Developing Green Stormwater Infrastructure Strategies to Reduce Flood Runoff and Improve Water Quality for the Vulnerable Coastal Communities of Houston

Flooding in highly urbanized coastal communities leaves an adverse impact on socially vulnerable populations as they receive fewer benefits from emerging flood reduction strategies. Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) can be a sustainable flood resilience approach for vulnerable communities as it can provide nature-based solutions to reduce flood depths and improve runoff water quality. This ongoing study aims at planning GSI strategies and evaluating their performance in the vulnerable communities in the coastal city of Houston, Texas, to mitigate the existing flood risk. Flood exposure in the Kashmere Gardens and Trinity/Houston Gardens neighborhoods of Houston is undeniably higher because of years of environmental injustice, inadequate stormwater infrastructure, non-strategic local planning, and anticipated sea-level rise due to climate change. In addition, releasing untreated industrial wastes into flooding water has given rise to water quality concerns as the toxic chemicals in the flood water enter Galveston Bay downstream through Hunting Bayou posing a severe threat to the fisheries. The potential of a range of GSI practices, including bio-retention cells, permeable pavements, green roofs, rain barrels, etc., are being evaluated using the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) for the critical sites near the Hunting Bayou in terms of lowering the runoff quantity and pollutant loading for continuous simulation. Results reveal that multiple GSIs within a site perform better than a single low-impact development option. The study results will assist policymakers and other stakeholders to understand the real-time impact of GSI measures and make informed decisions and investments to solve flooding issues in the Gardens neighborhoods.