Sveriges avloppsledningsnät förnyas och utvidgas kontinuerligt. Idag finns ett flertal datorprogram för hydraulisk modellering av flöden och uppdämningsnivåer i spill- och dagvattennät. Modellerna kan även användas som planeringsverktyg för att bedöma effekter av planerade åtgärder samt för uppföljning av utförda åtgärder. Vid uppbyggnaden av en modell krävs beräkningsresultat från en hydrologisk avrinningsmodell som indata. Det största arbetet vid modelluppbyggandet ligger just i beskrivningen av hydrologin. För att kunna simulera avrinningsförlopp i samband med nederbörd på ett verklighetsliknande sätt är kännedom om storleken på och fördelningen av anslutna hårdgjorda ytor till ledningsnätet med snabb nederbördsavrinning väsentligt.    Till kalibreringen och valideringen av avloppsmodellen krävs mätdata. Flödesmätningar är dyra att genomföra vilket har skapat ett intresse att hitta metoder som säkert beräknar de anslutna hårdgjorda ytorna redan från de uppgifter som finns på kartor och i databaser. Svenska riktlinjer för beräkning av hårdgjorda ytor tillhandahålls av branschorganisationen Svenskt Vatten som företräder VA-verken och VA-bolagen i Sverige. Beräkningar med dessa riktlinjer ger dock inte alltid den korrekta storleken på de hårdgjorda ytorna. Syftet med examensarbetet har varit att undersöka olika metoder att beräkna anslutna hårdgjorda ytor till spillvattennätet samt att undersöka huruvida det finns ett samband mellan de avrinningsområden där beräkningarna av de hårdgjorda ytorna inte stämmer. Nio befintliga modeller framtagna i modelleringsverktyget MIKE URBAN användes vid undersökningen. Sex av dessa modeller användes till kalibrering och tre modeller användes till validering.   Undersökningen visade inget samband mellan ytavrinning (reduktionsfaktor) och lutning. Fördelningen av mätpunkter mellan olika jordartskategorier var väldigt ojämn vilket gjorde det svårt att studera huruvida det finns ett samband mellan avrinning och jordart. Resultatet från undersökningen visar att avrinningskoefficienter bör delas upp efter typ av ledningsnät i avrinningsområdet. Metoden med olika avrinningskoefficienter för olika typer av ytor visar på bra resultat för tätbebyggda områden. Metoden med sammanvägda avrinningskoefficienter för olika bebyggelsetyper visar relativt bra resultat med tanke på att det är en överslagsberäkningsmetod.   För tätbebyggda områden bedöms metoden med avrinningskoefficienter för olika typer av ytor fungera bra. Vid mindre tätbebyggda områden ökar osäkerheten. Metoden med sammanvägda avrinningskoefficienter för olika bebyggelsetyper bedöms fungera väl för överslagsberäkningar då den är mindre tidskrävande än den andra metoden. Ingen av de undersökta metoderna bedöms kunna ersätta flödesmätningar. / Sweden’s sewage systems are continuously being maintained and expanded. Several computer programs are today available for hydraulic modeling in sewage and storm water systems. The models can also be used as a planning tool to evaluate effects of planned interventions and to follow up performed interventions. Input data from a runoff model is required at the model build-up. Most of the work in model build-up lies at the description of the hydrology. In order to simulate runoff processes in connection with precipitation, understanding of the size and distribution of impervious surfaces with fast response runoff are essential.   Measurements are required for the calibration and validity check of the model. Unfortunately, flow measurements are expensive to perform. This has created an interest to find methods that safely calculate the connected impervious surfaces already from the information that can be found in maps and in databases. The Swedish guidelines for calculation of impervious surfaces are provided by the Swedish Water and Wastewater Association. Calculations with these guidelines do not always give the true size of the impervious surfaces. The aim of this master thesis was to examine various methods to calculate impervious surfaces connected to the sewage system and whether there is a correlation between drainage areas where the calculations do not agree. Nine existing models developed in the computer program MIKE URBAN were used in this study. Six of these models were used in the calibration and three models were used in the validity check of the methods.   The study did not show any correlation between runoff (reduction factor) and slope. The distribution of datum points between different soil types varied so much that it made it difficult to study whether there was correlation between runoff and soil type. The result from the study showed that the runoff coefficients should be divided after type of sewage system in the drainage area. The method with runoff coefficients for different types of surfaces showed fairly good results for highly urbanized areas. The method with weighted runoff coefficients for different types of habitations showed relatively good results considering that it is a method for rough calculations.   The method with runoff coefficients for different types of surfaces is considered well-functioning for highly urbanized areas. In less urbanized areas, this method showed shorter results. The method with weighted runoff coefficients for different types of habitations is considered well for rough calculations when it is less time consuming than the other method. None of the examined methods are considered able to replace flow measurements.

