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Application of Green Infrastructure for Combined Sewer Overflow, Kansas City, MO
Citation:
Struck, S., R. Pitt, R. FIELD, A. N. TAFURI, A. Khalid, AND F. Reddy. Application of Green Infrastructure for Combined Sewer Overflow, Kansas City, MO . Presented at WEF Collection System Specialty Conference, Raleigh, NC, June 12 - 15, 2011.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) encourages communities to adopt environmentally friendly design practices and other “green” management techniques when addressing stormwater control and management. Advanced design concepts such as Low Impact Development (LID) and Green Infrastructure are frequently implemented to: • Increase stormwater retention at the runoff source, • Decrease the runoff volume and rate entering the drainage system, and • Decrease the total demand on the drainage system while providing water quality and other benefits. While use of these techniques is increasingly common across the country, there is less information on their effects on large public water management and sewage control systems, or what the cumulative effect of green solutions could be if applied on a larger scale. This extensive project sponsored by the EPA and located in Kansas City, MO, will collect data before, during, and after implementation of a variety of green infrastructure control practices in a 100 acre pilot subwatershed, and in a parallel control subwatershed. The intent of this demonstration project is to quantify the use of green infrastructure to minimize combined sewer overflows using a variety of integrated practices and modeling approaches. The reduction of discharges to the drainage system during wet weather will be calculated using continuous modeling and verified through field monitoring. Two modeling approaches are being taken for this project. WinSLAMM, the Source Loading and Management Model, will be used to conduct a continuous water mass balance for BMPs located on private property and along street rights of way (ROW). For comparison, the EPA SUSTAIN framework will also be applied using specifications from preliminary design drawings of various BMPs to compare current planned BMP benefits and costs with existing constraints (e.g., available area, utility conflicts, and existing infrastructure). SUSTAIN will also be used to compare planning and design using a design storm approach vs. continuous simulation results, Likewise, this effort will provide results of longer term verification of the modeling results through comparison with monitoring information to evaluate whether project water quantity and quality goals are met. Model results will also be compared to WinSLAMM and SUSTAIN results will also be used to reinforce guidance on BMP selection. Results to date indicate that nearly 20% of the surface storm runoff from the current design storm of 1.4 in. can be captured in the ROW which indicates a higher degree of control is required in the functionally connected impervious areas.