Urban Stormwater Management in the United States


Book Description

The rapid conversion of land to urban and suburban areas has profoundly altered how water flows during and following storm events, putting higher volumes of water and more pollutants into the nation's rivers, lakes, and estuaries. These changes have degraded water quality and habitat in virtually every urban stream system. The Clean Water Act regulatory framework for addressing sewage and industrial wastes is not well suited to the more difficult problem of stormwater discharges. This book calls for an entirely new permitting structure that would put authority and accountability for stormwater discharges at the municipal level. A number of additional actions, such as conserving natural areas, reducing hard surface cover (e.g., roads and parking lots), and retrofitting urban areas with features that hold and treat stormwater, are recommended.










DayWater


Book Description

The European DayWater project has developed a prototype of an Adaptive Decision Support System (ADSS) related to urban stormwater pollution source control. The DayWater ADSS greatly facilitates decision-making for stormwater source control, which is currently impeded by the large number of stakeholders involved and by the necessary multidisciplinary knowledge. This book presents the results of this project, providing new insights into both technical and management issues. The main objectives of its technical chapters are pollution source control modelling, risk and impact assessment, and evaluation and comparison of best management practices. It also covers management aspects, such as the analysis of the decision-making processes in stormwater source control, at a European scale, and stormwater management strategies in general. The combination of scientific-technical and socio-managerial knowledge, with the strong cooperation of numerous end-users, reflects the innovative character of this book which includes actual applications of the ADSS prototype in significant case studies. DayWater: an Adaptive Decision Support System for Urban Stormwater Management contains 26 chapters collectively prepared by DayWater scientific partners and end-users associated with this European Research and Development project. It includes: A general presentation of the DayWater Adaptive Decision Support System (ADSS) structure and operation modes A detailed description of the major components of this ADSS prototype The assessment of its components in significant case studies in France, Germany and Sweden The proceedings of the International Conference on Decision Support Systems for Integrated Urban Water Management, held in Paris on 3-4 November 2005. The book presents the ADSS prototype including a combination of freely accessible on-line databases, guidance documents, “road maps” and modelling or multi-criteria analysis tools. As demonstrated in several significant case studies the challenge for stormwater managers is to make the benefits of urban stormwater management visible to society, resulting in active co-operation of a diversity of stakeholders. Only then, will sustainable management succeed. DayWater: an Adaptive Decision Support System for Urban Stormwater Management advances this cause of sustainable urban management through Urban stormwater management, and makes achievable (by means of risk and vulnerability tools which are included) the goal of integrated urban water management (IUWM).




Watershed Hydrology


Book Description




EPA Publications Bibliography


Book Description




Assessment Standard for Sponge City Effects


Book Description

In 2014, China initiated its national action plan for sponge city development aiming to tackle urban water and environmental challenges. Since then, numerous projects have been implemented across 30 pilot cities and beyond in China through two development stages. The sponge city development, based on a systematic approach of “source reduction, process control, and systematic remediation”, adopts comprehensive technical measures of “infiltration, detention, retention, purification, utilization and discharge”, and coordinates the different aspects of water quantity and quality, ecology and safety, centralized and decentralized, green and grey, landscape and function, on-shore and off-shore, surface and underground, etc. It aims to control urban runoff effectively, to minimize the impacts of urban development and construction activities on the natural hydrological characteristics and ecological environment, and to enable the city’s resilience like a “sponge” to adapt to environmental changes and natural disasters. This assessment standard for sponge city effects published by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of P.R. China is an attempt to provide guidance on the assessment of the effects of sponge city development projects and the city development as a whole. The main technical contents of this standard include: 1) general provisions; 2) terms and symbols; 3) basic requirements; 4) assessment items and 5) assessment methods. The publication of the English version of the Chinese assessment standard aims to provide non-Chinese readers an insight into what objectives are to be achieved through sponge city development and how sponge city projects are evaluated in China.







Becoming an Urban Planner


Book Description

Becoming an URBAN PLANNER Are you considering a career in urban planning? Becoming an Urban Planner is the best place to start. Through in-depth interviews with more than eighty urban planners across the United States and Canada, this book gives you a valuable insider’s look at your future profession as it is lived and practiced. Becoming an Urban Planner introduces you to the urban planning profession—its history, what you must know to prepare for a career in planning, and the different types of planning jobs. Beyond the basics, though, it shows you the realities of what it’s really like to be a planner today. You’ll learn about: The skills you’ll need and how to hone them in school and on the job Potential career paths and what people in these positions do Using internships, job shadowing, and other opportunities to break into the field Deciding among planning specialties and moving between public and private sectors How to search for and get your first position Emerging areas in planning, including sustainability and climate change Each topic is explored through in-depth interviews with both generalists and others who have devoted their careers to a particular aspect of planning. These professionals share their insights and describe how they have arrived at where they are and how beginners like you can learn from their experiences. With the information from this book to guide and inspire you, you will be able to chart your own path to success as an urban planner.




Stormwater Management for Smart Growth


Book Description

Current trends in stormwater management add pollution control to existing priorities of flood protection and peakflow limits. From a fundamental overview of supporting information on water quality, statistics and hydrology to detailed sections devoted to treatment and management practices, this book examines the latest treatment practices and techniques for improving stormwater quality to protect against stream, river and estuary degradation.