Predicting Ecological Effects of Watershed-Wide Rain Garden Implementation Using a Low-Cost Methodology
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 3
Abstract
Stormwater control measures (SCMs) have been employed to mitigate peak flows and pollutants associated with watershed urbanization. Downstream ecological effects caused by the implementation of SCMs are largely unknown, especially at the watershed scale. Knowledge of these effects could help with setting goals for and targeting locations of local restoration efforts. Unfortunately, studies such as these typically require a high level of time and effort for the investigating party, of which resources are often limited. This study proposes a low-cost investigation method for the prediction of ecological effects on the watershed scale with the implementation of rain garden systems by using publicly available data and software. For demonstration purposes, a typical urban watershed was modeled using Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) 5.0. Forty-five models were developed in which the percent impervious area was varied 3 to 80%, and the fraction of rain gardens implemented with respect to the number of structures was varied from 0 to 100%. The river chub fish (Nocomis micropogon) and its congeners (Nocomis spp.) were chosen as ecological indicators, as they are considered to be keystone species through interspecific nesting association. Depth and velocity criteria for successful nest building locations of the river chub were determined; these criteria can then be applied to many other watersheds. In this study, both base flow conditions and a typical summer storm event (1.3 cm, 6 h duration) were evaluated. During the simulated storm, nest-building locations were not affected in the 3 and 5% impervious cover models. Nest destruction was found to occur in approximately 54% of the original nest building sites for the 9% and 10% impervious areas. Nearly all of the nest-building locations were uninhabitable for impervious areas 20% and greater. Rain garden implementation significantly improved river chub habitat in the simulation, with greatest marginal benefit at lower levels of implementation.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the William Penn Foundation and the Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership (VUSP) for supporting this work. In addition, the authors would like to thank the reviewers of this work for their thoughtful comments.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 3 • March 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 11, 2013
Accepted: Aug 7, 2014
Published online: Sep 17, 2014
Discussion open until: Feb 17, 2015
Published in print: Mar 1, 2015
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