Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Melanie F. Klein / Cities and nature are often popularly viewed as polar opposites. Many American cities are seen as “destructive of nature, gray and natureless, distinct and separate from natural systems” (Beatley 2008, 189). Cities lacking in ecological functions can benefit from the application of Green Urbanism theory. Green Urbanism incorporates ecological features as central design elements, cities, and to restore, nurture, and celebrate urban ecology. Unique ecological features can affect a place in positive ways while adding and establishing an identity for the city. One city that has been stuck in a gray and natureless state is St. Louis, Missouri, in particular, the Central business district. In order to transform St. Louis into a more ecologically rich city, an eco-boulevard will be implemented. An eco-boulevard is a green ribbon that collects stormwater runoff and connects people to surrounding local amenities. In addition to stormwater benefits, the eco-boulevard will serve as a visual and physical connector for pedestrians to public destinations, and connect pedestrians with other pedestrians by serving as its own destination. The eco-boulevard can also provide multiple ecological and social benefits to promote healthy places with a high quality of life. In order to achieve the implementation of an eco-boulevard, a thorough analysis of watersheds, key low points, transportation hubs, public destinations, and established pedestrian traffic routes were considered. The design of the eco-boulevard is concentrated in areas where low points in elevation, transportation hubs, public destinations, and highly traveled pedestrian traffic routes converge. At the intersection of these elements, unique features capture and store stormwater runoff. As a whole, the entire eco-boulevard improves urban ecology through the use of vegetation, street trees, and the recycling of water.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Timothy D. Keane / Urbanization has lead to environmental degradation in most of the world’s great cities. With the degradation of natural systems comes a reliance on man-made and engineered systems to perform functions vital to cities such as water treatment, the filtering of pollutants, flood mitigation, temperature control, and erosion prevention; functions formerly performed by natural systems. Relying on man-made operations to perform essential services comes at a cost, both in terms of monetary costs and in the resources needed to construct and operate them. New Orleans is a prime example of a city that has greatly altered the ecosystems that formerly existed on the site and has had to rely on human engineering for its survival. Instead of the mosaic of freshwater marshes, wooded swamps, wet meadows, and bottomland forests that once comprised New Orleans and allowed for the diffusion, evaporation, and infiltration of floodwater; present day New Orleans has had to rely on a system of levees and pumps to keep the City dry. These pumps and levees have allowed New Orleans to expand and prosper but failures in the flood control system have also lead to great disasters, Hurricane Katrina and the related flood in 2004 being the latest. Implementing permaculture designs to New Orleans will buffer the City from the effects of hurricanes and flooding and decrease its reliance on city services. These permaculture designs recreate key elements of the natural systems that formerly existed in New Orleans and attempt to again create spaces in the City were stormwater can safely be detained without damaging property and that allow the stormwater to infiltrate into the soil. At the same time these permaculture designs would enhance the character and uniqueness that makes New Orleans one of the world’s great cities.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Timothy D. Keane / All along the Gulf Coast, wetlands are disappearing due to saltwater intrusion from the draining of freshwater wetlands. Louisiana has about 40 percent of the coastal wetland in the lower 48 states but is currently losing approximately 24 square miles of wetlands a year (Louisiana Coastal 2009). Studies have shown that wetlands can help reduce the impact of a storm surge during a hurricane and have a cleansing ability from air to water. An increase in hurricane intensities due to climate change will likely result in bigger storm surges. Without wetlands to diffuse storm surges, disasters like Hurricane Katrina will recur. Cities spend millions of dollars on treating wastewater and stormwater with facilities and chemicals. Wetlands can treat wastewater through different processes without using chemicals, thus reducing costs and increasing sustainability. Bayou Bienvenue is a wetland located in New Orleans. This wetland was once a freshwater cypress swamp, but due to saltwater intrusion from the construction of Intracoastal Waterway and Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, has turned into a brackish lake. This wetland is separated from the Lower 9th Ward with a levee that creates a visual barrier which results in local residences not knowing that there is a former wetland behind the levee. Bayou Bienvenue’s Ecological Park’s discovery center with educational programs about successional wetland landscapes will educate people about the importance of wetlands to New Orleans. The restored of the bayou will be a landscape that functions as infrastructure through the treatment of stormwater and wastewater. The bayou will aid in reducing storm surge impacts, provide wildlife habitat, become part of schools’ curricula within the 9th Ward, stimulate the local economy and provide a community park for people to enjoy. Bayou Bienvenue’s Ecological Park will help spur further wetland projects of this caliber in and around New Orleans.

