Climate Change Impact on Combined Sewer Overflows
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 141, Issue 5
Abstract
Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) have major impacts on receiving waters. It is important to investigate the potential impacts of climate change on CSOs. The main objective of this study was to develop projections on the future evolution of CSO frequency and durations in the context of climate change. First, a model was developed based on available CSO data (date of occurrence and durations over the May to October period for the years 2007 to 2009) from 30 CSO outfalls located in southern Quebec. This model estimates the probability of occurrence and the duration of a CSO given the rainfall total depth. Second, two simulated series from a regional climate model were used to estimate the evolution of CSO frequency and durations between 1961–1990 and 2071–2100 periods. Results suggest that the May to October mean CSO number will remain globally unchanged for the 30 CSO outfalls while mean annual CSO duration will slightly increase (). On a monthly basis, CSO frequency and duration will decrease in average during July and August, while they will increase in May and October.
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Acknowledgments
This work was jointly funded by OURANOS consortium and the Government of Quebec (“Plan d’action sur les changements climatiques”) in collaboration with Natural Resources Canada. Claudine Fortier is grateful for the financial support provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and by the Fonds de recherche du Québec—Nature et technologies (FRQNT). CRCM data were generated and supplied by Ouranos. The authors thank the Ministère des Affaires municipales, des Régions et de l’Occupation du Territoire (MAMROT) for providing CSO data. The authors would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 141 • Issue 5 • May 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 30, 2013
Accepted: Jun 10, 2014
Published online: Jul 28, 2014
Discussion open until: Dec 28, 2014
Published in print: May 1, 2015
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