Modeling the Effectiveness of Rain Barrels, Cisterns, and Downspout Disconnections for Reducing Combined Sewer Overflows in a City-Scale Watershed

Ghodsi, Seyed Hamed; Zhu, Zhenduo; Gheith, Hazem; Rabideau, Alan J.; Torres, María Nariné; Meindl, Kevin

doi:10.1007/s11269-021-02875-7

Cited by 16 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Recent studies have demonstrated that Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) strategies are sustainable, innovative and cost-effective for managing stormwater runoff in urban areas [27][28][29][30][31]. These strategies are also referred to using different terminologies, such as low impact development (LID), sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS), best management practices (BMPs) and, most recently, green infrastructure (GI) [32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impacts of Extreme Rainfalls on Sewer Overflows and WSUD-Based Mitigation Strategies: A Review

Muttil

Nasrin

Sharma

2023

Water

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Extreme rainfall events cause an increase in the flow into aging sewer networks, which can lead to Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs). This literature review presents a complete assessment of the application of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) approaches as mitigation strategies for reducing rainfall-induced SSOs. The review highlights the various WSUD techniques identified in past studies for reducing sewer overflows. In these studies, it was identified that permeable pavements, green roofs, raingardens/bio-retention cells and rainwater tanks were the most popular WSUD strategies that have been extensively used in the past for the mitigation of sewer overflows. WSUD or “green” approaches also have enormous environmental, social and economic benefits when compared to the conventional “gray” approaches for sewer overflow mitigation. However, there have been limited studies conducted in the past that highlight and quantify the benefits of WSUD approaches for sewer overflow mitigation, particularly when such strategies are applied at a large scale (e.g., city scale). This review has identified the modelling software, SWMM, to be the most widely applied tool that has been used in the literature for WSUD modelling. It was also identified that with climate change-induced extreme rainfall events on the increase, WSUD-based “green” strategies alone may not be enough for the mitigation of sewer overflows. A suitable sewer overflow mitigation strategy could be green or a hybrid green-gray strategy, which would need to be identified based on a detailed context specific analysis.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These benefits have led to various water utilities and local councils adopting the use of WSUD strategies as part of both existing and new developments. In spite of these benefits, limited studies quantifying the benefits of WSUD approaches exist in the available literature [27,[33][34][35][40][41][42][43][44][45].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Extreme Rainfalls on Sewer Overflows and WSUD-Based Mitigation Strategies: A Review

Muttil

Nasrin

Sharma

2023

Water

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“…LID is an increasingly popular strategy to manage urban stormwater for individual properties, but the aggregate effect on runoff control (both peak flow rate and volume reduction) at the urban catchment scale is nowadays an open issue among researchers (e.g. De Paola et al 2018;Ghodsi et al 2021;Cristiano et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Effectiveness of Domestic Rainwater Harvesting Systems to Support Urban Flood Resilience

Palla

Gnecco

2022

Water Resour Manage

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The effectiveness of domestic rainwater harvesting (DRWH) systems to support urban flood resilience is analysed at the sub-catchment scale, according to a specific DRWH conversion scenario, under 4 degrees of urbanization, 3 drainage network configurations, 4 precipitation regimes and 3 return periods of the rainfall event. At this aim, a suitable modelling framework is implemented: the semi-distributed hydrologic-hydraulic model is undertaken using EPASWMM 5.1.007 where specific tools are developed to simulate DRWH systems at high spatial resolution. The effectiveness of the DRWH systems simulated for the 144 different cases, is analysed at the event scale by using the Volume and Peak Reduction indexes to measure the hydrologic performance. The dimensionless variable, namely the event storage fraction, is defined in order to easily describe the DRWH effectiveness. The event storage fraction is defined as the ratio between the event runoff volume resulting from the impervious surface of the urban catchment in the reference scenario and the storage capacity of the DRWH systems. Modelling results confirm that DRWH catchment-scale applications allow to support specific stormwater control requirements based on peak-flow or volume regulations strategies. Findings of the elaboration reveal for a typical residential catchment in the Italy-France cross-border coastal area, that DRWH effectiveness in supporting the urban flood management becomes significant (i.e. Volume and Peak Reduction indexes greater than 0.2) starting from a storage event fraction of 0.4 that means realizing storage tanks able to contain at least the 40% of runoff volume generated by the targeted event at the sub-catchment scale.

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“…Previous studies have also been conducted on the implementation and effectiveness of GI under non-extreme precipitation events. Ghodsi et al (2021) modeled GI in a typical year in Buffalo, New York, USA (precipitation levels within 5% of a 78-year average), resulting in up to a 24% reduction in CSO volume from residential rain barrel and commercial cistern implementation. A simulation of GI (bioretention and green roofs) in an urban catchment in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, resulted in a 35%, 45%, and 43% reduction in surface runoff from the baseline in dry, average, and wet years, respectively (Feng et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impacts of Climate Change and Porous Pavements on Combined Sewer Overflows: A Case Study of the City of Buffalo, New York, USA

et al. 2021

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Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) release pollutants collected in urban runoff into local waterways, impacting both aquatic life and human health. The impact of climate change on precipitation may result in an increase in the frequency and magnitude of heavy precipitation events, with a corresponding increase in CSO discharges. The installation of Green Infrastructure (GI) such as Porous Pavements (PP) is a resilient approach to mitigate CSO events. However, an understanding of the impact of climate change on CSO events and the effectiveness of GI practices is crucial for designing sustainable urban stormwater management systems. Using the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM), the performance of PP as a CSO abatement strategy was studied for the city of Buffalo, New York, USA. This paper used the Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves for current (1970–1999) and future (2070–2099) design rainfall scenarios, with four rainfall durations (1, 6, 12, and 24 hours) and four return periods (2, 10, 50, and 100 years). The simulation results show that (1) current 100-year events generate CSO volumes similar to predicted 50-year events; (2) CSO volumes could increase by 11–73% in 2070–2099 compared to 1970–1999 when no GI intervention is performed; and (3) the installation of PP can reduce 2–31% of future CSO volume. This case study demonstrates the regional CSO challenges posed by climate change and supports the use of GI as a mitigation strategy.

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Modeling the Effectiveness of Rain Barrels, Cisterns, and Downspout Disconnections for Reducing Combined Sewer Overflows in a City-Scale Watershed

Cited by 16 publications

References 28 publications

Impacts of Extreme Rainfalls on Sewer Overflows and WSUD-Based Mitigation Strategies: A Review

Impacts of Extreme Rainfalls on Sewer Overflows and WSUD-Based Mitigation Strategies: A Review

On the Effectiveness of Domestic Rainwater Harvesting Systems to Support Urban Flood Resilience

The Impacts of Climate Change and Porous Pavements on Combined Sewer Overflows: A Case Study of the City of Buffalo, New York, USA

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