Evaluation of the effectiveness of green infrastructure on hydrology and water quality in a combined sewer overflow community

Chen, Jingqiu; Liu, Yaoze; Gitau, Margaret W.; Engel, Bernard A.; Flanagan, D. C.; Harbor, Jonathan M.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.01.416

Cited by 66 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…This corresponds to an annual cost (discount rate 4%, 40 years life) of 63 billion euro. This means a cost of 6.3 € m −3 of annual runoff saved (assuming an average annual runoff saving of 10 km 3 ), which is reasonably in line with an estimate of 9.2 € m −3 for the U.S. context, where the annual runoff volume reduction was 12% 54 compared to our estimate of 17.5%.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Water, energy and climate benefits of urban greening throughout Europe under different climatic scenarios

Quaranta

Dorati

Pistocchi

2021

Sci Rep

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Urban greening is an effective mitigation option for climate change in urban areas. In this contribution, a European Union (EU)-wide assessment is presented to quantify the benefits of urban greening in terms of availability of green water, reduction of cooling costs and CO2 sequestration from the atmosphere, for different climatic scenarios. Results show that greening of 35% of the EU’s urban surface (i.e. more than 26,000 km2) would avoid up to 55.8 Mtons year−1 CO2 equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions, reducing energy demand for the cooling of buildings in summer by up to 92 TWh per year, with a net present value (NPV) of more than 364 billion Euro. It would also transpire about 10 km3 year−1 of rain water, turning into “green” water about 17.5% of the “blue” water that is now urban runoff, helping reduce pollution of the receiving water bodies and urban flooding. The greening of urban surfaces would decrease their summer temperature by 2.5–6 °C, with a mitigation of the urban heat island effect estimated to have a NPV of 221 billion Euro over a period of 40 years. The monetized benefits cover less than half of the estimated costs of greening, having a NPV of 1323 billion Euro on the same period. Net of the monetized benefits, the cost of greening 26,000 km2 of urban surfaces in Europe is estimated around 60 Euro year−1 per European urban resident. The additional benefits of urban greening related to biodiversity, water quality, health, wellbeing and other aspects, although not monetized in this study, might be worth such extra cost. When this is the case, urban greening represents a multifunctional, no-regret, cost-effective solution.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Water, energy and climate benefits of urban greening throughout Europe under different climatic scenarios

Quaranta

Dorati

Pistocchi

2021

Sci Rep

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“…In the future, coupling watershed and Delta models with aquatic weed growth models would allow us to explore the impact of agricultural nitrogen loading on the downstream aquatic environment. The coupled model could be used to assess alternative agricultural management practices and climate scenarios (e.g., drought) [6,[93][94][95][96], leading to proactive management strategies for aquatic weed control.…”

Section: Riverine Nitrate Exports Aquatic Weed Infestation and Futumentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrate Runoff Contributing from the Agriculturally Intensive San Joaquin River Watershed to Bay-Delta in California

et al. 2019

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Nitrogen loading from agricultural landscapes can trigger a cascade of detrimental effects on aquatic ecosystems. Recently, the spread of aquatic weed infestations (Eichhornia crassipes, Egeria densa, Ludwigia spp., and Onagraceae) in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of northern California has raised concerns, and nitrogen loading from California’s intensive farming regions is considered as one of the major contributors. In this study, we employed the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to simulate nitrogen exports from the agriculturally intensive San Joaquin River watershed to the Delta. The alternate tile drainage routine in SWAT was tested against monitoring data in the tile-drained area of the watershed to examine the suitability of the new routine for a tile nitrate simulation. We found that the physically based Hooghoudt and Kirkham tile drain routine improved model performance in representing tile nitrate runoff, which contributed to 40% of the nitrate loading to the San Joaquin River. Calibration results show that the simulated riverine nitrate loads matched the observed data fairly well. According to model simulation, the San Joaquin River plays a critical role in exporting nitrogen to the Delta by exporting 3135 tons of nitrate-nitrogen annually, which has a strong ecological implication in supporting the growth of aquatic weeds, which has impeded water flow, impairs commercial navigation and recreational activities, and degrades water quality in Bay-Delta waterways. Since nitrate loadings contributed by upstream runoff are an important nutrient to facilitate weed development, our study results should be seen as a prerequisite to evaluate the potential growth impact of aquatic weeds and scientific evidence for area-wide weed control decisions.

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“…This is further demonstrated in the analysis regarding volume, and explains why porous pavement, which had nearly three times less total volume than detention basins, were consistently more effective at reducing peak flow by total volume. Analysis of both area and volume shows the need to prioritize porous pavement at the source control stage and detention basins as site control, in addressing runoff, supporting research by Chen et al [38] and Woods Ballard et al [3] who endorsed both as highly effective flood management tools. Whilst the modelled detention basins take up 6.76% of modelled land, which could be used for additional housing and is typically presented as a barrier to the wider implementation of SuDS, the possible benefit on reducing runoff is considerable [8][9][10].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Modelling the Role of SuDS Management Trains in Minimising Flood Risk, Using MicroDrainage

Lashford

Charlesworth

Warwick

2020

Water

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This novel research models the impact that commonly used sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) have on runoff, and compare this to their land take. As land take is consistently cited as a key barrier to the wider implementation of SuDS, it is essential to understand the possible runoff reduction in relation to the area they take up. SuDS management trains consisting of different combinations of detention basins, green roofs, porous pavement and swales were designed in MicroDrainage. In this study, this is modelled against the 1% Annual Exceedance Potential storm (over 30, 60, 90, 120, 360 and 720 min, under different infiltration scenarios), to determine the possible runoff reduction of each device. Detention basins were consistently the most effective regarding maximum runoff reduction for the land they take (0.419 L/s/m2), with porous pavement the second most effective, achieving 0.145 L/s/m2. As both green roofs (20.34%) and porous pavement (6.76%) account for land that would traditionally be impermeable, there is no net-loss of land compared to a traditional drainage approach. Consequently, although the modelled SuDS management train accounts for 34.86% of the total site, just 7.76% of the land is lost to SuDS, whilst managing flooding for all modelled rainfall and infiltration scenarios.

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Evaluation of the effectiveness of green infrastructure on hydrology and water quality in a combined sewer overflow community

Cited by 66 publications

References 39 publications

Water, energy and climate benefits of urban greening throughout Europe under different climatic scenarios

Water, energy and climate benefits of urban greening throughout Europe under different climatic scenarios

Nitrate Runoff Contributing from the Agriculturally Intensive San Joaquin River Watershed to Bay-Delta in California

Modelling the Role of SuDS Management Trains in Minimising Flood Risk, Using MicroDrainage

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