The following is a summary of the highly relevant article entitled “A Synthesis of Climate Change Impacts on Stormwater Management Systems: Designing for Resiliency and Future Challenges,” authored by J. M. Hathaway, M.ASCE, and published in the Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment, Volume 10, Issue 2.
Climate change is projected to modify rainfall patterns in the US and globally, underscoring the need for effective stormwater management systems within resilience initiatives. These systems are generally designed using historical rainfall data, assuming climate consistency or “stationarity” — an assumption now invalid for many regions that create uncertainty about long-term serviceability. To address this, researchers and practitioners are investigating the integration of future climate projections into stormwater system design, aiming to sustain current functionality. However, uncertainty persists regarding handling extreme weather events, the water quality effects of climate change, and incorporating climate model uncertainties into engineering practices.
Without standardized design guidelines for integrating climate change into infrastructure, communities independently devise strategies, such as updating intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves and relying on recent historical data. As discussions advance on safeguarding communities against unpredictable future weather, stakeholders are identifying crucial considerations. An urgent need exists to define resilience for stormwater management systems within the context of climate change. This will enable the creation of design criteria that incorporate uncertainties and achieve positive system-wide outcomes. In summary, significant opportunities exist for the innovation of community infrastructure regarding water management and various ecosystem services.
Author keywords: urban drainage; green infrastructure; climate change; cloudburst events; runoff; stormwater control measures; nonstationarity. This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
(Source: DOI Link)
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