Understanding, management and modelling of urban hydrology and its consequences for receiving waters: A state of the art
TL;DR: The ability to predict urban hydrology has also evolved, to deliver models suited to the small temporal and spatial scales typical of urban and peri-urban applications as discussed by the authors. But despite the advances, many important challenges remain.
About: This article is published in Advances in Water Resources.The article was published on 2013-01-01. It has received 714 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Stormwater & Urban runoff.
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University of Melbourne1, United States Environmental Protection Agency2, North Carolina State University3, University of Sheffield4, University of Exeter5, Heriot-Watt University6, University of Auckland7, University of Lyon8, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research9, Technical University of Denmark10, WSP Global11, Münster University of Applied Sciences12, Université de Montréal13, Luleå University of Technology14
TL;DR: The history, scope, application and underlying principles of terms used in urban drainage and recommendations for clear communication of these principles are provided.
Abstract: The management of urban stormwater has become increasingly complex over recent decades. Consequently, terminology describing the principles and practices of urban drainage has become increasingly diverse, increasing the potential for confusion and miscommunication. This paper documents the history, scope, application and underlying principles of terms used in urban drainage and provides recommendations for clear communication of these principles. Terminology evolves locally and thus has an important role in establishing awareness and credibility of new approaches and contains nuanced understandings of the principles that are applied locally to address specific problems. Despite the understandable desire to have a ‘uniform set of terminology’, such a concept is flawed, ignoring the fact that terms reflect locally shared understanding. The local development of terminology thus has an important role in advancing the profession, but authors should facilitate communication between disciplines and between regio...
1,152 citations
Cites background from "Understanding, management and model..."
...Given the increase in urbanisation worldwide, and the impact of urban stormwater on both humans and aquatic ecosystems, themanagement of urban drainage is a critically important challenge (Chocat et al., 2001; Fletcher et al., 2013)....
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TL;DR: A review of the major advances and remaining challenges within the growing field of urban hydrology can be found in this article, where the authors assess the major improvements and challenges that remain within the field.
Abstract: As urban space continues to expand to accommodate a growing global population, there remains a real need to quantify and qualify the impacts of urban space on natural processes. The expansion of global urban areas has resulted in marked alterations to natural processes, environmental quality and natural resource consumption. The urban landscape influences infiltration and evapotranspiration, complicating our capacity to quantify their dynamics across a heterogeneous landscape at contrasting scales. Impervious surfaces exacerbate runoff processes, whereas runoff from pervious areas remains uncertain owing to variable infiltration dynamics. Increasingly, the link between the natural hydrological cycle and engineered water cycle has been made, realising the contributions from leaky infrastructure to recharge and runoff rates. Urban landscapes are host to a suite of contaminants that impact on water quality, where novel contaminants continue to pose new challenges to monitoring and treatment regimes. This review seeks to assess the major advances and remaining challenges that remain within the growing field of urban hydrology.
435 citations
Cites background from "Understanding, management and model..."
...There have been several extensive reviews that have sought to address the degradation of urban water quality and the physical, chemical and biological conditions of receiving waters (e.g. Paul and Meyer 2001, Meyer et al. 2005, Walsh et al. 2005, O’Driscoll et al. 2010, Fletcher et al. 2013)....
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...Despite this, the impact of the built environment on natural hydrological dynamics is complex and our collective understanding remains limited (Niemczynowicz 1999, Fletcher et al. 2013)....
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...…concerned with (i) diffuse contaminants from contrasting land surfaces and (ii) emerging priority contaminants (e.g. pharmaceuticals, nanoparticles and endocrine-disrupting chemicals) and how to effectively detect, trace and treat them (Walsh et al. 2005, Fletcher et al. 2013, Pal et al. 2014)....
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...Urban hydrologists have increasingly focused on the waterquality implications of the expanding urban area and have sought to find ways of mitigating the risk of degradation to water bodies and their in-stream habitats (Walsh et al. 2005, O’Driscoll et al. 2010, Fletcher et al. 2013)....
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...The effort to predict pollutant concentrations in urban streams has been described as one of the greatest challenges for urban hydrologists in the past 20 years (Fletcher et al. 2013)....
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TL;DR: This review provides a summary of the knowledge of LID as a stormwater management technique and climate change mitigation measure as well as the current state of research and implementation of this topic.
385 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated changes in storm runoff resulting from the transformation of previously rural landscapes into peri-urban areas and found that the degree of area serviced by storm drainage was a stronger determinant of storm runoff response than either impervious area or development type and that little distinction in hydrological response exists between urban and periurban developments of similar impervious cover when no significant hydraulic alteration is present.
372 citations
Cites background from "Understanding, management and model..."
...Urbanization brings with it a range of environmental challenges for both the local, regional and wider environment as a direct result of the biochemical and physical changes to hydrological systems (Fletcher et al., 2013; Jacobson, 2011)....
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...Much of the available evidence on the long-term hydrological effects of urbanization has been obtained through the application of hydrological models (Fletcher et al., 2013)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed the evidence concerning the combined impacts of urbanisation and climate on the urban water environment of inland catchments of the United Kingdom and assesses the degree of confidence in reported directions of change and response.
336 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this article, Naiman et al. pointed out that harnessing of streams and rivers comes at great cost: Many rivers no longer support socially valued native species or sustain healthy ecosystems that provide important goods and services.
