Spatial and Temporal Variation in Local Stormwater Infrastructure Use and Stormwater Management Paradigms over the 20th Century

Abstract

Stormwater management has significant consequences for urban hydrology, water quality, and flood risk, and has changed substantially over history, but it is unknown how these paradigm shifts play out at the local scale and whether local changes in stormwater infrastructure use follow similar trajectories across cities. This research addressed: (1) How does current infrastructure use and past infrastructure transitions vary across three cities with similar biophysical and climatic contexts but different development histories? and (2) How did stormwater and flood management paradigms change from early urbanization to current day in a single city? The use of storm sewers, detention basins, and canals for stormwater management was quantified for three cities in Utah, USA, over the 20th century. Stormwater management paradigms were quantified using media content analysis of newspaper articles from historic and recent periods in Salt Lake City. Results suggest that stormwater infrastructure development is decoupled from imperviousness across cities, and that newer and smaller cities follow different trajectories of stormwater management over time. This research highlights that there is no single model of urban hydrology and that heterogeneity in urban water management over time and space reflects shifting priorities and social learning.

Changes in event‐based streamflow magnitude and timing after suburban development with infiltration‐based stormwater management

“…Starting in the 1970s, communities began installing stormwater control measures (SCMs) to store and treat stormwater runoff before delivering it to streams (National Research Council, ). Since the 1980s, the types and locations of SCMs installed on the landscape have shifted from large, centralized SCMs focused on storing and detaining stormwater to a wide variety of smaller capacity SCMs distributed across the watershed to manage stormwater closer to where runoff is generated (Hale, ; McPhillips & Matsler, ).…”

Temporal Evolution of Green Stormwater Infrastructure Strategies in Three US Cities

“…Over the last century there has been an evolution in management of urban stormwater. Increased impervious surface area from growing cities has generated more and more runoff during storm events, leading to the development of extensive networks of underground pipes to efficiently route water away from buildings and other infrastructural systems (Kaushal et al, 2015;Hale, 2016). As these piped stormwater systems expanded, ecological research revealed the detrimental impacts of this strategy on downstream water bodies, including damaging erosion, increased flooding, and poor water quality (Walsh et al, 2005).…”

“…However, few studies have examined the various influences behind these transitions in concert with detailed examination of the temporal changes in implementation of particular types of SCMs. Hale (2016) highlighted differing implementation trajectories of stormwater infrastructure among three Utah cities and increasing recent implementation of GSI such as retention basins but did not delve into particular types of GSI. Here we add a comparative temporal analysis of many specific types of GSI facilities that are increasingly popular across the US.…”

Social Dimensions of Urban Flood Experience, Exposure, and Concern

“…Despite frequent, and occasionally major, flooding, the total damages from flooding in Utah over the past two decades are relatively small compared to other regions in the U.S. with larger populations and urban areas (https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/). However, this region has an even longer history of significant flooding, with major floods occurring in the 1940s, 1960s, and 1980s (Flores ; Lindskov ; Hale ).…”