Houston's Fifth Ward neighborhood is one of the last remaining areas of the inner city to have not yet seen large-scale redevelopment. Situated just northeast of downtown, the neighborhood's population is predominantly low- to mid-income African Americans; demographics are similar today as they were during the neighborhood's prime, from the 1920s-60s, when the Fifth Ward was a cultural hub of Houston famous for its musical culture of zydeco and blues. The ward's rich history also has dark spots, however, specifically its longstanding reputation as a center of poverty and violent crime, and its physical vulnerability to damaging floods. Much of the neighborhood's built history is unpreserved and unprotected, at risk of being wiped off the map by both development interests and extreme weather events. By modernizing the city's approach to stormwater management and infrastructure and strengthening its historic preservation and emergency management practices, Houston could help preserve one of its oldest communities, while also decreasing flood volumes, improving air and water quality, saving money, and establishing a pattern of smart growth citywide. In addition, neighborhood level efforts to promote placemaking via preservation and sustainability efforts can help the Fifth Ward leverage the redevelopment process to change its reputation, ensuring a future for the community that respects its past. / text

<p>Three methods of sensitivity and unceartainty analysis have been applied to the operative stormwater- and recipient model StormTac. The study area is the watershed of lake Flaten in the municipality Salem. StormTac’s submodels for stormwater, pollutant transport and the recipient are cosidired. In the sensitivity assessment, the model parametres and inputs were varied one at a time by a constant percentage according to the “one at a time” (OAAT) method and the response of the outputs were calculated. It was found that the stormwater- and baseflow were most sensitive to perturbations in the perciptation. Unceartainty analysis using Monte Carlo simulation was performed in two different ways. (1) All model parametres and inputs were included with defined unceartainties and the resulting unceartainty for the target variable was quantified. Thereafter, whith the purpose to estimate the contribution of all the parametres and inputs, the cumulative uncertainty for the target variable, each parameters/inputs unceartainty was omitted one at the time. The most crucial uncertainty for the storm water flow was the runoff coefficient for forestland and the perciptation (i.e the differens between the 90- and 10-percentile for the storm water flow was reduced whith 44 % and 33 % respectively). (2) To identify optimal parameter intervals, the probability for an acceptable value of the target variable was plotted against each parameters value range. The result suggests that for some of the parametres i StormTac, the ranges should be changed.</p> / <p>Den operativa dagvatten- och recipientmodellen StormTac har applicerats på sjön Flatens avrinningsområde i Salems kommun. StormTac:s delmodeller för dagvatten, föroreningstransport och recipienten studerades. Tre olika metoder för att undersöka osäkerheten och känsligheten hos parametrar och indata i delmodellerna tillämpades. I känslighetsanalysen (OAAT-metoden) behäftades parametervärdena och indata med systematiska fel och responsen hos utdata beräknades. Dag- och basvattenflödet var känsligast mot fel i nederbördsdata, medan kväve-, fosfor- och kopparbelastningen till recipienten var känsligast mot respektive förorenings dagvattenkoncentration från områden med bebyggelse. Varje parameter och indatas bidrag till den kumulativa osäkerheten hos utdata uppskattades med hjälp av Montecarlosimulering. Genom att för varje effektvariabel studera differensen mellan 90- och 10-percentilen när osäkerheten hos en parameter/indata i taget utelämnades, kunde varje parameters/indatas bidrag till modellresultatets osäkerhet kvantifieras. För dagvattenflödet bidrog avrinningskoefficienten för skogmark med 44 % av osäkerheten och nederbörden med 33 %. Montecarloanlys praktiserades även för att identifiera optimala intervall för parametrarna i modellen. Sannolikheten för ett accepterat värde på den simulerade effektvariabeln plottades mot varje parameters värdemängd. För vissa parametrar indikerade resultatet att intervallen kan förändras mot hur de i nuläget ser ut i StormTac. Uniforma sannolikhetsfördelningar, begränsade av StormTac:s min- och maxvärden för parametrarna och ± 50% av orginalvärdet för indata, användes i båda osäkerhetsanalyserna.</p>

