Abstract
This paper compares ongoing research results on hydrologic performance to common design and crediting criteria, and recommends a change in direction from a static to a dynamic perspective to fully credit the performance of green infrastructure. Examples used in this article are primarily stormwater control measures built for research on the campus of Villanova University [1,2]. Evidence is presented demonstrating that the common practice of crediting water volume based on soil and surface storage underestimates the performance potential, and suggests that the profession move to a more dynamic approach that incorporates exfiltration and evapotranspiration. The framework for a dynamic approach is discussed, with a view to broaden our design focus by including climate, configuration and the soil surroundings. The substance of this work was presented as a keynote speech at the 2016 international Low Impact Development Conference in Beijing China [3].
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the many former students of the Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership for their contributions to this work, in particular Dr. Ryan Lee and Laura Lord, and current colleagues Dr. Andrea Welker and Dr. Bridget Wadzuk. This work was supported in part by Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) through the EPA Section 319 Nonpoint Source and Growing Greener Grant programs, Philadelphia Water Department, and the Villanova Urban Stormwater Partnership (www.villanova.edu/VUSP). The authors are grateful for their support. The opinions expressed by the authors do not represent the views of these organizations.
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Traver, R.G., Ebrahimian, A. Dynamic design of green stormwater infrastructure. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 11, 15 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-017-0973-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-017-0973-z