Abstract: H umans have long been fascinated by the dynamism of free-flowing waters. Yet we have expended great effort to tame rivers for transportation, water supply, flood control, agriculture, and power generation. It is now recognized that harnessing of streams and rivers comes at great cost: Many rivers no longer support socially valued native species or sustain healthy ecosystems that provide important goods and services (Naiman et al. 1995, NRC 1992).
5,799 citations
TL;DR: The term "urban stream syndrome" describes the consistently observed ecological degra- dation of streams draining urban land as mentioned in this paper, which can be attributed to a few major large-scale sources, primarily urban stormwater runoff delivered to streams by hydraulically efficient drainage systems.
Abstract: The term ''urban stream syndrome'' describes the consistently observed ecological degra- dation of streams draining urban land. This paper reviews recent literature to describe symptoms of the syndrome, explores mechanisms driving the syndrome, and identifies appropriate goals and methods for ecological restoration of urban streams. Symptoms of the urban stream syndrome include a flashier hy- drograph, elevated concentrations of nutrients and contaminants, altered channel morphology, and reduced biotic richness, with increased dominance of tolerant species. More research is needed before generaliza- tions can be made about urban effects on stream ecosystem processes, but reduced nutrient uptake has been consistently reported. The mechanisms driving the syndrome are complex and interactive, but most impacts can be ascribed to a few major large-scale sources, primarily urban stormwater runoff delivered to streams by hydraulically efficient drainage systems. Other stressors, such as combined or sanitary sewer overflows, wastewater treatment plant effluents, and legacy pollutants (long-lived pollutants from earlier land uses) can obscure the effects of stormwater runoff. Most research on urban impacts to streams has concentrated on correlations between instream ecological metrics and total catchment imperviousness. Recent research shows that some of the variance in such relationships can be explained by the distance between the stream reach and urban land, or by the hydraulic efficiency of stormwater drainage. The mech- anisms behind such patterns require experimentation at the catchment scale to identify the best management approaches to conservation and restoration of streams in urban catchments. Remediation of stormwater impacts is most likely to be achieved through widespread application of innovative approaches to drainage design. Because humans dominate urban ecosystems, research on urban stream ecology will require a broadening of stream ecological research to integrate with social, behavioral, and economic research.
2,520 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a simple two-parameter model was developed that relates mean annual evapotranspiration to rainfall, potential evapOTranspiration, and plant-available water capacity.
Abstract: It is now well established that forested catchments have higher evapotranspiration than grassed catchments. Thus land use management and rehabilitation strategies will have an impact on catchment water balance and hence water yield and groundwater recharge. The key controls on evapotranspiration are rainfall interception, net radiation, advection, turbulent transport, leaf area, and plant-available water capacity. The relative importance of these factors depends on climate, soil, and vegetation conditions. Results from over 250 catchments worldwide show that for a given forest cover, there is a good relationship between long-term average evapotranspiration and rainfall. From these observations and on the basis of previous theoretical work a simple two-parameter model was developed that relates mean annual evapotranspiration to rainfall, potential evapotranspiration, and plant-available water capacity. The mean absolute error between modeled and measured evapotranspiration was 42 mm or 6.0%; the least squares line through the origin had as lope of 1.00 and a correlation coefficient of 0.96. The model showed potential for a variety of applications including water yield modeling and recharge estimation. The model is a practical tool that can be readily used for assessing the long-term average effect of vegetation changes on catchment evapotranspiration and is scientifically justifiable.
2,191 citations
TL;DR: A wide range of strategies to reduce impervious surfaces and their impacts on water resources can be applied to community planning, site-level planning and design, and land use regulation as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Planners concerned with water resource protection in urbanizing areas must deal with the adverse impacts of polluted runoff. Impervious surface coverage is a quantifiable land-use indicator that correlates closely with these impacts. Once the role and distribution of impervious coverage are understood, a wide range of strategies to reduce impervious surfaces and their impacts on water resources can be applied to community planning, site-level planning and design, and land use regulation. These strategies complement many current trends in planning, zoning, and landscape design that go beyond water pollution concerns to address the quality of life in a community.
2,087 citations
Colorado State University1, The Nature Conservancy2, Cooperative Research Centre3, University of Washington4, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center5, United States Geological Survey6, United States Forest Service7, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education8, University of the Witwatersrand9, International Water Management Institute10
TL;DR: The ecological limits of hydrologic alteration (ELOHA) as mentioned in this paper is a framework for assessing environmental flow needs for many streams and rivers simultaneously to foster development and implementation of environmental flow standards at the regional scale.
Abstract: SUMMARY 1. The flow regime is a primary determinant of the structure and function of aquatic and riparian ecosystems for streams and rivers. Hydrologic alteration has impaired riverine ecosystems on a global scale, and the pace and intensity of human development greatly exceeds the ability of scientists to assess the effects on a river-by-river basis. Current scientific understanding of hydrologic controls on riverine ecosystems and experience gained from individual river studies support development of environmental flow standards at the regional scale. 2. This paper presents a consensus view from a group of international scientists on a new framework for assessing environmental flow needs for many streams and rivers simultaneously to foster development and implementation of environmental flow standards at the regional scale. This framework, the ecological limits of hydrologic alteration (ELOHA), is a synthesis of a number of existing hydrologic techniques and environmental flow methods that are currently being used to various degrees and that can support comprehensive regional flow management. The flexible approach allows
1,408 citations