scholarly journals Reducing Flood Risk in Changing Environments: Optimal Location and Sizing of Stormwater Tanks Considering Climate Change

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2491
Author(s):  
Juan Saldarriaga ◽  
Camilo Salcedo ◽  
Laura Solarte ◽  
Laura Pulgarín ◽  
Maria Laura Rivera ◽  
...  

In recent years, there has been an increase in the frequency of urban floods as a result of three determinant factors: the reduction in systems’ capacity due to aging, a changing environment that has resulted in alterations in the hydrological cycle, and the reduction of the permeability of watersheds due to urban growth. Due to this, a question that every urban area must answer is: Are we ready to face these new challenges? The renovation of all the pipes that compose the drainage system is not a feasible solution, and, therefore, the use of new solutions is an increasing trend, leading to a new operational paradigm where water is stored in the system and released at a controlled rate. Hence, technologies, such as stormwater tanks, are being implemented in different cities. This research sought to understand how Climate Change would affect future precipitation, and based on the results, applied two different approaches to determine the optimal location and sizing of storage units, through the application of the Simulated Annealing and Pseudo-Genetic Algorithms. In this process, a strong component of computational modeling was applied in order to allow the optimization algorithms to efficiently reach near-optimal solutions. These approaches were tested in two stormwater networks at Bogotá, Colombia, considering three different rainfall scenarios.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Nanni ◽  
Rosaria Ester Musumeci ◽  
David J. Peres ◽  
Antonino Cancelliere

<p>Increased urbanization is causing evident negative consequences on the hydrological cycle. In particular, the increase of impervious surfaces is having a strong impact on the water cycle, amplifying the risk of urban floods. These impacts can get even worse for potential climate change impacts. The urban areas of the Simeto Valley, the largest river valley in Sicily (Italy), has been repeatedly hit by heavy rains in the last decades that caused urban flooding causing several problems and, in some instances, threats to population. The threats seem to derive also from a low awareness of the population on the correct behavior to have in potentially dangerous situations. Hence, it seems of key importance that residents develop and internalize a “culture of risk awareness”. The Life SimetoRES Project represents an opportunity to stimulate the development of a responsible and resilient community and at the implementation of best practices for storm water management. In the Simeto River Valley community has started in the recent decades to formally have an identity (for instance, by signing a River Agreement) and has already supported initiatives in the responsible and participatory co-management of the territory. Thus, this Valley represents an excellent context to investigate this problem and to understand the involvement of the citizens in solving climate change and urban floods. In order to maximize the effectiveness of the communication campaigns and the actions to safeguard the community, a study through a survey on the climate change and risk perception in 11 municipalities has been carried out, collecting 1143 answers. Starting from the current hydrogeological risk, quantified by the Flood Risk Management Plan, the goal was to identify the perception and the awareness of the citizens. A section of the questionnaire involved the direct experience of the residents during rain events, their relationship with the alert system and their knowledge of the correct behavior in case of flood. Finally, the survey investigated the willingness of citizens to implement adaptation actions in their own municipality and in their homes. The results show that over 52% of citizens is not aware of the real use of the infrastructures devised for urban drainage and only the 30% feels responsible about mitigation of flooding risk. Inaccurate weather warnings can endanger more inhabitants who don't trust the alert system. The results show that it is necessary to make incisive actions to educate people, especially in school age, on the correct behavior to take in case of urban flooding, and encourage citizens to acknowledge themselves as an active part of the mechanism of their own and community safety.</p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 155-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria C. Cunha ◽  
João A. Zeferino ◽  
Nuno E. Simões ◽  
Juan G. Saldarriaga