Severe flooding events in recent years have underlined the importance of accurate hydrological modelling in urban areas. There are many important parameters relating to both the rainfall distribution and properties of the land on which the rain falls that controls the impacts of the rain event. While the importance of input parameters such as initial water content, topography and extent of hardened surfaces is widely known, their impact on hydrological response in urban areas is not thoroughly understood. In 2017, scientists from the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, SMHI, presented five empirical hyetographs based on long-term Swedish municipal rain data (Olsson, et al., 2017). The hyetographs vary in location of peak and distribution of intensity. Olsson (2019) evaluated the hydrological response in terms of water depth of the hyetographs in relation to Chicago Design Storm (CDS), a common design storm used in Swedish hydrological modelling, and found that CDS nearly always overestimates the hydrological response in comparison to the empirical hyetographs, meaning historical rainfall intensity distributions, developed by SMHI.  The aim of this thesis is to analyse the robustness of empirical hyetographs by conducting a sensitivity analysis of a generic urban model with a variation of input parameters. A statistical analysis of data on hardened surfaces, topography and initial water content was conducted to find the median, 5th and 95th percentile respectively of the range of values in Swedish conditions. These values were applied to a synthetic urban model and run together with the five empirical hyetographs and CDS in MIKE 21. The results indicate that the empirical hyetographs are not very robust relating to variations in infiltration capacity (initial water content and amount of hardened areas), while they are more robust when varying the topography. The variation of topography also resulted in large variations in water depth, time to peak and extent of flooded area, while variation of initial water content and amount of hardened surfaces had smaller, although still clear, effects. Furthermore, the results show that hyetographs with a late peak are more sensitive to variations in initial water content and hardened surfaces than hyetographs with an early peak. On average, CDS estimates the response in comparison to the empirical hyetographs accurately, with an average overestimation of 0.5%, but does not capture the range and complexity of the empirical hyetographs. Including the frequency of the different hyetographs, CDS gave an overestimation of 5% compared to the empirical hyetographs. The highlight the uncertainty in using CDS as input for urban cloudburst modelling, but limitations in form of catchment properties in a study area and the importance of the input values limits the generability of the study. / De senaste årens allvarliga översvämningshändelser har understrukit vikten av noggrann hydrologisk modellering i stadsområden. Även om betydelsen av parametrar som initial vattenmättnad, topografi och andelen hårdgjorda ytor är allmänt känd, är deras inverkan på urban hydrodynamisk modellering inte helt klarlagd. Under 2017 presenterade forskare från Sveriges Meteorologiska och Hydrologiska Institut, SMHI, fem empiriska hyetografer baserade på långvariga kommunala regndata (Olsson et al., 2017). Hyetograferna varierar i fördelning av intensitet och tidsmässig placering av maxintensitet. Olsson (2019) utvärderade hyetografernas hydrologiska respons i relation till Chicago Design Storm (CDS), en vanlig designstorm som används i svensk hydrologisk modellering, och fann att CDS nästan alltid överskattar responsen i jämförelse med de empiriska hyetograferna.  Syftet med detta examensarbete är att analysera robustheten hos de empiriska hyetograferna genom att utföra en känslighetsanalys av en generisk stadsmodell med en variation av ingångsparametrar. En statistisk analys av data om hårdgjorda ytor, topografi och initial vattenmättnad genomfördes för att hitta median, 5:e respektive 95:e percentilen av värdena i svenska förhållanden. Dessa värden applicerades på en generisk stadsmodell och kördes tillsammans med de fem empiriska hyetograferna och CDS i MIKE 21. Resultaten indikerar att de empiriska hyetograferna inte är helt robusta vad gäller variationer i infiltrationskapacitet (initial vattenmättnad och andel hårdgjorda ytor), medan de är mer robusta vid variation av topografin. Variationen av topografi resulterade också i stora variationer i vattendjup, tid till maxflöde och utbredning av översvämmat område, medan variation av initial vattenmättnad och mängden hårdgjorda ytor hade mindre, men fortfarande tydliga, effekter. Vidare visar resultaten att hyetografer med sen topp är känsligare för variationer i initial vattenhalt och hårdgjorda ytor än hyetografer med tidig topp. I genomsnitt uppskattar CDS responsen från de empiriska hyetograferna korrekt, med en genomsnittlig överskattning på 0.5%, men fångar inte omfånget och komplexiteten hos de empiriska hyetograferna. Inräknat frekvensen av de olika hyetograferna gav CDS en överskattning på 5 % jämfört med de empiriska hyetograferna. Resultaten belyser osäkerheterna i att använda CDS regn som drivdata i skyfallsmodelleringar för stadsplanering, men begränsningar i form av markegenskaper i ett enskilt studieområde och vikten av modellens initialvärden begränsar dock generaliteten för studien.

