Application of the Analytical Hierarchical Process for Improved Selection of Storm-Water BMPs
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 135, Issue 4
Abstract
Engineers and planners responsible for the selection and design of storm-water best management practices (BMPs) face a formidable array of practices and techniques for managing the quality of urban runoff. Primary factors affecting the choice of BMP invariably include the performance capability of a given class of BMPs and the new impervious cover fraction arising from development projects. We introduce the analytical hierarchal process (AHP) as an analytical framework for BMP selection, through priority ranking of storm water control objectives and BMP performance metrics. Using the AHP, a BMP priority ranking is accomplished through the construction of pairwise relative rankings of the selection criteria and then of the BMPs themselves against the respective selection criteria. The use of normalized ranking vectors, obtained through eigenvector approximation, is employed to provide a final ranking of BMP choices that then can be carefully reviewed by the design engineer. Two BMP selection applications are included in the context of a residential/commercial development and a linear highway project.
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Acknowledgments
The writers wish to acknowledge the innumerable contributions of our friend and colleague, the late Professor G. V. Loganathan who was lost tragically at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. He was the inspiration for this special paper. We will always remember him for his novel approaches to challenging problems, his capability for analytical tool development, and his unfailing generosity of spirit. The work in which this paper is based was supported in part by the Virginia Transportation Research Council/Department of Transportation under Contract No. UPC 00079420.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 135 • Issue 4 • July 2009
Pages: 264 - 275
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 27, 2007
Accepted: Nov 5, 2008
Published online: Jun 15, 2009
Published in print: Jul 2009
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