You are here:
Framework for Incorporating Green Infrastructure into Urban Watershed Management
Citation:
TAFURI, A. N. AND R. I. FIELD. Framework for Incorporating Green Infrastructure into Urban Watershed Management. Presented at 2010 International Workshop on Sustainable Water Environment, Taipei, TAIWAN, June 30 - July 01, 2010.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
Efforts have been under way by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) since 2003 to develop a decision-support system for placement of best management practices (BMPs) at strategic locations in urban watersheds. This system is called the System for Urban Stormwater Treatment and Analysis INtegration (SUSTAIN). The tool is designed for use by watershed and stormwater practitioners to develop, evaluate, and select optimal BMP options for various watershed scales based on cost and effectiveness. SUSTAIN seamlessly integrates GIS analysis and visualization, watershed/BMP simulation, cost, and system optimization. It incorporates a revolutionary concept of developing a cost-effectiveness curve for watershed decision making. In addition, an equally innovative multi-tier concept was incorporated for performing staged optimizations from smaller watersheds to a larger watershed. The SUSTAIN Version 1.0 was released in November, 2009 (http://www.epa.gov/ednnrmrl/models/sustain/index.html). The website contains a link to a recently published EPA report which is a useful reference for SUSTAIN users. EPA has committed additional resources to provide users support, showcase applications, and perform needed enhancements to better facilitate the setup and application of SUSTAIN while improving output accuracy and credibility. SUSTAIN includes four key components: (1) a BMP site evaluation tool which uses the ArcGIS platform and user-guided rules to determine site suitability for various BMP options, (2) a watershed module that integrates locally derived data with watershed simulation models to predict flow and pollutant loading, (3) a stand-alone BMP module that performs process-based simulation, and (4) an optimization module that performs cost estimating and combines performance and cost data of various design alternatives. SUSTAIN is designed to link with external models for inputs of flow and pollutant time series. It also has internal stand-alone sub-modules for performing watershed/landscape runoff simulation, BMP process simulation, conduit routing, and stream conveyance and pollutant routing. The framework includes a suite of system and interface capabilities. System features emphasize the use of GIS-based visualization and support for developing watershed simulation networks that may include sequences of land parcels, management practices, and stream reaches. SUSTAIN can help answer questions on: how effective BMPs are in reducing runoff and pollutant loadings; the most cost-effective solutions for meeting water quantity/quality objectives; where, what type, and how big BMPs should be.