The studies in this dissertation address the issue of variability in runoff generation and pollutant concentration in urban areas, and specifically in the catchments of stormwater control measures. There is an imperfect correlation between runoff volumes and the capture area and land uses of urban catchments. Variable capture areas and uncertainty in urban runoff sources complicate stormwater control measure design and urban stream assessment. Four stormwater control measures in upstream suburban Philadelphia, ranging in capture area from 0.11 ha to 32 ha, were monitored, sampled, and modeled. Sampling was conducted in the watersheds of Wissahickon Creek, Tookany Creek, and Pennypack Creek. The approaches discussed below have the goal of better understanding runoff and the movement of associated contaminants into stormwater retention basins and streams. Rather than viewing runoff generation and contaminant transport as a static process, this work proposes that the amount of runoff contributed from different areas of a catchment changes during and between storm events, and that the origin and concentration of contaminants change as a result. Linking source areas to runoff volumes through natural and modeled tracers could improve predictions of water quality and quantity in stormwater control measures in urban streams. Nitrate (NO3–) isotope ratios were used as tracer of flow from different urban land uses. Time series samples of stormwater runoff entering two stormwater control measures (a constructed wetland and a small bioretention basin) were collected and analyzed to distinguish sources of NO3– by samples’ δ15N and δ18O ratios. A Bayesian mixing model was used to determine that NO3– sources were a mix of soil nitrogen (N) and atmospheric deposition across six storm events. Furthermore, atmospheric versus soil N sources varied throughout the storms. The large catchment of the constructed wetland had more NO3– source variability between samples compared to the small catchment of the bioretention basin. Thus, the NO3– isotopes suggest more distinct flow paths in the large catchment and more mixing of flow across land uses in the small catchment. Quantifying flow path variability from storm to storm and between different catchments can improve design and placement of urban stormwater control measures. A distributed hydrologic model, GSSHA, was used to simulate overland runoff from impervious and semi-pervious land covers in the catchment of a stormwater control measure. The positions of low vegetation and impervious land uses over the catchment were rearranged to create hypothetical catchments during four storm events. Fluctuating source proportions over time suggested that grab samples might not be adequate for capturing average overland runoff chemistry. It was also found that the portion of total runoff volume from impervious areas varied from 50 to 75% while the relative proportion of impervious cover remained constant at 54%. Land use percentages averaged over capture areas are frequently used to estimate runoff amounts and pollutant concentrations, but this model disrupts the assumption that urban hydrologic responses can be predicted from imperviousness alone. Overland runoff was measured and modeled before and after the installation of two stormwater control measures, a berm and a bioswale. Discharge in the stream was modeled for 9 storms ranging in size from 14 to 54 mm. We found that during 4 of the modeled storms there was no decrease in stream discharge and decreases in discharge were generally only observed for low intensity storms. Furthermore, only 5% of the stream catchment was captured by SCMs. Modeled tracers, used to track runoff contributions from areas upslope of the SCMs found that the size of upslope contributing areas did not predict the proportion of runoff generated in each area. Field data to support the models included water level loggers and samples of overland runoff collected in subsurface stormwater casing. After the SCMs were installed, less water was captured in downslope sampling bottles, but new flow paths developed. Furthermore, significant variation was observed in upslope concentrations of dissolved nutrients and total suspended solids, casting doubt on whether point samples of urban overland runoff geochemistry can be representative given variable runoff generation and heterogeneous land uses. This study points out the challenges in evaluating stormwater control measures and reveals that source areas’ contribution to stream flow varies independently of their size. Therefore, modeling before stormwater control measure installation is recommended to determine the factors that influence a capture area’s contribution to urban streamflow. / Geoscience

No description available.

