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Retention and management of stormwater runoff with rain gardens and rainwater harvesting systems

Schlea, Derek Alan
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1306853271

Abstract Details

2011, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering.
The alteration of natural flow regimes associated with land use change increases the volume of stormwater runoff and peak flows, and reduces the time to peak flow after storm events. This can cause flooding, erosion, and higher pollutant loading in receiving waterways. This thesis investigates rain gardens and rainwater harvesting systems as methods to manage stormwater runoff. Rain gardens represent a sustainable and economic method to decrease the volume of water that flows into waterways from impervious areas during storm events. For developments that were built without permanent stormwater controls, rain gardens maybe a helpful retrofit instead of centralized and more costly alternatives. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the behavior and performance of rain gardens in urban retrofit applications. In the rain garden study, we examined the hydrologic performance of terraced, street-side rain gardens by monitoring inflow and outflow volumes and water tables during storm events and simulated experiments. Variation in components of the water balance equation measured during the simulated experiments was used to estimate hydrologic performance. The performance variables quantified were runoff volume reduction, reduction in peak flow, and peak delay. The rain garden terracing design was effective at facilitating stormwater entry despite limited space availability. For eight simulated storm event experiments the street-side rain gardens reduced inflow volume by an overall total of 37% with mean individual event values for volume retention, peak flow reduction, and peak delay of 52%, 62%, and 16 minutes, respectively. Logarithmic relationships between rainfall depth and volume reduction were described for rain gardens of different surface area to catchment area ratios. The results of this study proved that rain gardens can benefit existing developments by reducing runoff volume and peak flow, and provide a dynamic internal saturation zone with the potential for water quality benefits. Our findings also show the importance of understanding interactions with the in situ soil, the existing drainage system, and the entire catchment area when sizing rain gardens in urban retrofits. Rainwater harvesting is another method of stormwater runoff capture that can provide environmental benefits while also supplementing municipally supplied water. A decision support tool was developed to determine economic benefits of a rooftop rainwater harvesting system and to size a system. Our goal was to provide an assessment tool that was easy to operate, publically available, and applicable on a global scale. The theory behind the creation of this tool is discussed as well as a description of the tool design. A case study of a rainwater harvesting system in Columbus, Ohio was used to compare real world findings against predictions of the rainwater harvesting decision tool. The case study system had an average tank volume that was at 89% of its capacity over a four-month study period. The rainwater harvesting decision tool showed average tank volumes within 10% of the case study value, indicating that the overall tool performance met expectations. The case study also exposed areas where improvement of the tool is needed which can be addressed through further development and testing.
Jay Martin, PhD (Advisor)
Larry Brown, PhD (Committee Member)
Andrew Ward, PhD (Committee Member)
Environmental Engineering; Hydrology; Water Resource Management
rain garden; rainwater harvesting; stormwater; hydrology

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Schlea, D. A. (2011). Retention and management of stormwater runoff with rain gardens and rainwater harvesting systems [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1306853271

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Schlea, Derek. Retention and management of stormwater runoff with rain gardens and rainwater harvesting systems. 2011. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1306853271.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Schlea, Derek. "Retention and management of stormwater runoff with rain gardens and rainwater harvesting systems." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1306853271

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1306853271
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.