Decentralized approaches to urban stormwater management, whereby installations of green infrastructure (e.g., rain gardens, bioswales, constructed wetlands) are dispersed throughout a management area, are cost-effective solutions with co-benefits beyond just water abatement. Instead of investing in traditional approaches for managing stormwater, such as deep tunnels and high capacity treatment ...

This study quantifies the effects of common stormwater management techniques on urban runoff generation. Simulated flow rates for different low impact development (LID) scenarios were compared with observed flow rates during different urban construction phases in a catchment (12.3 ha) that was developed from natural forest to a residential area over a monitoring period of 5 years. The Storm Wat...

With full development in an urban watershed and with no stormwater controls, it is unlikely that any of these uses can be obtained. With less development and with the application of stormwater controls, some uses may be possible. It is important that unreasonable expectations not be placed on urban waters, as the cost to obtain these uses may be prohibitive. With fullscale development and lack ...

The contribution of atmospheric deposition to emissions of trace metals in stormwater runoff was investigated by quantifying wet and dry deposition fluxes and stormwater discharges within a small, highly impervious urban catchment in Los Angeles. At the beginning of the dry season in spring 2003, dry deposition measurements of chromium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc were made monthly for 1 yea...

Many communities have funded stormwater management from property taxes paid into their general funds. However, there is great competition for municipal general fund dollars from other worthy municipal programs. Stormwater management improvements typically have a low priority, unless the municipality is reacting to a recent major storm or regulatory action. The total cost of stormwater managemen...

Freshwater estuaries throughout the Great Lakes region receive stormwater runoff and riverine inputs from heavily urbanized population centers. While human and animal feces contained in this runoff are often the focus of source tracking investigations, non-fecal bacterial loads from soil, aerosols, urban infrastructure, and other sources are also transported to estuaries and lakes. We quantifie...

This paper proposes an introductory review of the historical evolution urban stormwater management, as well current trends, challenges, and changes paradigm. It reminds us first that most existing infrastructures in developed cities are based on modern sewer systems second half 19th century Europe. They have been built for decades managed almost solely by sanitation water specialists, relativel...

Many complex models that utilize continuous simulation (SWMM, HSPF, SLAMM, SIMPTM, etc.) require information pertaining to the accumulation rate of pollutants on the land surfaces. This is one of the most perplexing issues in stormwater modeling. A representation of the accumulation rates is usually obtained through trial and error during calibration, with little, if any, actual direct measurem...