Dynamic design of green stormwater infrastructure

Highlights

Research shows GSI Practices outperform static volume crediting.

Recommend including exfiltration and evapotranspiration for dynamic design.

Expand design to include climate, insitu soil and vegetation to take advantage of GSI Properties.

Abstract

This paper compares ongoing research results on hydrologic performance to common design and crediting criteria, and recommends a change in direction from a static to a dynamic perspective to fully credit the performance of green infrastructure. Examples used in this article are primarily stormwater control measures built for research on the campus of Villanova University [1,2]. Evidence is presented demonstrating that the common practice of crediting water volume based on soil and surface storage underestimates the performance potential, and suggests that the profession move to a more dynamic approach that incorporates exfiltration and evapotransporation. The framework for a dynamic approach is discussed, with a view to broaden our design focus by including climate, configuration and the soil surroundings. The substance of this work was presented as a keynote speech at the 2016 international Low Impact Development Conference in Beijing China [3].

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Low Impact Development (LID) / Stormwater control measures / Green infrastructure / Stormwater design

References

[1] Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership.VUSP ~ PaDEP – Best Management Practice National Monitoring Site- Year 12, 2015

[2] Villanova University Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership.Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership – Research. Villanova University 2016, Available online at http://www.villanova.edu/villanova/engineering/research/centers/vcase/vusp1/research (accessed Dec. 30, 2016)

[3] Traver R. Stormwater Green Infrastructure, where have we been and how far can we go?  Keynote Presentation, Beijing: 2016 International Low Impact Development Conference, 2016

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the many former students of the Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership for their contributions to this work, in particular Dr. Ryan Lee and Laura Lord, and current colleagues Dr. Andrea Welker and Dr. Bridget Wadzuk. This work was supported in part by Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) through the EPA Section 319 Nonpoint Source and Growing Greener Grant programs, Philadelphia Water Department, and the Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership (www.villanova.edu/VUSP). The authors are grateful for their support. The opinions expressed by the authors do not represent the views of these organizations.

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