Integrated planning framework for urban stormwater management: one water approach

ABSTRACT

Flooded streets and homes, polluted surface waters, degraded aquatic habitats, stressed aquifers, and expensive drainage infrastructures are evidence that Canada’s current approach to stormwater management requires rethinking. To address these challenges, the authors developed an integrated community-level urban stormwater decision support framework. The framework assesses low impact development infrastructure, traditional stormwater infrastructure, and community-level stormwater reuse schemes to better understand the interactions between various water resources in the context of various stormwater management strategies. The framework also incorporates stochastic variation in natural processes to predict a community’s water footprint using the One Water Approach. A climate change sensitivity analysis is also incorporated to test proposed stormwater systems for resiliency to climate change. Fuzzy clustering analysis was then performed to identify the most appropriate stormwater management strategy. A case study demonstration of the framework was performed for a hypothetical 80-hectare mixed-use urban community in Kelowna, British Columbia.

KEYWORDS:

• Stormwater footprint
• one water approach
• decision support framework
• life cycle costing
• climate change

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Table A2. Community-related inputs for case study

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada via the Alexander Graham Bell Canadian Graduate Scholarship – Master’s Program.

Notes on contributors

James K. Hager

James K. Hager received his BSc in Geology from Mount Royal University in Calgary, AB, Canada, in 2015. Received his MASc in Civil Engineering from the University of British Columbia, Okanagan in 2019. James’ Master’s thesis work investigated the impacts of urban stormwater reuse and low impact development on a community’s stormwater footprint. Aside from academic experience, James has worked in the Oil and Gas industry as a Geoscientist and an Integrity Management Coordinator. Currently, James works for the local government in Kelowna, BC, in the City’s Infrastructure Division.

Haroon R. Mian

Haroon R. Mian received his BSc in Environmental Engineering from The University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan in 2012, and his MSc from the same institute in 2015. Haroon is currently a doctoral student of Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. His research interests include water quality modeling and management, source water protection, water distribution, and treatment systems, risk assessment, and decision making for environmental systems.

Guangji Hu

Dr. Guangji Hu is a postdoc research fellow at the School of Engineering, University of British Columbia, Okanagan. Dr. Hu has been conducting innovative research in the broad area of environmental engineering since 2010. His research interests cover hazardous industrial waste management, water and wastewater treatment, environmental and human health risk assessment, and decision making for complex environmental systems.

Kasun Hewage

Dr. Kasun Hewage is a Professor at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan with multidisciplinary project experiences in Canada and internationally. He has been leading several collaborative industrial projects in life cycle management of built assets, green construction, and smart energy options. Dr. Hewage has widely published his research innovations and findings in highly reputed technical journals and conference proceedings. Before joining UBC in 2008, Professor Hewage worked as a business management cost specialist in Alberta’s oil and gas industry, and he has worked as a civil engineer on hydropower and infrastructure development projects.

Rehan Sadiq

Dr. Rehan Sadiq is a Professor of Civil Engineering and currently holds an Executive Associate Dean’s position in the School of Engineering at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. Dr. Sadiq is also a leading researcher in the areas of asset management of water supply systems, environmental risk analysis, and lifecycle assessment of the built environment. He is an author of more than 500 peer-reviewed journal and conference articles, book chapters, and technical reports. He has served and chaired numerous Canadian and international scientific committees and conferences. Before joining the University of British Columbia in January 2009, he worked in the Urban Infrastructure Program of NRC Canada.