Principles for distributing infiltration-based stormwater control measures in series

Abstract

Infiltration-based stormwater control measures are often implemented in a dispersed manner across catchments, making it difficult to assess their combined effect. This study proposes a set of principles that can guide planners in distributing stormwater control measure volumes within a catchment while maintaining the same performance as that of a single large measure at the catchment outlet. The principles are tested by setting up seven different cases, which respect and violate the principles in different ways, and by simulating their performance using continuous simulations with 41 years of data. The results show that when the principles are followed, the system performance is maintained; on the contrary, when the principles are violated, the system performance deteriorates. The principles can be very useful for green field developers who want to implement distributed stormwater control measures in series and need to document their expected effect at an early screening level. Furthermore, the principles can be used to make better simplifications of stormwater control measures in sewer system models at the catchment level.