Assessment of Rainfall Intensity Equations Enlisted in the Egyptian Code for Designing Potable Water and Sewage Networks

The design of combined sewage system networks is based on the sanitary discharge (domestic, industrial) and the runoff generated by rainfall. The Egyptian code of practice for designing potable water and sewage networks gives two Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) equations to calculate the intensity of rainfall to be applied to all cities of Egypt. The purpose of this research is to study and assess the adequacy of the rainfall intensity equations suggested by the aforementioned Egyptian code. This is carried out taking into consideration the available rainfall ground station measurements and remote sensing Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite rainfall estimates. This assessment leads to the following results. For the Mediterranean coastal cities, the code of practice equations significantly underestimates the rainfall intensities for all storm durations, which may lead to road networks damage and accidents due to hydroplaning and road flooding. On the contrary, for many other southern cities along the Nile Valley, the code equations significantly overestimate the rainfall intensities, which affects the economical aspect of the sewage network. Consequently, the current research suggests new rainfall intensity equations instead of the code equations.