Urban Stormwater Management Solutions

When rain falls on a city, it has nowhere to absorb: rooftops, roads, and parking lots shed water rapidly into drains, carrying with it oil, heavy metals, and nutrients that degrade downstream waterways. Urban stormwater management studies how to intercept, slow, and treat that runoff through approaches ranging from bioretention cells and permeable pavements to green roofs and rainwater harvesting systems, all designed to mimic the hydrology of undeveloped land. Researchers are working to understand how these interventions perform at city scale over time, and how well they hold up as climate change intensifies both the frequency of heavy rainfall events and the dry periods between them. Central open questions include how to optimize the placement and design of these systems across diverse urban landscapes, and how to attribute improvements in receiving water quality to specific interventions when so many factors are in play simultaneously.

Works

50,284

Total citations

520,203

Keywords

Urban Stormwater ManagementSustainable Drainage SystemsLow Impact Development PracticesBioretention TechnologyUrban HydrologyWater Quality