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Water
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Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management
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Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2016) | Viewed by 131494

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Brigitte Helmreich

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Chair of Urban Water Systems Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Am Coulombwall 3, 85748 Garching, Germany
Interests: urban water balance; stormwater runoff pollutants; water sensitive cities; development and evaluation of stormwater treatment systems; rainwater harvesting systems; multifunctional areas; stormwater management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Collegaues,

Stormwater runoff from urban catchments, including runoff from buildings, roads, and paved areas, is considered a major source of environmental pollution. Best management practices are widely applied to reduce their quantity and to improve the quality of stormwater runoff entering receiving waters. A variety of centralized and decentralized facilities have been developed over the past two decades to treat urban stormwater runoff and there is now a great deal of focus on the technical performance and economic viability of these systems.

This Special Issue of Water is intended to give readers an overview of the environmental effects of urban stormwater pollution and how both centralized and decentralized facilities systems are being implemented to effectively manage and treat polluted stormwater runoff to protect the water environment. The Special Issue will consider:

  • The characteristics and pollution loads of stormwater runoff from urban areas;
  • Urban stormwater management through hydraulic retention;
  • Centralized treatment systems for urban stormwater runoff;
  • Decentralized treatment systems for urban stormwater runoff;
  • Testing procedures and protocols for stormwater treatment systems;
  • Monitoring of stormwater treatment systems;
  • Toxicity tests for urban stormwater runoff

Prof. Dr. Brigitte Helmreich
Guets Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • urban stormwater runoff
  • runoff pollution
  • decentralized treatment
  • centralized treatment
  • environmental risk assessment

Published Papers (16 papers)

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Research

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3390 KiB  
Article
Impact of Short Duration Intense Rainfall Events on Sanitary Sewer Network Performance
by Tasnim Nasrin, Ashok K. Sharma and Nitin Muttil
Water 2017, 9(3), 225; https://doi.org/10.3390/w9030225 - 18 Mar 2017
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 7528
Abstract
Short duration intense rainfall causes an increase in rainfall derived infiltration and inflow (RDII) into aging sewer networks, which leads to Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs). This study presents a generalised framework for assessing and mitigating the impacts of intense rainfall on sanitary sewer [...] Read more.
Short duration intense rainfall causes an increase in rainfall derived infiltration and inflow (RDII) into aging sewer networks, which leads to Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs). This study presents a generalised framework for assessing and mitigating the impacts of intense rainfall on sanitary sewer networks. The first part of the proposed framework involves a detailed hydraulic modelling to evaluate the performance of the sewer network. The second part deals with the development of SSO mitigation strategies based on Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) approaches. This paper also demonstrates the application of the first part of the proposed framework for a case study catchment in Melbourne, Australia. The hydraulic performance of the case study sewer network during a wet and a dry year is presented. The analysis found that for the wet year, 11 manholes had sewer overflows, whereas 53 of 57 manholes in the network of 3.2 km had surcharges. Such a study will benefit the water authorities to develop mitigation strategies for controlling SSOs in their sewer systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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16167 KiB  
Article
A Simple and Robust Method for Simultaneous Consideration of Overland and Underground Space in Urban Flood Modeling
by Ah-Long Son, Byunghyun Kim and Kun-Yeun Han
Water 2016, 8(11), 494; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8110494 - 01 Nov 2016
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 6486
Abstract
This study proposed two methods, boundary-type and pond-type, to link overland and underground space in urban flood modeling. The boundary-type treats the exit of underground space as an interface for inflow of floodwater by imposing open boundary condition and pond-type considers underground space [...] Read more.
