Impact of Green Infrastructures for Stormwater Volume Reduction in Combined Sewers: A Statistical Approach for Handling Field Data from Paired Sites Containing Rain Gardens and Planter Boxes
Publication: Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment
Volume 9, Issue 3
Abstract
Combined sewer overflow (CSO) is one of the major water pollution problems faced by many municipalities that are on combined sewer systems. Green infrastructures (GIs) can help mitigate urban stormwater problems including CSOs. A field-based study over 3 years investigated the effectiveness of rain gardens and planter boxes as GIs for stormwater control in residential urban areas. The objectives of this study were to (1) investigate the impact of field-scale GIs on stormwater volume reduction in combined sewers at paired sites in an urban area, and (2) develop a methodology, including the application of a series of statistical methods, for analyzing field-based data and addressing the variations of field-collected data. The paired sites were both located in the City of St. Louis, Missouri. The test site had 12 rain gardens and six planter boxes, whereas the control site had no GIs. The stormwater was separated from the combined flows measured in sewers using the antecedent subsequent dry-days estimation method and were then normalized by drainage area and rainfall amount. The statistical methods deployed for this study included the Anderson Darling normality test, the Mann-Whitney U-test, and the Monte Carlo randomization test. This study revealed that, based on the normalized stormwater volume in the sewers from all of acceptable rainfall events, the means were () at the test site and () at the control site, revealing a 42% reduction of stormwater; the medians were () at the test site and () at the control site, revealing a 25% reduction of stormwater. For small rainfall events, the reduction was higher, at 62%. The methodology developed in this study can be used for other field-based studies. The findings provide needed information for the application of GIs to manage stormwater to help reduce CSOs.
Practical Applications
Green infrastructure provides numerous benefits for managing stormwater. However, field-scale studies that use continuously operating sewer systems to investigate their effect on stormwater in combined sewers are limited due to many hard-to-control factors, such as complex hydraulic conditions and flow variations in sewers and limitations in flow monitoring devices. This study developed a methodology to analyze flow data in combined sewers to quantify the effect of green infrastructure in reducing flow and, thus, combined sewer overflows. Stormwater volumes at a test site and a control site were separated from the measured combined flows using the antecedent subsequent dry-days estimation method and were normalized by the drainage area and rainfall amounts of the site. The results showed that residential rain gardens and planter boxes are a tool to help meet requirements to reduce combined sewer overflows. They reduced runoff within the sewer by 25% for the median of the measurements over the 3-year study and reduced runoff from small rainfall events by 62%.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This study was funded in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Urban Waters Small Grants program to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE). The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) provided in-kind support to this study for flow monitoring and data collection. The contents do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the USEPA or MSD, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. The contributions and support from Susan McCrary, P.E., Robert Boly, P.E., and Michael Kelly, P.E. of MSD are acknowledged. SIUE provided academic support to this study.
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© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 7, 2021
Accepted: Dec 29, 2022
Published online: Mar 31, 2023
Published in print: Aug 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Aug 31, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Business management
- Climates
- Combined sewers
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Infrastructure
- Lifeline systems
- Mathematics
- Meteorology
- Practice and Profession
- Precipitation
- Rainfall
- Sewers
- Statistics
- Stormwater management
- Sustainable development
- Urban and regional development
- Urban areas
- Water treatment
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