The use of best management practices or BMPs to treat urban stormwater runoff has been pervasive for many years. Extensive research has been conducted to evaluate the performance of individual BMPs at specific locations; however, little research has been published that seeks to evaluate the impacts of small, distributed BMPs throughout a watershed at the regional level. To address this, a model is developed using EPA SWMM 5.0 for the Duck Pond watershed, which is located in Blacksburg, Virginia and encompasses much of the Virginia Polytechnic and State Institute's campus and much of the town of Blacksburg as well. A variety of BMPs are designed and placed within the model. Several variations of the model are created in order to test different aspects of BMP design and to test the BMP modeling abilities of EPA SWMM 5.0. Simulations are performed using one-hour design storms and yearlong hourly rainfall traces. From these simulations, small water quality benefits are observed at the system level. This is seen as encouraging, given that a relatively small amount of the total drainage area is controlled by BMPs and that the BMPs are not sited in optimal locations. As expected, increasing the number of BMPs in the watershed generally increases the level of treatment. The use of the half-inch rule in determining the required water quality volume is examined and found to provide reasonable results. The design storm approach to designing detention structures is also examined for a two-pond system located within the model. The pond performances are examined under continuous simulation and found to be generally adequate for the simulated rainfall conditions, although they do under-perform somewhat in comparison to the original design criteria. The usefulness of EPA SWMM 5.0 as a BMP modeling tool is called into question. Many useful features are identified, but so are many limitations. Key abilities such as infiltration from nodes or treatment in conduit flow are found to be lacking. Pollutant mass continuity issues are also encountered, making specific removal rates difficult to define. / Master of Science

The change in the hydrological cycle due to climate change entails more frequent and intense rainfall. As a result, urban water systems will be disproportionately affected by the climate change, especially in such urban areas as Las Vegas, which concentrates its population, infrastructure, and economic activity. Understanding the proper management of urban stormwater in the changing climate is becoming a critical concern to the water resources managers. Proper design and management of stormwater facilities are needed to attenuate the severe effects of extreme rainfall events. In an effort to develop better management techniques and understanding the probable future scenario, this study used the high-resolution climate model data conjunction with advanced statistical methods and computer simulation. Las Vegas Valley which has unique climatic condition and is surrounded by the mountains in every direction was chosen for the study. The North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program is developing multiple high-resolution projected-climate data from different combinations of regional climate models and global climate models. First, the future design depths was calculated using generalized extreme value method with the aid of L-moment regionalization technique. The projected climate change was incorporated into the model at the 100 year return period with 6h duration depths. Calculation showed that, the projection from different sets of climate model combinations varied substantially. Gridded reanalysis data were used to assess the performance of the climate models. This study used an existing Hydrologic Engineering Center’s Hydrological Modeling System (HEC-HMS) model and Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were implemented in the hydrological simulation. Hydrological simulation using HEC-HMS showed exceedances of existing stormwater facilities that were designed under the assumption of stationarity design depth. Low Impact Developments such as permeable pavement and green roof were found to be effective in the attenuation of climate change induced excess surface runoff. The primary purpose of this study is understanding of proper designing, planning and management of the urban stormwater system in the predicted climate scenarios.

This thesis investigates the effectiveness of Low Impact Development Infrastructure (LIDI) and Green Infrastructure (GI) in reducing flooding resulting from heavy rainfall events and sea-level rise, and in improving stormwater quality in the City of Miami Beach (CMB). InfoSWMM was used to simulate the 5, 10, and 100-year, 24-hour storm events, total suspended solids (TSS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) loadings, and in evaluating the potential of selected LIDI and GI solutions in North Shore neighborhood. Post-development results revealed a decrease of 48%, 46%, and 39% in runoff, a decrease of 57%, 60%, and 62% in TSS, a decrease of 82%, 82%, and 84% in BOD, and a decrease of 69%, 69%, and 70% in COD loadings. SWMM 5.1 was also used to simulate the king tide effect in a cross section in Indian Creek Drive. The proposed design simulations successfully demonstrated the potential to control flooding, showing that innovative technologies offer the city opportunities to cope with climate impacts. This study should be most helpful to the CMB to support its management of flooding under any adaptation scenarios that may possibly result from climate changes. Flooding could be again caused as a result of changes in inland flooding from precipitation patterns or from sea-level rise or both.