This study proposed two methods, boundary-type and pond-type, to link overland and underground space in urban flood modeling. The boundary-type treats the exit of underground space as an interface for inflow of floodwater by imposing open boundary condition and pond-type considers underground space as an underground pond by configuring pond terrain. The effect of underground space in urban flood inundation was examined by coupling one-dimensional (1D) stormwater management model (SWMM) and two-dimensional (2D) overland flood model. The models were applied to the Hyoja drainage basin, Seoul, Korea where urban flood occurred due to heavy rainfall in 21 September 2010. The conduit roughness coefficient of SWMM was calibrated to minimize the difference between observed and predicted water depth of pipe. In addition, the surface roughness coefficient of 2D model was calibrated by comparing observed and predicted flood extent. Then, urban flood analysis was performed on three different scenarios involving a case not considering underground (Case 1) and cases considering underground, boundary-type (Case 2) and pond-type (Case 3). The simulation results have shown that the boundary-type is simple but robust method with high computational efficiency to link overland and underground space in urban flood modeling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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9644 KiB  
Article
Parameterization of a Hydrological Model for a Large, Ungauged Urban Catchment
by Gerald Krebs, Teemu Kokkonen, Heikki Setälä and Harri Koivusalo
Water 2016, 8(10), 443; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8100443 - 11 Oct 2016
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 6088
Abstract
Urbanization leads to the replacement of natural areas by impervious surfaces and affects the catchment hydrological cycle with adverse environmental impacts. Low impact development tools (LID) that mimic hydrological processes of natural areas have been developed and applied to mitigate these impacts. Hydrological [...] Read more.
Urbanization leads to the replacement of natural areas by impervious surfaces and affects the catchment hydrological cycle with adverse environmental impacts. Low impact development tools (LID) that mimic hydrological processes of natural areas have been developed and applied to mitigate these impacts. Hydrological simulations are one possibility to evaluate the LID performance but the associated small-scale processes require a highly spatially distributed and explicit modeling approach. However, detailed data for model development are often not available for large urban areas, hampering the model parameterization. In this paper we propose a methodology to parameterize a hydrological model to a large, ungauged urban area by maintaining at the same time a detailed surface discretization for direct parameter manipulation for LID simulation and a firm reliance on available data for model conceptualization. Catchment delineation was based on a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) and model parameterization relied on a novel model regionalization approach. The impact of automated delineation and model regionalization on simulation results was evaluated for three monitored study catchments (5.87–12.59 ha). The simulated runoff peak was most sensitive to accurate catchment discretization and calibration, while both the runoff volume and the fit of the hydrograph were less affected. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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8726 KiB  
Article
Redox Dynamics and Oxygen Reduction Rates of Infiltrating Urban Stormwater beneath Low Impact Development (LID)
by Mays N. Danfoura and Jason J. Gurdak
Water 2016, 8(10), 435; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8100435 - 04 Oct 2016
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5854
Abstract
Low impact development (LID) best management practices (BMPs) collect, infiltrate, and treat stormwater runoff, and increase recharge to aquifers. Understanding the controls on reduction/oxidation (redox) conditions within LID BMPs is important for groundwater management because outflow from some LID BMPs can recharge aquifers [...] Read more.
Low impact development (LID) best management practices (BMPs) collect, infiltrate, and treat stormwater runoff, and increase recharge to aquifers. Understanding the controls on reduction/oxidation (redox) conditions within LID BMPs is important for groundwater management because outflow from some LID BMPs can recharge aquifers and affect groundwater quality. Here we evaluate redox conditions of urban stormwater runoff in a LID infiltration trench in San Francisco, California, and quantify the relation between water saturation (%) and temperature (◦C) and resulting dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations, redox dynamics, and O2 reduction rates. The DO fluctuations ha ve an inverse response to the duration of saturation of the trench. Anoxic (<0.5 mg/L) conditions often occurred within hours of stormwater events and persisted from a few hours to two days, which indicate that microbial respiration can be a limiting factor for DO. Temperature of stormwater runoff was not a statistically significant control on DO. The estimated O2 reduction rate is 0.003mg·L-1·min-1, which is two to five orders of magnitude higher than in groundwater from previous studies. Higher rates of O2 reduction are a function of the more toxic and organic-rich stormwater runoff that drives faster microbial O2 reduction. Our findings have important implications for the design of infiltration trenches and other LID BMPs to achieve desired redox conditions for infiltrating stormwater toward minimizing groundwater contamination. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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922 KiB  
Article
Controlling Stormwater Quality with Filter Soil—Event and Dry Weather Testing
by Karin Cederkvist, Marina Bergen Jensen, Simon Toft Ingvertsen and Peter E. Holm
Water 2016, 8(8), 349; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8080349 - 17 Aug 2016
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5592
Abstract
The use of filter soil is increasing for control of quality of stormwater runoff prior to infiltration or discharge. This study aimed to gain knowledge about treatment efficacy of filter soils at field scale. Percolate samples from swale-trench systems with filter soil based [...] Read more.
