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Stakeholders Participation in Green Infrastructure Implementation for Resilient Storm Water Management against Climate Change in Town of Willoughby

Dahal, Rajati
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu1714169332688919

Abstract Details

2024, Master of Science in Engineering, Youngstown State University, Department of Civil/Environmental and Chemical Engineering.
The Central Lake Erie Basin has been encountering escalating challenges in stormwater management, marked by shifting precipitation patterns and intensified weather extremes due to climate change. Consequently, conventional drainage systems, entrenched in gray infrastructure, have been exacerbating downstream urban flooding, prompting urgent exploration of alternative solutions. Low Impact Development (LID), particularly Green Infrastructure (GI) emerges as a promising avenue to mitigate flooding and enhance stormwater resilience. Since many sustainable stormwater management projects falter due to numerous factors including insufficient community involvement, inadequate consideration of local conditions, and limited resources for maintenance, this study engaged the community extensively to incorporate community input in decision-making for stormwater management. Out of the seven GIs, stakeholders preferred to explore permeable pavement and rain gardens. This study employed a comprehensive approach to evaluate the effectiveness of rain gardens and permeable pavement in stormwater management within the Town of Willoughby. By integrating climate data from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) Phases 5 and 6 datasets with hydrological modeling, the research investigated the impacts of evolving precipitation patterns and climate trajectories on stormwater management practices. The developed PCSWMM model encompassed 54 sub-catchments, with permeable pavement applied to 46 of the sub catchments in the parking lots of commercial buildings and public spaces. Additionally, rain gardens were implemented in 35 sub-catchments with one rain garden allocated per residential house. Through rigorous analysis, the research evaluated GI's capacity to address evolving precipitation patterns and climate trajectories, providing nuanced insights into its potential implications for sustainable stormwater management practices. GI measures such as permeable pavements and rain gardens exhibited remarkable effectiveness in mitigating runoff across diverse climatic conditions. Permeable pavements demonstrated reasonable runoff reductions, with average peak runoff reduction ranging from 4% to 14% at the implementation of permeability levels from 20% to 100%. Correlation analyses further revealed strong associations between peak runoff reduction and permeable pavement implementation, with coefficients of determination ranging from 0.65 to 0.72. Moreover, during a 100-year storm event, peak runoff reductions of as high as 15% were achieved with full implementation of permeable pavement. On the contrary, rain gardens demonstrated only modest effectiveness in mitigating stormwater runoff. Despite being implemented in all households; they yielded a mere 5% reduction in overall runoff. Correlation analyses suggested robust associations between total runoff reduction and rain garden utilization, with coefficients of determination (R2) ranging from 0.69 to 0.91. The higher value of R2 was associated with 100-year rainfall events, whereas the lower value of R2 was associated with 2-year rainfall events. In this study, we employed four distinct scenarios including RCP8.5 near-future, RCP8.5 farfuture, SSP585 near-future, and SSP585 far-future to assess the impact of future climate conditions on stormwater management practices. Each scenario was evaluated under various flood frequencies, ranging from 2 to 100 years for a rainfall duration of 6 hours and 24 hours. Notably, RCP 8.5 scenarios exhibited a higher increase in runoff compared to SSP585 scenarios across multiple return periods, illustrating the nuanced effects of different climate trajectories on runoff patterns. For instance, while the RCP 8.5 near-future scenario demonstrated a decrease in the total runoff by 3 % in the 2-year return period, the far-future scenario depicted an increase in the total runoff by 5%. In contrast, the SSP585 near-future scenario experienced a substantial decrease in both total runoff (30%) and peak runoff (33%), revealing the potential trajectory of certain climate scenarios in mitigating stormwater runoff. Permeable pavement demonstrated substantial runoff reductions across various return periods and climate scenarios, ranging from 9% to 25% in the 2-year to 100-year return periods under different RCP 8.5 and SSP585 scenarios. Rain gardens implemented within residential areas did not yield many reductions. The reductions observed are primarily attributed to the scenarios themselves rather than the effectiveness of rain gardens. The study's findings underscore the critical importance of integrating GI measures into urban planning and infrastructure development to effectively manage stormwater runoff and bolster flood resilience amidst climate change impacts. By providing empirical evidence of GI's efficacy in mitigating runoff under varying climatic conditions, this research informs evidence-based decision-making for policymakers and urban planners, offering valuable insights into the design and implementation of sustainable stormwater management strategies. While the study advances our understanding of GI's potential in stormwater management, further research and optimization efforts are warranted to enhance the efficacy and scalability of GI measures, ensuring their longterm viability and resilience against future climate change impacts.
Suresh Sharma, PhD (Advisor)
Sahar Ehsani, PhD (Committee Member)
Bradley Shellito, PhD (Committee Member)
95 p.
Civil Engineering
Stormwater management; Green Infrastructure (GI); Low Impact Development (LID); climate change; runoff reduction; permeable pavement; rain gardens; Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP); PCSWMM; flood resilience

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Dahal, R. (2024). Stakeholders Participation in Green Infrastructure Implementation for Resilient Storm Water Management against Climate Change in Town of Willoughby [Master's thesis, Youngstown State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu1714169332688919

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Dahal, Rajati. Stakeholders Participation in Green Infrastructure Implementation for Resilient Storm Water Management against Climate Change in Town of Willoughby. 2024. Youngstown State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu1714169332688919.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Dahal, Rajati. "Stakeholders Participation in Green Infrastructure Implementation for Resilient Storm Water Management against Climate Change in Town of Willoughby." Master's thesis, Youngstown State University, 2024. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ysu1714169332688919

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2024, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Youngstown State University and OhioLINK.