Evaluation of Green Infrastructure Designs Using the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment Tool

Abstract

In arid and semi-arid regions, green infrastructure (GI) designs can address several issues facing urban environments, including augmenting water supply, mitigating flooding, decreasing pollutant loads, and promoting greenness in the built environment. An optimum design captures stormwater, addressing flooding and water quality issues, in a way that increases water availability to support natural vegetation communities and landscaping in the built environment. A module was developed for the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) tool which supports the design and placement of a suite of GI practices, singularly or in combination, in order to simulate urban hydrology with and without GI features at the household and neighborhood scale.The GI tool takes advantage of the advanced, physically-based infiltration algorithms and geometric flexibility of the Kinematic Runoff and Erosion (KINEROS2) watershed model. The resulting software provides an up-to-date GISbased GI assessment framework that automatically derives model parameters from widely available spatial data. It is also capable of manipulating GI features within a graphical interface to conveniently view and compare simulation results with and without GI features at a lot, neighborhood or small catchment scale. The new tool was used to assess a variety of GI designs across a subdivision in Sierra Vista, Arizona for the design objectives: maximize stormwater capture, maximize water augmentation, and maximize ecosystem services. Watershed Management 2015 © ASCE 2015 229 © ASCEWatershed Management 2015 Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Nanyang Technological University-Library on 08/20/15.

CIERMMI Women in Science Engineering and Technology TXV

“…Its use in urbanized environments with semi-arid climate can help restore up to 82% of the hydrological balance (Feng et al, 2016). In arid sites such as Arizona in the United States, green infrastructure was adapted with xeric vegetation and sustainable irrigation practices; the positive effect of these measures achieved a saving of 0.77 ± 0.05 ± 0.05 × 108 m 3 of water and an increase in water availability for the population (Guertin et al, 2015). Choosing this type of strategies can annually reduce urban runoff (35-45%;Feng et al, 2016) and restore evapotranspiration (18-25%;Li and Davis, 2009;Feng et al, 2016); moreover, infiltration is favored and ponding is decreased (84%; Braswell et al, 2018); they have the capacity to remove pollutants through natural processes (Kamali et al, 2017); they provide ecological benefits (Li and Davis, 2009); they are an option for domestic self-consumption and waste discharge management (Melo dos Santos and Farias, 2017); they improve the thermal and acoustic insulation of buildings (Reyes et al, 2016), among others.…”

Green infrastructure: An ally to improve urban runoff management in semi-arid areas

“…Its use in urbanized environments with semi-arid climate can help restore up to 82% of the hydrological balance (Feng et al, 2016). In arid sites such as Arizona in the United States, green infrastructure was adapted with xeric vegetation and sustainable irrigation practices; the positive effect of these measures achieved a saving of 0.77 ± 0.05 ± 0.05 × 108 m 3 of water (Yang and Wang, 2017) and an increase in water availability for the population (Guertin et al, 2015). Choosing this type of strategies can annually reduce urban runoff (35-45%;Feng et al, 2016) and restore evapotranspiration (18-25%; Li and Davis, 2009;Feng et al, 2016); moreover, infiltration is favored and ponding is decreased (84%; Braswell et al, 2018); they have the capacity to remove pollutants through natural processes (Kamali et al, 2017); they provide ecological benefits (Li and Davis, 2009); they are an option for domestic self-consumption and waste discharge management (Melo dos Santos and Farias, 2017); they improve the thermal and acoustic insulation of buildings (Reyes et al, 2016), among others.…”