The use of filter soil is increasing for control of quality of stormwater runoff prior to infiltration or discharge. This study aimed to gain knowledge about treatment efficacy of filter soils at field scale. Percolate samples from swale-trench systems with filter soil based on agricultural till with/without limestone were monitored for 15 and 9 rain events respectively. Further, two curb extensions with filter soil based on landfill soil were monitored for 10 and 8 events. Pollutant concentrations in percolate were compared to influent samples from the catchment area. Additionally one of the curb extensions was tested twice by adding high-dose synthetic influent containing runoff pollutants of concern. Despite generally low influent pollutant levels, phosphorus, copper, zinc, lead and some polyaromatic hydrocarbons exceeded guiding criteria for protection of groundwater and freshwater. Concentrations in the percolate were in most cases reduced, but phosphorus increased and despite reduced concentrations copper, lead and benzo(a)pyrene still exceeded guiding criteria. Pollutants from the synthetic influent were efficiently retained, except the pesticide MCPA. Filter soil based on landfill soil tended to perform better than agricultural till. No impact of limestone was observed. Overall the filter soils performed well in retaining pollutants, despite simultaneous processes of mobilization and immobilization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
1772 KiB  
Article
A Simplified Model for Modular Green Roof Hydrologic Analyses and Design
by Yanling Li and Roger W. Babcock
Water 2016, 8(8), 343; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8080343 - 12 Aug 2016
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 5815
Abstract
Green roofs can mitigate urban rooftop stormwater runoff. However, the lack of accurate, physically-based performance assessment and design models has hindered their wide application. Most hydrologic or hydraulic models have no direct connection to the physical properties of green roof components such as [...] Read more.
Green roofs can mitigate urban rooftop stormwater runoff. However, the lack of accurate, physically-based performance assessment and design models has hindered their wide application. Most hydrologic or hydraulic models have no direct connection to the physical properties of green roof components such as media type/depth, drainage depth, etc. In an effort to assist design engineers, a simplified yet effective physically-based model was developed and calibrated with pilot data in order to provide green roof hydrologic performance curves to guide design. Precipitations with depths ranging from 0 to 40 cm and durations 30 to 1440 min were simulated for 21 green roof designs to determine the effects of common physical design parameters. Results revealed that effective capacity and transient capacity are the controlling factors for runoff volume reduction for single precipitation events. Including a water storage feature in the design increased cumulative long-term runoff reduction by an average of 23.5%, whereas increasing growth media depth yielded an average 5.3% improvement. Peak reduction and peak delay are governed by media depth and drainage opening size. Study results indicate that LEED criteria should be modified to require specific designer-controlled parameters of storage and media depth for the design storm to ensure desired performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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316 KiB  
Article
Risk Analysis Approach to Rainwater Harvesting Systems
by Nadia Ursino
Water 2016, 8(8), 337; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8080337 - 08 Aug 2016
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 7065
Abstract
Urban rainwater reuse preserves water resources and promotes sustainable development in rapidly growing urban areas. The efficiency of a large number of urban water reuse systems, operating under different climate and demand conditions, is evaluated here on the base of a new risk [...] Read more.
Urban rainwater reuse preserves water resources and promotes sustainable development in rapidly growing urban areas. The efficiency of a large number of urban water reuse systems, operating under different climate and demand conditions, is evaluated here on the base of a new risk analysis approach. Results obtained by probability analysis (PA) indicate that maximum efficiency in low demanding scenarios is above 0.5 and a threshold, distinguishing low from high demanding scenarios, indicates that in low demanding scenarios no significant improvement in performance may be attained by increasing the storage capacity of rainwater harvesting tanks. Threshold behaviour is displayed when tank storage capacity is designed to match both the average collected volume and the average reuse volume. The low demand limit cannot be achieved under climate and operating conditions characterized by a disproportion between harvesting and demand volume. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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5435 KiB  
Article
Reconstruction of a Storm Map and New Approach in the Definition of Categories of the Extreme Rainfall, Northeastern Sicily
by Francesco Fiorillo, Nazzareno Diodato and Massimiliano Meo
Water 2016, 8(8), 330; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8080330 - 05 Aug 2016
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 7694
Abstract
After more than 350 mm of rainfall fell in a few hours on 22 November 2011, thousands of landslides and floods were induced in two main zones of Northeastern Sicily. The total rainfall has been reconstructed integrating available rain gauge data with Tropical [...] Read more.
