Trowsdale, S., and Wadhwa, S. (2006). “Upscaling a model of on-site stormwater control devices.” Proc., 7th Int. Conf. on Urban Drainage Modelling and Proc., 4th Int. Conf. on Water Sensitive Urban Design, Melbourne, Australia, 1, 271–278.
Elliott, S., Ibbitt, R., Woods, R., Spigel, B., and Shankar, U. (2001). “Stormwater modelling for biological flows and distributed flow controls.” Proc., 2nd South Pacific Stormwater Conf., New Zealand Water and Wastes Association, Auckland, New Zealand, 237–247.
Freni, G., and Oliveri, E. (2005). “Mitigation of urban flooding: A simplified approach for distributed stormwater management practices selection and planning.” Urban Water, 2(4), 215–226.
Hardy, M. J., Kuczera, G., and Coombes, P. J. (2005). “Integrated urban water cycle management: The UrbanCycle model.” Water Sci. Technol., 52(9), 1–9.
Jha, M., Gassman, P. W., Secchi, S., Gu, R., and Arnold, J. (2004). “Effect of watershed division on SWAT flow, sediment, and nutrient predictions.” J. Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 40(3), 811–825.
Kaini, P., Artita, K., and Nicklow, J. W. (2007). “Evaluating optimal detention pond locations at a watershed scale.” World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2007, K. C. Kabbes, ed., ASCE, New York, 1–8.
Kertesz, R., Heaney, J., and Sansalone, J. (2007). “Disaggregated modeling for urban hydrologic controls.” World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2007, K. C. Kabbes, ed., ASCE, New York, 1–11.
Kronaveter, L., Shamir, U., and Kessler, A. (2001). “Water-sensitive urban planning: Modeling on-site infiltration.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 127(2), 78–88.
Maryland Department of the Environment. (2000). 2000 Maryland stormwater design manual, Vols. 1 and 2, Center for Watershed Protection and the Maryland Dept. of the Environment, Baltimore, Md.
Menzies, M., and Paterson, G. (2005). “Modelling the performance of spatially-distributed on-site stormwater management devices in Auckland City.” Proc., 4th South Pacific Conf. on Stormwater and Aquatic Resource Protection (CD-ROM), New Zealand Water and Wastes Association, Auckland, New Zealand.
MUSIC Development Team. (2005). “MUSIC user guide: Version 3.0.” Cooperative Research Centre for Catchment Hydrology. Monash Univ., Australia, ⟨http://www/toolkit.com.au⟩ (Oct. 25, 2007).
Ostrowski, M. W. (2002). “Modeling urban hydrological processes and management scenarios at different temporal and spatial scales.” Best modeling practices for urban water systems, Monograph Series, W. James, ed., Vol. 10, CHI, Guelph, Ont., 27–40.
Park, S. Y., Lee, K. W., Park, I. H., and Ha, S. R. (2008). “Effect of the aggregation level of surface runoff fields and sewer network for a SWMM simulation.” Desalination, 226(1–3), 328–337.
Pugh, A., and Keeble, R. (2004). “A comparison of full pipe and skeletonised models. When bigger is better (and faster).” NZWWA Modelling Conf., New Zealand Water and Wastes Association, Wellington, New Zealand.
Rossman, L. A. (2005). “Storm water management model user's manual version 5.0.” Rep. No. EPA/600/R-05/040, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Water Supply and Water Resources Division, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Cincinnati.
Sample, D. J., and Heaney, J. P. (2006). “Integrated management of irrigation and urban storm-water infiltration.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 132(5), 362–373.
Villarreal, E., Semadeni-Davies, A., and Bengtsson, L. (2004). “Inner city stormwater control using a combination of BMPs.” Ecol. Eng., 22(4–5), 279–298.
Warwick, J. J., and Litchfield, J. (1993). “Impact of spatial and temporal data limitations on the modeling of runoff quantity and quality.” Water management in the ’90s: A time for innovation, K. Hon, ed., ASCE, New York, 862–865.
Wong, T. H. F., Fletcher, T. D., Duncan, H. P., and Jenkins, G. A. (2006). “Modelling urban stormwater treatment–a unified approach.” Ecol. Eng., 27(1), 58–70.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 19, 2007
Accepted: Dec 12, 2008
Published online: Feb 20, 2009
Published in print: Sep 2009
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.