Watershed Systems Analysis for Urban Storm-Water Management to Achieve Water Quality Goals
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 139, Issue 5
Abstract
Systems analysis can assist in decision making to achieve water quality goals in urban watersheds that are typically associated with streams having poor water quality and degraded aquatic habitats caused by storm-water runoff. The need for an effective systems analysis methodology is particularly urgent in watersheds facing regulatory action through the imposition of a total maximum daily load (TMDL). Systems analysis methodologies are available that approach the problem at different levels of complexity corresponding to the methods that are used to model the physical, technological, and economic aspects of watershed storm-water management. Important roles exist for both simulation and analytical optimization, and they can be used together in ways that improve the applicability of both. These tools, along with geographic analysis and field monitoring, are used in a four-stage process that can lead to the development of a cost-effective strategy for moving an impaired watershed toward the restoration of water quality and removal of the impaired status. Details of the methodology are described, and results are presented from its successful application in the development of an action plan for an impaired watershed that drains multiple municipalities in suburban Philadelphia, PA.
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Acknowledgments
The author acknowledges financial support for the research reported on in this paper from the U.S. Federal Coastal Zone Management Program administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Project 4100046386, CZ1:2008PD.07. Additional support was obtained from Swarthmore College’s faculty research fund and the Eugene Lang fund for faculty leave support.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 139 • Issue 5 • September 2013
Pages: 464 - 477
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 9, 2011
Accepted: Aug 9, 2012
Published online: Aug 23, 2012
Discussion open until: Jan 23, 2013
Published in print: Sep 1, 2013
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