<p>The river Göta Älv reaches between Vänern and Gothenburg and is the main raw water source for Gothenburg that supplies about 700 000 people with water. To protect and maintain a high water quality, continuously samples and water analyses are made throughout the river. In 1998 a protection area was founded between surte and Lärjeholm where the raw water intake is. This was made to increase the awareness of the importance to protect the water. However, there is a lot of contribution of untreated stormwater to Göta Älv within the protection area.</p><p>Göteborg Water and Sewage Works commissioned this thesis where two areas, Tagene industrial area and Kärra residential area, with untreated stormwater outlets within the protection area are studied. The areas have been divided according to surface composition with different rates of pollutant contribution. Then the stormwater flow and the contribution of pollutants was simulated with the model SEWSYS. The future aim is that the model will be able to simulate the contribution of pollutants for a variety of rains, for the whole protection area.</p><p>SEWSYS (Sewer System) is built in MATLAB/Simulink and consists of three modules, a stormwater module, a sanitary wastewater module and a treatment plant module. This project only includes the stormwater module. The model simulates the stormwater flow and the pollutants total phosphorous, total nitrogen, copper, zinc, lead, cadmium and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Samples and analysis for the two areas has been carried out for another thesis work during the same period. The results from those analyses have been used for the model settings for the areas.</p><p>Simulations have been performed to adjust the model and evaluate its ability to describe the stormwater flow and the pollutant contribution within the areas. The amount of stormwater and the runoff are well simulated by the model. However, the measured and analysed data has not been enough to get reliable simulations over the pollutant contribution. Further development of the model is necessary. Generally the model simulates lower values compared to measured values, especially in the industrial area. For a more general understanding over how SEWSYS works for the two areas, simulations were carried out on a yearly basis. Those simulations have been compared with general data for stormwater pollutants. Even though the results from the simulations have shown lower values than the measured values, the model shows clearly that the contribution of pollutants from the industrial site is greater than the contribution from the residential site.</p> / <p>Göta Älv sträcker sig från Vänern ner till Göteborg och är Göteborgs huvudsakliga råvattentäkt som försörjer ca 700 000 personer med vatten dagligen. För att säkra råvattenkvaliteten görs kontinuerliga provtagningar utmed älven. Dessutom beslutade Länsstyrelsen 1998 om ett skyddsområde med skyddsföreskrifter för avrinningsområdet mellan Surte i norr till vattenintaget vid Lärjeholm i söder. Ett mål med skyddsområdet är att det ska öka medvetenheten hos boende och de som är verksamma inom området om behovet att värna om vårt vatten. Dock leds det på flera ställen ut orenat dagvatten till älven inom skyddsområdet.</p><p>Examensarbetet är ett uppdrag av Göteborgs Va-verk där två områden med orenade dagvattenutsläpp till Göta Älv studeras, Tagene industriområde samt Kärra bostadsområde. Dessa områden har karterats och dagvattenflödet samt föroreningsbelastningen från dagvattnet har simulerats med modellen SEWSYS. Målet på lång sikt är att modellen ska kunna användas för att simulera föroreningsbelastningen vid olika regn för hela skyddsområdet.</p><p>Modellen SEWSYS (Sewer System) är uppbyggd i MATLAB/Simulink och bygger på tre moduler, en dagvattenmodul, en spillvattenmodul och en reningsverksmodul. För detta projekt har endast delen för dagvatten använts. Modellen simulerar dagvattenflödet och behandlar föroreningarna totalfosfor, totalkväve, koppar, zink, bly, kadmium samt polycykliska aromatiska kolväten (PAH). I ett examensarbete parallellt med detta har provtagning och analyser av föroreningar för de båda områdena ägt rum och dessa värden ligger till grund för inställningen av modellen.</p><p>Simuleringar har utförts för att anpassa modellen samt utvärdera dess förmåga att beskriva dagvattenflödet och föroreningsbelastningen inom de aktuella områdena. Simuleringarna visar att avrinningen och dagvattenflödet simuleras bra av modellen. Det har dock visat sig att de gjorda mätningarna inte har varit tillräckliga som underlag för att få en tillförlitlig beskrivning av föroreningsbelastningen och vidare utveckling är nödvändig. Detta gäller särskilt i industriområdet där modellen generellt simulerar för låga föroreningsmängder. För en mer allmän uppfattning av SEWSYS modellen för de två områdena, har även simuleringar på årsbasis utförts och jämförts med schablonhalter för dagvattenföroreningar. Trots att simuleringsvärdena har legat lägre än de uppmätta värdena på föroreningsmängderna har det gått att visa att industriområdet bidrar till högre föroreningsbelastning än bostadsområdet på recipienten Göta Älv.</p>

Municipalities are experiencing a growing water management challenge as a result of population growth in water-dependent communities. The rising cost of potable water, in addition to limits placed on stormwater discharges, provide opportunities for the wide-scale implementation of stormwater reuse. This thesis presents a feasibility analysis of a novel site-level stormwater reuse concept for commercial developments in Canada. Historical rainfall data and SWMM 5.0 were used to evaluate the hydrologic potential of the reuse system to replace potable water for end-use demands of toilet flushing and garden irrigation on single- and multi-tenant commercial sites. Performance criteria were used to evaluate: (i) the volume and percent potable water replaced with reclaimed stormwater, (ii) the volume and frequency of potable water ‘top-ups’ to the reclaimed stormwater storage facility, and (iii) the