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A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO STORMWATER MANAGEMENT AT THE catchment SCALE
Citation:
ROY, A., A. L. MAYER, W D. Shuster*, H. W. Thurston*, T. HOAGLAND, M. CLAGETT, P Parikh**, AND M A. Taylor**. A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO STORMWATER MANAGEMENT AT THE catchment SCALE. Presented at 10th International Conference on Urban Drainage, Copenhagen, DENMARK, August 21 - 26, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
to present information
Description:
Stormwater runoff from extensive impervious surfaces in urban and suburban areas has led to human safety risks and stream ecosystem impairment, triggering an interest in catchment-scale retrofit stormwater management. Such stormwater management is of multidisciplinary relevance, posing legal, social, economic, hydrologic, and ecological challenges and constraints. A multidisciplinary approach to stormwater management is being tested in the Shepherd Creek catchment, a 20 km2 residential and forested catchment in Cincinnati, OH (USA). An assessment of the total impervious area (TIA) revealed that a majority (50-72%) of TIA in sub-catchments is in rooftops and driveways, so we decided to use parcel-level best management practices (BMPs) in the form of rain barrels and rain gardens to mitigate stormwater runoff. To abide by laws concerning stormwater, a voluntary economic auction approach will be used to distribute BMPs and evaluate landowners' willingness-to-accept BMPs on their property in exchange for financial compensation. The hydrologic and ecologic responses to retrofit stormwater BMPs will be tested using a before-after-control impact design, where the "impact" is the installation of BMPs. This research has resulted in a policy precription for retrofit management of stormwater quantity, that is, if not ideal in one discipline, at least sound in all disciplines.