Augmenting urban water supply and protecting ecosystem health are two of the key objectives of green infrastructure. Achieving these objectives will require implementation of smaller decentralized systems (e.g., rain gardens and bioswales at the neighborhood scale) in combination with larger rainwater harvesting systems (e.g., underground cisterns to capture vast runoff volumes). Smart stormwater technology, which incorporates an integrated network of sensors and control structures to allow for real-time control (RTC) of stormwater infrastructure, can further enhance the deployment of green infrastructure and stormwater capture systems at multiple scales. In this study, I explore the operation and performance of a large (10,000 m<sup>3</sup>) underground stormwater tank from the standpoint of both human (water supply) and environmental (preventing runoff to local receiving waters) benefits, using the University of California, Irvine campus as a case study. By comparing different “smart” (i.e., a tank that has perfect knowledge of upcoming rainfall) and “dumb” (i.e., a tank that has no knowledge of future rainfall) scenarios, as well as different precipitation scenarios, I place limits on the benefits expected from such a stormwater capture system. I find that RTC technology increases the tank’s environmental benefits relative to the dumb tank scenario, but there is only a marginal increase in benefits for a tank that knows the weather forecast two days in advance compared to one day in advance.  This analysis is a starting point for understanding how stormwater planners can leverage RTC technology to implement smarter green infrastructure solutions that benefit both humans and the environment.

Enhancing green infrastructure with smart stormwater technology

2019 Fall National Meeting

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