volume and frequency of overflows in the reclaimed stormwater storage facility. A discounted payback method was used to determine the length of time (in years) required for annual water savings to equal the initial capital investment of the stormwater reuse system. The analysis was performed from the perspective of the private landowner in six Canadian locations, including Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, Toronto, and Quebec City. The methodology and results presented is intended to provide insight to landowners and municipal bodies on the potential of site-level stormwater reuse to aid large-scale adaption and implementation. The results suggest that regions with high average annual rainfall depths produce high potable water replacement rates ranging from 64% to 99% while cities that experience seasonal arid conditions and lower average annual rainfall depths achieve lower potable water replacement rates in the range of 30% and 83%. The test locations of Vancouver and Quebec achieved longer payback periods of 10 years to 26 years due to the relative low cost of potable water. The Saskatoon and Regina locations produced shorter payback periods ranging from 3 to 6 years due to the higher potable water prices. Toronto was found to have relatively short payback periods ranging from 4 to 5 years on account of its high potable water replacement rates and high potable water prices. / Thesis (Master, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-19 14:44:23.024

Ce travail de thèse a évalué les niveaux et les voies d'introduction de la contamination en micropolluants des eaux pluviales d'un petit bassin versant urbain, et mis en évidence les impacts de l'utilisation de techniques alternatives (TA) sur les flux d'eau et de contaminants. Quatre bassins versants à Noisy-le-Grand, homogènes par leur taille et leur occupation du sol (1 à 2 ha, résidentiel dense), et présentant une diversité de gestion des eaux pluviales (séparatif classique et différentes combinaisons de TA) ont été étudiés. La présence d'un certain nombre de substances prioritaires de la directive cadre européenne sur l'eau (HAP, alkylphénols, phtalates, diuron, isoproturon, atrazine, plomb) a été mise en évidence dans les eaux pluviales d'un bassin versant amont, à des niveaux de contamination globalement plus faibles qu'à l'aval des réseaux séparatifs. Cette contamination est tout de même significative pour certains paramètres qui ont été mesurés au dessus des normes de qualité. Pour le zinc, la contamination à l'amont est même plus élevée qu'à l'aval du fait de l'émission par des matériaux de couverture.Ce travail a montré que les TA diminuent les volumes d'eau rejetés vers l'aval d'environ 50% et réduisent les masses de contaminants émises de 20 à 80% (MES, DCO, PCB, HAP, alkylphénols, métaux traces). Cette réduction de masse est essentiellement liée à la diminution de volume, l'effet épuratoire sur les concentrations n'étant pas systématiquement mis en évidence. L'amplitude de ces effets varie suivant l'importance de la pluie, mais surtout en fonction du type d'ouvrage mis en place.La gestion à l'amont des eaux pluviales est donc à favoriser car elle évite la sur-contamination liée aux processus en réseau (mauvais branchements, érosion...). Elle permet de séparer les eaux peu chargées (infiltration ou rejet au milieu) des effluents contaminés qui pourront être traités localement ou à l'aval. Dans un objectif de réduction des flux polluants la conception des TA devra prendre en compte les pluies courantes et non pas seulement les événements exceptionnels / This thesis aimed at evaluating the contamination of urban stormwater from an upstream watershed by micropollutants and their introduction pathways, and estimating the hydrological effects and the pollutant removal performances of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). Four watersheds located in Noisy-le-Grand were studied. They had comparable sizes (1 to 2 ha) and land use patterns (dense residential), but one was drained by a classical separate sewers system, and the other was managed by SUDS.We showed that stormwater from an upstream watershed is contaminated by some priority substances of the Water Framework Directive (PAHs, alkylphenols, phtalates, diuron, isoproturon, atrazine, lead), but at lower levels than the downstream. The concentrations of some parameters still excede the quality standards. Zinc concentrations are even higher than downstream, as a result of emissions from metallic materials from roong.SUDS reduce the volume of surface water discharged by 50 %. The mass of contaminants also decreases by 20 to 80 % (SS, COS, PCB, PAH, alkylphenol, metals). The discharge reduction is mainly due to water losses, whereas removal performances on concentrations are not systematically highlighted. These effects vary with rainfall and particularly with the type of SUDS.The upstream management of stormwater should be encouraged to avoid over contamination due to processes in sewer systems (erosion, bad connections...). Lightly contaminated effluents (infiltration or discharge to middle) can be separated from strongly contaminated ones that can be treated locally or downstream. In order to integrate depollution goals, the design of SUDS, currently based on exceptional events, should also rely on frequent events