Author(s):  
H. Tayşi ◽  
M. Özger

Abstract Urbanization and industrialization cause an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, which in turn causes changes in the atmosphere. Climate change is causing extreme rainfalls and these rainfalls are getting stronger day after day. Floods are threatening urban areas, and short-duration rainfall and outdated drainages are responsible for urban floods. Intensity–Duration–Frequency (IDF) curves are crucial for both drainage system design and assessment of flood risk. Once IDF curves are determined from historical data, they are assumed to be stationary. However, IDF curves must be non-stationary and time varying based on preparation for extreme events. This study generates future IDF curves with short-duration rainfalls under climate change. To represent future rainfall, an ensemble of four Global Climate Models generated under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 were used in this study. A new approach to the HYETOS disaggregation model was applied to disaggregate daily future rainfall into sub-hourly using disaggregation parameters of hourly measured rainfalls. Hence, sub-hourly future rainfalls will be obtained capturing historical rainfall patterns instead of random rainfall characteristics. Finally, historical and future IDF curves were compared. The study concludes that increases in short-duration rainfalls will be highly intensified in both the near and distant futures with a high probability.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lennart Quante ◽  
Sven N. Willner ◽  
Robin Middelanis ◽  
Anders Levermann

AbstractDue to climate change the frequency and character of precipitation are changing as the hydrological cycle intensifies. With regards to snowfall, global warming has two opposing influences; increasing humidity enables intense snowfall, whereas higher temperatures decrease the likelihood of snowfall. Here we show an intensification of extreme snowfall across large areas of the Northern Hemisphere under future warming. This is robust across an ensemble of global climate models when they are bias-corrected with observational data. While mean daily snowfall decreases, both the 99th and the 99.9th percentiles of daily snowfall increase in many regions in the next decades, especially for Northern America and Asia. Additionally, the average intensity of snowfall events exceeding these percentiles as experienced historically increases in many regions. This is likely to pose a challenge to municipalities in mid to high latitudes. Overall, extreme snowfall events are likely to become an increasingly important impact of climate change in the next decades, even if they will become rarer, but not necessarily less intense, in the second half of the century.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe Yuan ◽  
Yongqiang Wang ◽  
Jijun Xu ◽  
Zhiguang Wu

AbstractThe ecosystem of the Source Region of Yangtze River (SRYR) is highly susceptible to climate change. In this study, the spatial–temporal variation of NPP from 2000 to 2014 was analyzed, using outputs of Carnegie–Ames–Stanford Approach model. Then the correlation characteristics of NPP and climatic factors were evaluated. The results indicate that: (1) The average NPP in the SRYR is 100.0 gC/m2 from 2000 to 2014, and it shows an increasing trend from northwest to southeast. The responses of NPP to altitude varied among the regions with the altitude below 3500 m, between 3500 to 4500 m and above 4500 m, which could be attributed to the altitude associated variations of climatic factors and vegetation types; (2) The total NPP of SRYR increased by 0.18 TgC per year in the context of the warmer and wetter climate during 2000–2014. The NPP was significantly and positively correlated with annual temperature and precipitation at interannual time scales. Temperature in February, March, May and September make greater contribution to NPP than that in other months. And precipitation in July played a more crucial role in influencing NPP than that in other months; (3) Climatic factors caused the NPP to increase in most of the SRYR. Impacts of human activities were concentrated mainly in downstream region and is the primary reason for declines in NPP.


Water ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 110
Author(s):  
Raphael Schneider ◽  
Simon Stisen ◽  
Anker Lajer Højberg

About half of the Danish agricultural land is drained artificially. Those drains, mostly in the form of tile drains, have a significant effect on the hydrological cycle. Consequently, the drainage system must also be represented in hydrological models that are used to simulate, for example, the transport and retention of chemicals. However, representation of drainage in large-scale hydrological models is challenging due to scale issues, lacking data on the distribution of drain infrastructure, and lacking drain flow observations. This calls for more indirect methods to inform such models. Here, we investigate the hypothesis that drain flow leaves a signal in streamflow signatures, as it represents a distinct streamflow generation process. Streamflow signatures are indices characterizing hydrological behaviour based on the hydrograph. Using machine learning regressors, we show that there is a correlation between signatures of simulated streamflow and simulated drain fraction. Based on these insights, signatures relevant to drain flow are incorporated in hydrological model calibration. A distributed coupled groundwater–surface water model of the Norsminde catchment, Denmark (145 km2) is set up. Calibration scenarios are defined with different objective functions; either using conventional stream flow metrics only, or a combination with hydrological signatures. We then evaluate the results from the different scenarios in terms of how well the models reproduce observed drain flow and spatial drainage patterns. Overall, the simulation of drain in the models is satisfactory. However, it remains challenging to find a direct link between signatures and an improvement in representation of drainage. This is likely attributable to model structural issues and lacking flexibility in model parameterization.


