Development of a Geospatial Data-Based Methodology for Stormwater Management in Urban Areas Using Freely-Available Software

Intense urbanisation, combined with climate change impacts such as increased rainfall intensity, is overloading conventional drainage systems, increasing the number of combined sewer overflow events and making treatment plants outdated. There is a need for better urban planning, incorporating stormwater and flood management design in order to accurately design urban drainage networks. Geographic Information System (GIS) tools are capable of identifying and delineating the runoff flow direction, as well as accurately defining small-sized urban catchments using geospatial data. This study explores the synergies between GIS and stormwater management design tools for better land-use planning, providing a new methodology which has the potential to incorporate hydraulic and hydrological calculations into the design of urban areas. From data collection to final results, only freely available software and open platforms have been used: the U.S. EPA Storm Water Management Model (SWMM), QGis, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, SagaGIS, and GrassGIS. Each of these tools alone cannot provide all the necessary functionalities for large-scale projects, but once linked to GISWATER, a unique, fast, efficient, and accurate work methodology results. A case study of a newly urbanised area in the city of Gijón (northern Spain) has been utilised to apply this new methodology

Fluid Transport within Permeable Pavement Systems: A review of evaporation processes, moisture loss measurement and the current state of knowledge

The purpose of this review is to give an up to date overview of the existing literature in fluid transport processes within Permeable Pavement Systems with the main focus on evaporation. The paper summarises the internal and external factors influencing evaporation rates in Permeable Pavement Systems, such as characteristics of pavement surface and sub-surface layers, presence of water barrier/treatment systems, the water availability near the surface and ambient conditions. Experimental methodologies and designs used to investigate evaporation in laboratory and field settings are discussed, as well as limitations and constraints identifying existing gaps with the potential for further research