swmmr - an R package to interface SWMM

The stormwater management model SWMM of the US EPA is widely used to analyse, design or optimise urban drainage systems. To perform advanced analysis and visualisations of model data this technical note introduces the R package swmmr. It contains functions to read and write SWMM files, initiate simulations from the R console and to convert SWMM model files to and from GIS data. Additionally, model data can be transformed to produce high quality visualisations. In accordance with SWMM’s open source policy the package can be obtained through github.com or the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN)

A New Method to Reconstruct Recent Tree and Stand Attributes of Temporary Research Plots: New Opportunity to Analyse Mixed Forest Stands

In the last decades, studying effects of mixing tree species is increasingly important. In particular, under changing growing conditions and social requirements, investigations on mixed forest compared to mono-specific stands are of special interest, for example, stability, resilience or ecosystem services. Permanent forest research plots are a unique data source, providing the required information but being time-consuming and costly to establish. Moreover, large data sets of such plots are missing but needed for generalising any findings. Temporary research plots provide ad hoc information of its status quo and require less effort than permanent plots. Usually, such plots provide no information of the recent tree and stand characteristics. We demonstrate a new method developed under the scope of COST action FP 1206 EuMIXFOR (European Network on Mixed Forests) to estimate retrospective tree dynamics and stand characteristics. The results of validation reveal its usefulness for reconstructing 5–10 years. Thus, the method provides new potential in establishing larger networks across several countries, in particular, for studying underlying processes when comparing mono-specific with mixed forest stands

SUDS, LID, BMPs, WSUD and more - The evolution and application of terminology surrounding urban drainage

Open Access articleThe management of urban stormwater has become increasingly complex over recent decades. Consequently, terminology describing the principles and practices of urban drainage has become increasingly diverse, increasing the potential for confusion and miscommunication. This paper documents the history, scope, application and underlying principles of terms used in urban drainage and provides recommendations for clear communication of these principles. Terminology evolves locally and thus has an important role in establishing awareness and credibility of new approaches and contains nuanced understandings of the principles that are applied locally to address specific problems. Despite the understandable desire to have a ‘uniform set of terminology’, such a concept is flawed, ignoring the fact that terms reflect locally shared understanding. The local development of terminology thus has an important role in advancing the profession, but authors should facilitate communication between disciplines and between regions of the world, by being explicit and accurate in their application

The ResourcePlan—An Instrument for Resource-Efficient Development of Urban Neighborhoods

In Germany, the current sectoral urban planning often leads to inefficient use of resources, partly because municipalities lack integrated planning instruments and argumentation strength toward politics, investors, or citizens. The paper develops the ResourcePlan as (i) legal and (ii) a planning instrument to support the efficient use of resources in urban neighborhoods. The integrative, multi-methodological approach addresses the use of natural resources in the building and infrastructural sectors of (i) water (storm- and wastewater) management, (ii) construction and maintenance of buildings and infrastructure, (iii) urban energy system planning, and (iv) land-use planning. First, the development as legal instrument is carried out, providing (i) premises for integrating resource protection at all legal levels and (ii) options for implementing the ResourcePlan within German municipal structures. Second, the evaluation framework for resource efficiency of the urban neighborhoods is set up for usage as a planning instrument. The framework provides a two-stage process that runs through the phases of setting up and implementing the ResourcePlan. (Eco)system services are evaluated as well as life cycle assessment and economic aspects. As a legal instrument, the ResourcePlan integrates resource protection into municipal planning and decision-making processes. The multi-methodological evaluation framework helps to assess inter-disciplinary resource efficiency, supports the spatial identification of synergies and conflicting goals, and contributes to transparent, resource-optimized planning decisions.BMBF, 033W102E, RESZ - Verbundvorhaben: R2Q - RessourcenPlan im Quartier - Teilprojekt 5: Ganzheitliche Bewertung der Ressourceneffizienz von Stadtquartiere

With increasing site quality asymmetric competition and mortality reduces Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stand structuring across Europe

Heterogeneity of structure can increase mechanical stability, stress resistance and resilience, biodiversity and many other functions and services of forest stands. That is why many silvicultural measures aim at enhancing structural diversity. However, the effectiveness and potential of structuring may depend on the site conditions. Here, we revealed how the stand structure is determined by site quality and results from site-dependent partitioning of growth and mortality among the trees. We based our study on 90 mature, even-aged, fully stocked monocultures of Scots pine (Pines sylvestris L.) sampled in 21 countries along a productivity gradient across Europe. A mini-simulation study further analyzed the site-dependency of the interplay between growth and mortality and the resulting stand structure. The overarching hypothesis was that the stand structure changes with site quality and results from the site-dependent asymmetry of competition and mortality.First, we show that Scots pine stands structure across Europe become more homogeneous with increasing site quality. The coefficient of variation and Gini coefficient of stem diameter and tree height continuously decreased, whereas Stand Density Index and stand basal area increased with site index.Second, we reveal a site-dependency of the growth distribution among the trees and the mortality. With increasing site index, the asymmetry of both competition and growth distribution increased and suggested, at first glance, an increase in stand heterogeneity. However, with increasing site index, mortality eliminates mainly small instead of all-sized trees, cancels the size variation and reduces the structural heterogeneity.Third, we modelled the site-dependent interplay between growth partitioning and mortality. By scenario runs for different site conditions, we can show how the site-dependent structure at the stand level emerges from the asymmetric competition and mortality at the tree level and how the interplay changes with increasing site quality across Europe.Our most interesting finding was that the growth partitioning became more asymmetric and structuring with increasing site quality, but that the mortality eliminated predominantly small trees, reduced their size variation and thus reversed the impact of site quality on the structure. Finally, the reverse effects of mode of growth partitioning and mortality on the stand structure resulted in the highest size variation on poor sites and decreased structural heterogeneity with increasing site quality. Since our results indicate where heterogeneous structures need silviculture interventions and where they emerge naturally, we conclude that these findings may improve system understanding and modelling and guide forest management aiming at structurally rich forests