Author(s):  
P K Bhunya ◽  
Sanjay Kumar ◽  
Sunil Gurrapu ◽  
M K Bhuyan

In recent times, several studies focused on the global warming that may affect the hydrological cycle due to intensification of temporal and spatial variations in precipitation. Such climatic change is likely to impact significantly upon freshwater resources availability. In India, demand for water has already increased manifold over the years due to urbanization, agriculture expansion, increasing population, rapid industrialization and economic development. Numerous scientific studies also report increases in the intensity, duration, and spatial extents of floods, higher atmospheric temperatures, warmer sea, changes in precipitation patterns, and changing groundwater levels. This work briefly discusses about the present scenario regarding impact of climate change on water resources in India. Due to the insufficient resolution of climate models and their generally crude representation of sub-grid scale and convective processes, little confidence can be placed in any definite predictions of such effects, although a tendency for more heavy rainfall events seems likely, and a modest increase in frequency in floods. Thus to analyses this effect, this work considers real problems about the changing flood characteristics pattern in two river regions, and the effect of spatial and temporal pattern in rainfall. In addition to these, the work also examines the trend of groundwater level fluctuations in few blocks of Ganga–Yamuna and Sutlej-Yamuna Link interfluves region. As a whole, it examines the potential for sustainable development of surface water and groundwater resources within the constraints imposed by climate change.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Li ◽  
Jianhua Xu ◽  
Zhongsheng Chen ◽  
Benfu Zhao

Based on the hydrological and meteorological data of the upper reaches of Shiyang River basin in Northwest China from 1960 to 2009, this paper analyzed the change in runoff and its related climatic factors, and estimated the contribution of climate change and human activity to runoff change by using the moving T test, cumulative analysis of anomalies and multiple regression analysis. The results showed that temperature revealed a significant increasing trend, and potential evaporation capacity decreased significantly, while precipitation increased insignificantly in the past recent 50 years. Although there were three mutations in 1975, 1990 and 2002 respectively, runoff presented a slight decreasing trend in the whole period. The contributions of climate change and human activity to runoff change during the period of 1976-2009 were 45% and 55% respectively.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Umesh Kumar Singh ◽  
Balwant Kumar

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission is altering the global hydrological cycle due to change in rainfall pattern and rising temperature which is responsible for alteration in the physical characteristics of river basin, melting of ice, drought, flood, extreme weather events and alteration in groundwater recharge. In India, water demand for domestic, industrial and agriculture purposes have already increased many folds which are also influencing the water resource system. In addition, climate change has induced the surface temperature of the Indian subcontinent by 0.48 ºC in just last century. However, Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) river basins have great importance for their exceptional hydro-geological settings and deltaic floodplain wetland ecosystems which support 700 million people in Asia. The climatic variability like alterations in precipitation and temperature over GBM river basins has been observed which signifies the GBM as one of the most vulnerable areas in the world under the potential impact of climate change. Consequently, alteration in river discharge, higher runoff generation, low groundwater recharge and melting of glaciers over GBM river basin could be observed in near future. The consequence of these changes due to climate change over GBM basin may create serious water problem for Indian sub-continents. This paper reviews the literature on the historical climate variations and how climate change affects the hydrological characteristics of different river basins.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Antonio Barbosa da Silva Junior ◽  
Simone Rosa da Silva

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