After more than 350 mm of rainfall fell in a few hours on 22 November 2011, thousands of landslides and floods were induced in two main zones of Northeastern Sicily. The total rainfall has been reconstructed integrating available rain gauge data with Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite data from NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration); the landslide distribution in the field has confirmed the pattern of rainfall accumulated on 22 November 2011. Precipitation maxima of 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h was recognized as the hazardous events, which marks the evidence of a changing climate, with a shift toward more intense rainfalls in recent times. To investigate the sequence of the annual maxima, the historical time series have been transformed in the Standard normal distribution, from the cumulative probability of the GEV (Generalized Extreme Value) distribution. Following a similar definition of the Standard Precipitation Index (SPI), the transformation of the historical data in the standardized values allows the definition of categories of hourly maxima in term of extreme, severe, moderate, or mild. This transformation allows to eliminate the asymmetry of the time series, so that trends and fluctuations have been highlighted by the progressive accumulation of data (Rescaled Adjust Partial Sum). This statistical approach allows the improvement of the interpretability of the hydrological extreme events, and could also be used in other cases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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334 KiB  
Article
Effects of Rainfall Intensity and Duration on the First Flush from Parking Lots
by Kenneth C. Schiff, Liesl L. Tiefenthaler, Steven M. Bay and Darrin J. Greenstein
Water 2016, 8(8), 320; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8080320 - 28 Jul 2016
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 6208
Abstract
Urban stormwater with large impervious (paved) areas often produces runoff with a variety of contaminants. Although southern California is among the most urbanized coastal areas in the United States, the effect of rainfall variations on washoff efficiency of contaminants from pervious and impervious [...] Read more.
Urban stormwater with large impervious (paved) areas often produces runoff with a variety of contaminants. Although southern California is among the most urbanized coastal areas in the United States, the effect of rainfall variations on washoff efficiency of contaminants from pervious and impervious surfaces is largely unknown. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of varying rainfall intensities and duration on runoff composition from highly impervious parking lots. In order to control the tremendous natural variability in precipitation of the arid climate in southern California, rainfall simulators were used to generate and quantify pollutant washoff at changing intensities and durations. Washoff of suspended solids, total and dissolved trace metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was strongly inversely correlated with rainfall duration. Rainfall intensity only affected washoff at the smallest measured duration; higher intensities produced decreased concentrations. The effect of rainfall duration was a reflection of the first flush observed in pollutographs for every duration and intensity sampled. Peak concentrations, up to an order of magnitude higher than concentrations later in the event, occurred during the first 10 min after the onset of rainfall. Longer simulated storms effectively diluted the first flush. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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3463 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of the Performance and the Predictive Capacity of Build-Up and Wash-Off Models on Different Temporal Scales
by Saja Al Ali, Céline Bonhomme and Ghassan Chebbo
Water 2016, 8(8), 312; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8080312 - 23 Jul 2016
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 5338
Abstract
Stormwater quality modeling has arisen as a promising tool to develop mitigation strategies. The aim of this paper is to assess the build-up and wash-off processes and investigate the capacity of several water quality models to accurately simulate and predict the temporal variability [...] Read more.
Stormwater quality modeling has arisen as a promising tool to develop mitigation strategies. The aim of this paper is to assess the build-up and wash-off processes and investigate the capacity of several water quality models to accurately simulate and predict the temporal variability of suspended solids concentrations in runoff, based on a long-term data set. A Markov Chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) technique is applied to calibrate the models and analyze the parameter’s uncertainty. The short-term predictive capacity of the models is assessed based on inter- and intra-event approaches. Results suggest that the performance of the wash-off model is related to the dynamic of pollutant transport where the best fit is recorded for first flush events. Assessment of SWMM (Storm Water Management Model) exponential build-up model reveals that better performance is obtained on short periods and that build-up models relying only on the antecedent dry weather period as an explanatory variable, cannot predict satisfactorily the accumulated mass on the surface. The predictive inter-event capacity of SWMM exponential model proves its inability to predict the pollutograph while the intra-event approach based on data assimilation proves its efficiency for first flush events only. This method is very interesting for management practices because of its simplicity and easy implementation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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2027 KiB  
Article
Spatial and Temporal Variation in Local Stormwater Infrastructure Use and Stormwater Management Paradigms over the 20th Century
by Rebecca L. Hale
Water 2016, 8(7), 310; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8070310 - 22 Jul 2016
Cited by 32 | Viewed by 7107
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 [...] Read more.