Cities are facing environmental crises like never before, with problems of excess water runoff, degraded water quality, air pollution, and energy use reaching critical levels. The development of urban areas and the built environment is the primary cause of these problems and the built environment needs to be a part of the solution. This design thesis project produces a prototype design for the Urban EcoHousing development on a city block in Alexandria, Virginia. Design goals for the project connect the "Ecological Services of the Urban Landscape" to the "Rights of the Urban EcoHousing Resident" to create livable green spaces that can serve ecological functions and give the residents spaces to use. A comparison study with a conventional housing development at the same location illustrates that ecohousing can meet the requirements of the conventional development while providing superior results for the residents and the environment. / Master of Landscape Architecture

Understanding the extent to which human activities impact surface water resources has become increasingly important as both human population growth and related landscape changes impact water quality and quantity across varying geographical scales. Skypark, Santa’s Village is a 233.76-acre tourism-based outdoor recreation area located in Skyforest, California residing within the San Bernardino National Forest. The park is situated at Hooks Creek, the headwaters of the Mojave River Watershed, and is characterized by a diverse landscape that includes forest cover and human development, including impervious surfaces, a restored meadow, and recreational trails. In 2016, Hencks Meadow was considered degraded by human activity and restored by the Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) using best management practices (BMPs) to manage stormwater runoff and mitigate pollutants entering recreational downstream surface water. Three BMP detention basins were constructed to store and improve water quality from stormwater runoff. The purpose of this study is to observe the extent to which the engineered BMP detention basins design were effective in mitigating stormwater pollution from entering Hooks Creek. Over a six to eight month period (January to August), ponds were tested in situ bi-weekly for temperature (ºC), dissolved oxygen (mg/L), pH, turbidity (NTU), conductivity (µS/cm), nitrate (mg/L), and ammonium (mg/L), with additional laboratory tests for total suspended solids (mg/L), total dissolved solids (mg/L), chemical oxygen demand (mg/L), total coliform (MPN/100mL), Escherichia coli (MPN/100mL), and trace metals (µg/L). The results of this study support that the BMP design is improving surface stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces before it enters Hooks Creek. Findings could also promote the design and implementation of stormwater BMP detention basins at other site locations where water degradation is evident. Furthermore, this research can be used to promote the necessary improvement of water quality and quantity on a widespread geographical scale.

Since the early 1800's, many studies have recognized increased heat in urban areas, known as the urban heat island (UHI) effect, as one of the results of human modification to the natural landscape. UHI is related to differences in land surface temperature (LST) between rural areas and urban areas where factors of the built environment such as the thermodynamic capacities of materials, structural geometry, and heat generating activities cause increased storage and re-radiation of heat to the atmosphere. This thesis examines the correlation between factors of urbanization and differences in land surface temperature (LST) in the subtropical climate of Pinellas County, Florida using remote sensing techniques. It describes the spatial pattern of LST, analyzes its relationship to factors of urbanization relative to NDVI, percentage of impervious surface, and land use land cover in the study area. It also assesses the effectiveness of remote sensing as an efficient method of identifying LST patterns at the local and neighborhood level for mitigation strategies. Landsat TM thermal band imagery for three dates; April 1986, 2001 and 2009 was processed using Qin's mono-window algorithm (MWA) technique to derive LST levels. This data was compared to in-situ readings, then normalized and statistically analyzed for correlation with vegetation ratio (NDVI) and imperviousness percentages derived using linear spectral mixing/unmixing, and also with land use/land cover classification. The resulting LST spatial pattern is a gradient across the peninsular landscape, from cooler water and wetland areas to a generally warmer interior, interspersed with micro-urban heat islands (MUHIs), corresponding to urban structures and "cool-islands" of parkland and lakes. Correspondence between LST pattern and urban structures and land use demonstrates the suitability of medium resolution remote sensing data and techniques for identifying micro-urban heat islands (MUHIs) for possible mitigation. Mitigation could include relatively low-cost measures like replacement of inefficient asphalt roofs with more reflective and emissive "cool roofs," placement of "street trees" to enhance shade, and replacement of impervious pavements by permeable surfaces. The thesis concludes that Landsat TM imagery processed with the MWA provides an efficient, relatively low-cost method for locating MUHIs. Satellite remote sensing, combined with aerial photography can facilitate neighborhood level analysis for the implementation of low-cost mitigation techniques. Previous studies have demonstrated that these are successful ways to mitigate the UHI effect at the micro-scale level; lowering urban heat and saving energy, and also facilitating the reintegration of natural elements into the urban environment.

