Modular Design of Bioretention Systems for Sustainable Stormwater Management under Drivers of Urbanization and Climate Change

Marina Batalini de Macedo, Marcus Nóbrega Gomes Júnior, Vivian Jochelavicius, Thalita Raquel Pereira de Oliveira and Eduardo Mario Mendiondo
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Marina Batalini de Macedo: Hydraulic Engineering and Sanitation, Sao Carlos School of Engineering, University of Sao Paulo, Av. Trabalhador Sãocarlense, 400 CP 359, São Carlos 13566-590, SP, Brazil
Marcus Nóbrega Gomes Júnior: Hydraulic Engineering and Sanitation, Sao Carlos School of Engineering, University of Sao Paulo, Av. Trabalhador Sãocarlense, 400 CP 359, São Carlos 13566-590, SP, Brazil
Vivian Jochelavicius: Sao Carlos School of Engineering, University of Sao Paulo, Av. Trabalhador Sãocarlense, 400 CP 359, São Carlos 13566-590, SP, Brazil
Thalita Raquel Pereira de Oliveira: Hydraulic Engineering and Sanitation, Sao Carlos School of Engineering, University of Sao Paulo, Av. Trabalhador Sãocarlense, 400 CP 359, São Carlos 13566-590, SP, Brazil
Eduardo Mario Mendiondo: Hydraulic Engineering and Sanitation, Sao Carlos School of Engineering, University of Sao Paulo, Av. Trabalhador Sãocarlense, 400 CP 359, São Carlos 13566-590, SP, Brazil

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-27

Abstract: The increase in urbanization and climate change projections point to a worsening of floods and urban river contamination. Cities need to adopt adaptive urban drainage measures capable of mitigating these drivers of change. This study presents a practical methodology for a modular design of bioretention systems incorporating land use and climate change into existing sizing methods. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis for these methods was performed. The methodology was applied to a case study in the city of Sao Carlos, SP, Brazil. Three application scales were evaluated: property scale (PS), street scale (SS) and neighborhood scale (NS) for three temporal scenarios: current, 2015–2050 and 2050–2100. The choice of the sizing method was the factor with greatest influence on the final bioretention performance, as it considerably affected the surface areas designed, followed by the hydraulic conductivity of the filtering media. When analyzing the sensitivity of the parameters for each method, the runoff coefficient and the daily precipitation with 90% probability were identified as the most sensitive parameters. For the period 2050–2100, there was an increase of up to 2×, 2.5× and 4× in inflow for PS, SS and NS, respectively. However and despite the great uncertainty of future drivers, bioretention performance would remain almost constant in future periods due to modular design.

Keywords: intensity–duration–frequency curves; bioretention; low impact development; adaptive design; subtropical climate; runoff (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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