Research Title
Sustainable Stormwater Management: Low Impact Development for Urban Climate Change Adaptation
Objectives
To explore the applicability of low impact development (LID) as a strategy for reducing stormwater runoff in the Windsor region, to determine the effectiveness of LID as a climate change adaptation strategy in the area of stormwater management, and conversely to determine the impact of climate change on the effectiveness of LID measures.
Description
Low impact development can include projects such as green roofs, rain barrels, rain gardens, vegetated swales, infiltration ditches as well as some best management practices such as detention ponds. The City of Windsor's plan for climate change adaptation includes the use of low impact development (LID) to help reduce future damage from stormwater runoff including flooding and combined sewer overflows.
A hydrological model of a sewershed in the City of Windsor will be constructed within the System for Urban Stormwater Treatment and Analysis Integration (SUSTAIN) (Lai et al., 2007)model framework. The model will be calibrated using flow data which will be gathered from primary stormsewer into which the sewershed drains. After the hydrological model has been established, LID measures will be defined based on available data and potential locations will be selected within the SUSTAIN framework. A optimization process will then be conducted in order to establish a cost benefit relationship for the reduction of stormwater runoff using LID measures. At this point contemporary or historical weather data will be supplemented with weather data subject to future climate change conditions. This will allow the testing of the former optimal solutions under future climate conditions as well as the establishment of a new set of optimal solutions in order to test the effectiveness of LID as a climate change adaptation strategy.
Lai, F., Dai, T., Zhen, J., Riverson, J., Alvi, K., & Shoemaker, L. (2007). SUSTAIN-AN EPA BMP process and placement tool for urban watersheds. Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation, 2007(5), 946–968.