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. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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925 KiB  
Article
Stormwater Pollutant Process Analysis with Long-Term Online Monitoring Data at Micro-Scale Sites
by Dominik Leutnant, Dirk Muschalla and Mathias Uhl
Water 2016, 8(7), 299; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8070299 - 20 Jul 2016
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 5965
Abstract
Stormwater runoff quality was measured with online turbidity sensors at four common types of small urban subcatchments: (i) a flat roof; (ii) a parking lot; (iii) a residential catchment; and (iv) a high-traffic street. Samples were taken to estimate site-specific correlations between total [...] Read more.
Stormwater runoff quality was measured with online turbidity sensors at four common types of small urban subcatchments: (i) a flat roof; (ii) a parking lot; (iii) a residential catchment; and (iv) a high-traffic street. Samples were taken to estimate site-specific correlations between total suspended solids (TSS) and turbidity. Continuous TSS time series were derived from online turbidity measurements and were used to estimate event loads and event mean concentrations. Rainfall runoff event characteristics were subjected to correlation analysis to TSS loads. Significant correlations were found for rainfall intensities at sites with high imperviousness and decrease with increasing catchment size. Antecedent dry weather periods are only correlated at the parking lot site. Intra-event TSS load distributions were studied with M (V)-curves. M (V)-curves are grouped at runoff quantiles and statistically described with boxplots. All sites show, in general, a more pronounced first-flush effect. While wash-off of the flat roof tends to be source-limited, the parking lot and high-traffic street sites show a more transport-limited behavior. Wash-off process of the residential catchment appears to be influenced by a composition of different subcatchments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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865 KiB  
Article
Water Sensitive Urban Design: An Investigation of Current Systems, Implementation Drivers, Community Perceptions and Potential to Supplement Urban Water Services
by Ashok K. Sharma, David Pezzaniti, Baden Myers, Stephen Cook, Grace Tjandraatmadja, Priya Chacko, Sattar Chavoshi, David Kemp, Rosemary Leonard, Barbara Koth and Andrea Walton
Water 2016, 8(7), 272; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8070272 - 28 Jun 2016
Cited by 91 | Viewed by 16581
Abstract
Large scale centralised water, wastewater and stormwater systems have been implemented for over 100 years. These systems have provided a safe drinking water supply, efficient collection and disposal of wastewater to protect human health, and the mitigation of urban flood risk. The sustainability [...] Read more.
Large scale centralised water, wastewater and stormwater systems have been implemented for over 100 years. These systems have provided a safe drinking water supply, efficient collection and disposal of wastewater to protect human health, and the mitigation of urban flood risk. The sustainability of current urban water systems is under pressure from a range of challenges which include: rapid population growth and resulting urbanisation, climate change impacts, and infrastructure that is ageing and reaching capacity constraints. To address these issues, urban water services are now being implemented with Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) and Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) approaches. WSUD systems can deliver multiple benefits including water conservation, stormwater quality improvement, flood control, landscape amenity and a healthy living environment. These systems can be provided as stand-alone systems or in combination with centralised systems. These systems are still novel and thus face knowledge gaps that are impeding their mainstream uptake. Knowledge gaps cover technical, economic, social, and institutional aspects of their implementation. This paper is based on the outcomes of a comprehensive study conducted in South Australia which investigated impediments for mainstream uptake of WSUD, community perceptions of WSUD and potential of WSUD to achieve water conservation through the application of alternative resources, and in flood management. The outcomes are discussed in this paper for the benefit of water professionals engaged with WSUD planning, implementation, community consultation and regulation. Although the paper is based on a study conducted in South Australia, the comprehensive framework developed to conduct this detailed study and investigation can be adopted in any part of the world. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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3304 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Factors Influencing Lab-Scale Studies to Determine Heavy Metal Removal by Six Sorbents for Stormwater Treatment
by Maximilian Huber, Sophia C. Badenberg, Moritz Wulff, Jörg E. Drewes and Brigitte Helmreich
Water 2016, 8(2), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8020062 - 17 Feb 2016
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 6907
Abstract
For the development of decentralized treatment systems for road runoff, the determination of pollutant removal capacities is essential. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of boundary conditions on the simultaneous removal of copper, nickel, and zinc by six sorbents [...] Read more.
