Modeling of the Hydrologic Performance of Distributed LID Stormwater under a Changing Climate: Municipal-Scale Performance Improvements
Publication: Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment
Volume 9, Issue 2
Abstract
Results are presented from a large-scale Monte Carlo–style simulation of the use of low-impact development (LID) technologies to reduce runoff from severe storms. Simulations were run to model the hydrologic behavior of a municipal-scale storm sewer network that included porous pavements and green-blue roof systems as part of a distributed stormwater management system. Simulations were run for a variety of land-use types (residential, commercial, and mixed use), design approaches (traditional, LID, and traditional designs with a single LID technology), and pipe networks. The land-use and design approaches for a given location in the municipal network were allocated randomly and run for a broad range of design rainfall depths resulting in over 200,000 individual hydrologic simulations. The results indicate that green-blue roof systems can significantly reduce the peak discharge compared with impervious roof systems, and porous pavements can significantly reduce the total discharge over the municipality compared with impervious pavement systems. This study can inform municipalities about how to achieve current discharge performance with a significantly larger storm volume. Results show that the same peak discharge can be achieved for a 10% deeper storm with the adoption of LID technologies over 30% of the municipality drainage area. This in turn will ensure that the storm system is able to manage the increased storm depths that will result from climate change over the coming decades.
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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
The authors thank Ryne Philips, Trip West, Michael Whitfield, Joshua Robinson, and Michael Horton for many helpful conversations during this study. They also thank Davis & Floyd, who contributed the original site designs for the case studies. This paper was prepared as a result of work sponsored by the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium with NOAA Financial Assistance No. NA14OAR4170088. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, or NOAA. Additionally, South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium and NOAA may copyright any work that is subject to copyright and was developed, or for which ownership was purchased, under Financial Assistance No. NA14OAR4170088. The South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium and NOAA reserve a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use the work for federal purposes, and to authorize others to do so.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment
Volume 9 • Issue 2 • May 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 5, 2022
Accepted: Dec 15, 2022
Published online: Feb 8, 2023
Published in print: May 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jul 8, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Buildings
- Business management
- Climates
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Government
- Gravels
- Green buildings
- Hydrologic engineering
- Hydrologic models
- Infrastructure
- Local government
- Meteorology
- Models (by type)
- Organizations
- Pavement condition
- Pavements
- Practice and Profession
- Precipitation
- Storms
- Stormwater management
- Structural engineering
- Structures (by type)
- Sustainable development
- Transportation engineering
- Water and water resources
- Water discharge
- Water treatment
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