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Water Balance of Retrofit, Right-of-way Rain Gardens

Kosmerl, Paul F.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1337347745

Abstract Details

2012, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering.
Increased storm runoff results from urbanization and development. Rain gardens can reduce runoff in a cost-effective manner as compared to expensive infrastructure construction, but more knowledge of their behavior and performance are required to increase their applications. This research demonstrates that rain gardens can reduce storm runoff from developments built without stormwater retention infrastructure to mitigate increases in storm runoff. Retrofit rain gardens were installed in a residential neighborhood in Westerville, Ohio, in July 2010. Between spring of 2011 and 2012, inflow and outflow volumes and soil water content were monitored for 20 simulated rainfall events. The change in water storage within the rain garden was calculated from the initial and final soil water content of 15 cm layers for the 60 cm depth of the rain gardens. A water balance equation was used to estimate the volume of water exfiltrating to the surrounding in situ soil. Overall, the rain gardens provided a 44% volume reduction from inflow to outflow with 15% of the inflow exfiltrating to the surrounding soil. Three inlet designs for right-of-way rain gardens were also evaluated. The original construction allowed for vegetative growth at the inlet, which accumulated debris and inhibited inflow during natural storm events. Replacing the vegetation and soil at the entrance with stones reduced hydrologic performance, but underlining the stones with bentonite clay provided a statistically significant increase in volume reduction during simulated rainfall events. This study finds that retrofit, right-of-way rain gardens can substantially reduce storm runoff in a residential development despite their proximity to curb underdrains and their small garden to impervious area ratios.
Jay Martin, PhD (Advisor)
Andrew Ward, PhD (Committee Member)
Larry Brown, PhD (Committee Member)
49 p.
Agricultural Engineering; Civil Engineering; Ecology; Engineering; Environmental Engineering; Hydrology
rain garden; bioretention; stormwater; hydrology

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kosmerl, P. F. (2012). Water Balance of Retrofit, Right-of-way Rain Gardens [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1337347745

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kosmerl, Paul. Water Balance of Retrofit, Right-of-way Rain Gardens. 2012. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1337347745.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kosmerl, Paul. "Water Balance of Retrofit, Right-of-way Rain Gardens." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1337347745

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1337347745
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© 2012, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.