Transportation infrastructure is a major source of stormwater runoff that can alter hydrology and contribute significant loading of nutrients, sediment, and other pollutants to surface waters. These increased loads can contribute to impairment of streams in developed areas and ultimately to Lake Champlain. In this study we selected six watersheds that represent a range of road types (gravel and paved) and road densities (rural, suburban, and urban) present in Chittenden County, one of the most developed areas in Vermont. The location and density of road networks were characterized and quantified for each watershed using GIS analysis. Monitoring stations in each watershed were constructed and instrumented to measure discharge and water quality parameters continuously from spring through early winter. Storm event composite samples and monthly water chemistry grab samples were collected and analyzed for total nitrogen, total phosphorus, chloride, and total suspended sediments. Results from this study show that road type and road density are closely linked with the level of impairment in each watershed. Total phosphorus and total nitrogen from storm event composite samples and monthly grab samples significantly increased along a gradient of increasing road network density. Chloride concentrations increased several orders of magnitude along this same gradient. With the exception of Alder Brook where total suspended sediment (TSS) concentrations tended to be high, there were no significant differences in TSS concentrations between rural and developed watersheds. The elevated storm event TSS concentrations in the rural streams suggest that the unpaved roads in the rural watersheds contribute to stormwater runoff loads and that sediment control, at least in the developed watersheds, might be fairly effective. The overall results from this study show that local roads are a significant source of impairment for streams in the Chittenden County area. Most of these roads are municipal roads that are not under management of the Vermont Agency of Transportation. Thus, local actions will be necessary to reduce runoff and pollutant loading from these roads.

Despite decades of U.S. water quality management efforts, over half of assessed waterbody units were threatened or impaired for designated uses in the most recent assessments, with urban runoff being a leading contributor to those impairments. This cumulative research explores several aspects of urban runoff dynamics through a combination of field study and modeling. Stormwater ponds are ubiquitous in developed landscapes due to their ability to provide multiple forms of treatment for stormwater runoff. However, evolving design goals have reduced the applicability of much of the early work that was done on pond effectiveness. In this study, we instrumented a recently constructed detention pond in Burlington, VT, USA. Flow gaging demonstrated that the pond achieved a 93% reduction in event peak flow rates over the monitoring period. Storm sampling showed that the pond significantly reduced total (TN) (1.45 mg/L median influent, 0.93 mg/L median effluent, p < 0.001) and total phosphorus (TP) (0.498 mg/L median influent, 0.106 mg/L median effluent, p < 0.001) concentrations over the events sampled. A loading analysis estimated the TN and TP removal efficiencies for the pond to be 23% and 77% respectively. Lastly, temperature data collected from the pond showed that during the summer the pond accumulates considerable heat energy. This study adds to the body of literature on detention pond performance, and raises concerns about the extensive use of stormwater ponds in watersheds where thermal stress is a concern. EPA SWMM is a widely used urban hydrologic, hydraulic and water quality model, though its application can be limited due to its deterministic nature, high dimensional parameter space, and the resulting implications for modelling uncertainty. In this work, I applied a global sensitivity analysis (SA) and evolutionary strategies (ES) calibration to SWMM to produce model predictions that account for parameter uncertainty in a headwater tributary case study in South Burlington, VT, USA. Parameter sensitivity was found to differ based on model structure, and the ES approach was generally successful at calibrating selected parameters, although less so as the number of concurrently varying parameters increased. A watershed water quality analysis using the calibrated model suggested that for different events in the record, the stream channel was alternately a source and a sink for sediment and nutrients, based on the predicted washoff loads and the measured loads from the stream sampling stations. These results add to the previous work on SWMM SA, auto-calibration, and parameter uncertainty assessment. Lastly, given the extent of eutrophication impairment in the U.S., I compared TN and TP data collected in these original works with national and regional datasets. TN concentrations sampled in this work were generally commensurate with values reported elsewhere, however TP data were not. Drainage area attributes and an event based rainfall runoff analysis of the study catchments provided circumstantial support for the idea that runoff from lawns is driving the high TP loads in Englesby Brook. The role of pet wastes is considered as a potentially fruitful area for further research.