For the development of decentralized treatment systems for road runoff, the determination of pollutant removal capacities is essential. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of boundary conditions on the simultaneous removal of copper, nickel, and zinc by six sorbents used for urban stormwater treatment (i.e., granular activated alumina, anthracite, granular reactivated carbon, granular ferric hydroxide, calcium carbonate, and granular activated lignite). For batch experiments, capacities were determined at initial concentrations within the range of 2.5–180 mg/L with a rotary shaker. Further influences were investigated: the use of a horizontal shaker for concentrations of up to 1080 mg/L, a variation of the initial pH value (5 and 7), and the presence of a buffer. Furthermore, the influences of the filtration process on the capacities were studied. Kinetic experiments were conducted for contact times between 5 min and 120 min. Lab-scale column experiments with inflow concentrations of 2.5 mg/L (copper and nickel) and 5.0 mg/L (zinc) at an initial pH of 5 and a contact time of 11 min were performed for comparison. Selected experiments were subsequently carried out with changes in initial concentrations and contact time. One result is that it is essential to conduct batch experiments with the metals of interest. The capacities determined by column experiments deviated from batch experiments. Batch experiments under well-defined conditions can be used to evaluate different production batches. Column experiments give a more faithful capacity by considering realistic boundary conditions and should be preferred to determine efficiencies and service lives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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783 KiB  
Review
Stormwater Management: Calculation of Traffic Area Runoff Loads and Traffic Related Emissions
by Maximilian Huber and Brigitte Helmreich
Water 2016, 8(7), 294; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8070294 - 15 Jul 2016
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 6715
Abstract
Metals such as antimony, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc can be highly relevant pollutants in stormwater runoff from traffic areas because of their occurrence, toxicity, and non-degradability. Long-term measurements of their concentrations, the corresponding water volumes, the catchment areas, and the [...] Read more.
Metals such as antimony, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc can be highly relevant pollutants in stormwater runoff from traffic areas because of their occurrence, toxicity, and non-degradability. Long-term measurements of their concentrations, the corresponding water volumes, the catchment areas, and the traffic volumes can be used to calculate specific emission loads and annual runoff loads that are necessary for mass balances. In the literature, the annual runoff loads are often specified by a distinct catchment area (e.g., g/ha). These loads were summarized and discussed in this paper for all seven metals and three types of traffic areas (highways, parking lots, and roads; 45 sites). For example, the calculated median annual runoff loads of all sites are 355 g/ha for copper, 110 g/ha for lead (only data of the 21st century), and 1960 g/ha for zinc. In addition, historical trends, annual variations, and site-specific factors were evaluated for the runoff loads. For Germany, mass balances of traffic related emissions and annual heavy metal runoff loads from highways and total traffic areas were calculated. The influences on the mass fluxes of the heavy metal emissions and the runoff pollution were discussed. However, a statistical analysis of the annual traffic related metal fluxes, in particular for different traffic area categories and land uses, is currently not possible because of a lack of monitoring data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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2290 KiB  
Review
Rain Drop Measurement Techniques: A Review
by Gopinath Kathiravelu, Terry Lucke and Peter Nichols
Water 2016, 8(1), 29; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8010029 - 21 Jan 2016
Cited by 112 | Viewed by 21137
Abstract
For over a century there have been many studies that describe the use of rain drop measurement techniques. Initial manual measurement methods evolved due to improved technology to include photographic and, more recently, automated disdrometer and laser measurement techniques. Despite these numerous studies, [...] Read more.
For over a century there have been many studies that describe the use of rain drop measurement techniques. Initial manual measurement methods evolved due to improved technology to include photographic and, more recently, automated disdrometer and laser measurement techniques. Despite these numerous studies, there have been few comparative reviews of the range of methodologies, and their relative performance. This review explores the raindrop measurement techniques available, and summarizes and classifies the techniques according to the method or principle involved. The requirements of a robust raindrop measurement technique are suggested, and these are reviewed against existing rain drop measurement techniques to provide a comparative guide to the use of the range of techniques available for any research study. This review revealed that while advances in technology have allowed many of the deficiencies of early techniques to be eliminated, challenges remain in relation to the precision of the measurement of the size, shape, and velocity of rain drops. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
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