The advance in remote sensing technology helps people more easily assess urban growth. In this study, the utility of multiple endmember spectral mixture analysis (MESMA) is examined in a sub-pixel analysis of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery to map urban physical components in Tampa, FL. The three physical components of urban land cover (LC): impervious surface, vegetation and soil, were compared using the proposed MESMA with a traditional spectral mixture analysis (SMA). MESMA decomposes each pixel to address the heterogeneity of urban LC characteristic by allowing the number and types of endmembers to vary on a per pixel basis. This study generated 642 spectral mixture models of 2-, 3-, and 4-endmembers for each pixel to estimate the fractions of impervious surface, vegetation, soil, and shade in the study area with a constraint of lowest root mean square error (RMSE). A comparative analysis of the impervious surface areas (ISA) mapped with MESMA and SMA demonstrated that MESMA produced more accurate results of mapping urban physical components than those by SMA. With the multiyear Landsat TM data, we quantified sub-pixel %ISA and the %ISA changes to assess urban growth in the City of Tampa, Florida during the past twenty years. The experimental results demonstrate that the MESMA approach is effective in mapping and monitoring urban land use/land cover changes using moderate-resolution multispectral imagery at a sub-pixel level.

As California contends with climate change and more extreme cycles of drought and deluge, water management agencies and conservation groups are looking towards solutions to the decreasing reliability of imported water supplies. Stormwater has historically been perceived as a threat to development but when captured properly, it presents a resource that can augment local water supplies. Solutions to water supply issues in California have traditionally employed technical and centrally controlled methods for importing water, but there is a growing understanding that parcel-level capture through vegetated swales presents an opportunity for reducing the impact that development has on California’s hydrology. Vegetated swales mimic nature’s effectiveness in reducing runoff speeds, removing pollutants and increasing groundwater supplies. No less a piece of California’s water infrastructure than canals and dams, these swales bring water infrastructure into the context of the California landscape. My report for the Chino Basin Water Conservation District analyzes the feasibility of installing vegetated swales in the Chino Basin region.

Skyfall har blivit mer och mer frekventa i Sverige till följd av den globala uppvärmningen och de klimatförändringar som sker, och kraftiga skyfall kan leda till omfattande skador som ibland är svåra att förutse. Studien undersöker potentiella samband mellan skador på byggnader som uppstod vid ett skyfallsevent i Jönköping 2013 och byggnadernas omgivande topografi, hydrologi samt hårdgjorda ytor. Tidigare studier inom området har undersökt samband mellan flera variabler och skadade områden, men genom att studera topografi/hydrologi samt hårdgjorda ytor tillsammans med försäkringsdata, undersöks dessa förutsättningars påverkan mer specifikt i detta arbete. Olika stora buffertzoner runt byggnader användes för att extrahera flödesackumulering baserade på höjddata för analys av hydrologin samt klassificerad data för analys av andel hårdgjord yta. Data från hela studieområdet samt ett mindre område koncentrerat till två villakvarter studerades och på extraherad data utfördes visualiseringar, statistiska beräkningar och T-tester för att undersöka potentiella samband. Resultaten visade att den större buffertzonen på 50 m med metoden identifierar ett större antal skadade byggnader än de mindre buffertzonerna. En klassificerad hårdgjord yta kan vara användbar för att identifiera mer sårbara områden i ett större perspektiv medan flödesackumulerad data på grund av sin stora variation verkar lämpa sig bättre för analyser av mindre områden. / Due to global warming and climate change, heavy rainfalls have become more frequent in Sweden and can lead to extensive damage that is sometimes difficult to predict. This study examines potential correlations between damage to buildings that occurred during a cloudburst event in Jönköping in 2013 and the surrounding hydrology, topography and degree of surface sealing. Previous studies in the field have examined correlations between several variables and damaged areas, but by studying hydrology and impervious surfaces individually and their correlation with insurance data, their impact is examined more specifically in this study. Different sized buffer zones around buildings were used to extract flow-accumulation data and percentage of impervious surfaces. Data from the entire study area and a smaller area concentrated on two residential blocks were studied and visualizations, statistical calculations and T-tests were performed on extracted data to investigate potential correlations. The results showed that the larger 50 m buffer zone with the method identifies a larger number of damaged buildings than the smaller buffer zones. Classified impervious surface can be useful for identifying more vulnerable areas in a larger perspective while flow-accumulation data due to its large variation seems better suited for analysis of smaller areas.