Site-Scale LID-BMPs Planning and Optimization in Residential Areas

Abstract

Low-impact development best management practices (LID-BMPs) are a representative and effective approach in urban runoff management. In a planning process, it is important to optimally design and place LID-BMPs to maximize cost-effectiveness, and equally important to fully evaluate the planning’s control effects. This paper presents a case study of LID-BMPs planning and optimization in a residential community in China using SUSTAIN as the modeling tool. The LID-BMPs facilities are designed individually and placed at specific locations. Runoff volume and quality are simulated for predevelopment, basic, and planning scenarios. Optimization is conducted to reveal cost-effective schemes and to determine an optimal scheme that meets the control target. This optimization scheme achieves a 75.2% control rate with a cost of USD 1 million. In addition to the commonly used annual rainfall data, designed storm events are also input to further examine the control effects of the optimization scheme for rainfalls of different return periods. Results show that optimized site-scale LID-BMPs can provide benefits for a range of rainfall intensities, but are especially effective for short-return-period rainfall.