Distribution-Based Calibration of a Stormwater Quality Model

Stormwater quality models are usually calibrated using observed pollutographs. As current models still rely on simplified model concepts for pollutant accumulation and wash-off, calibration results for continuous pollutant concentrations are highly uncertain. In this paper, we introduce an innovative calibration approach based on total suspended solids (TSS) event load distribution. The approach is applied on stormwater quality models for a flat roof and a parking lot for which reliable distributions are available. Exponential functions are employed for both TSS buildup and wash-off. Model parameters are calibrated by means of an evolutionary algorithm to minimize the distance between a parameterized lognormal distribution function and the cumulated distribution of simulated TSS event loads. Since TSS event load characteristics are probabilistically considered, the approach especially respects the stochasticity of TSS buildup and wash-off and, therefore, improves conventional stormwater quality calibration concepts. The results show that both experimental models were calibrated with high goodness-of-fit (Kolmogorov–Smirnov test statistic: 0.05). However, it is shown that events with high TSS event loads (>0.8 percentile) are generally underestimated. While this leads to a relative deviation of −28% of total TSS loads for the parking lot, the error is compensated for the flat roof (+5%). Calibrated model parameters generally tend to generate wash-off proportional to runoff, which is indicated by mass-volume curves. The approach itself is, in general, applicable and creates a new opportunity to calibrate stormwater quality models especially when calibration data is limited

Stormwater Pollutant Process Analysis with Long-Term Online Monitoring Data at Micro-Scale Sites

Stormwater runoff quality was measured with online turbidity sensors at four common types of small urban subcatchments: (i) a flat roof; (ii) a parking lot; (iii) a residential catchment; and (iv) a high-traffic street. Samples were taken to estimate site-specific correlations between total suspended solids (TSS) and turbidity. Continuous TSS time series were derived from online turbidity measurements and were used to estimate event loads and event mean concentrations. Rainfall runoff event characteristics were subjected to correlation analysis to TSS loads. Significant correlations were found for rainfall intensities at sites with high imperviousness and decrease with increasing catchment size. Antecedent dry weather periods are only correlated at the parking lot site. Intra-event TSS load distributions were studied with M (V)-curves. M (V)-curves are grouped at runoff quantiles and statistically described with boxplots. All sites show, in general, a more pronounced first-flush effect. While wash-off of the flat roof tends to be source-limited, the parking lot and high-traffic street sites show a more transport-limited behavior. Wash-off process of the residential catchment appears to be influenced by a composition of different subcatchments

Handreichung zur Typologie von Indikatoren sowie ihrer Anwendung in Planungsprozessen und Projekten zur nachhaltigen Quartiersentwicklung

Die Fördermaßnahme „Ressourceneffiziente Stadtquartiere“ des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) zielt auf umsetzungsorientierte Konzepte zur Erhöhung der Ressourceneffizienz im Rahmen einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung von Stadtquartieren. Zur Unterstützung von Projekten der Fördermaßnahme und darüber hinaus von kommunalen Planungsprozessen in der Praxis wurde die vorliegende Handreichung erstellt. Diese beinhaltet eine Typologie von Indikatoren und ein Ablaufschema zu deren Anwendung

SWMM-UrbanEVA: A Model for the Evapotranspiration of Urban Vegetation

Urban hydrology has so far lacked a suitable model for a precise long-term determination of evapotranspiration (ET) addressing shading and vegetation-specific dynamics. The proposed model “SWMM-UrbanEVA” is fully integrated into US EPA’s Stormwater Management Model (SWMM) and consists of two submodules. Submodule 1, “Shading”, considers the reduction in potential ET due to shading effects. Local variabilities of shading impacts can be addressed for both pervious and impervious catchments. Submodule 2, “Evapotranspiration”, allows the spatio-temporal differentiated ET simulation of vegetation and maps dependencies on vegetation, soil, and moisture conditions which are necessary for realistically modeling vegetation’s water balance. The model is tested for parameter sensitivities, validity, and plausibility of model behaviour and shows good model performance for both submodules. Depending on location and vegetation, remarkable improvements in total volume errors Vol (from Vol = 0.59 to −0.04% for coniferous) and modeling long-term dynamics, measured by the Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency (NSE) (from NSE = 0.47 to 0.87 for coniferous) can be observed. The most sensitive model inputs to total ET are the shading factor KS and the crop factor KC. Both must be derived very carefully to minimize volume errors. Another focus must be set on the soil parameters since they define the soil volume available for ET. Process-oriented differentiation between ET fluxes interception evaporation, transpiration, and soil evaporation, using the leaf area index, behaves realistically but shows a lack in volume errors. Further investigations on process dynamics, validation, and parametrization are recommended

Statistical Distribution of TSS Event Loads from Small Urban Environments

Results from a long-term stormwater quality monitoring program were used to derive total suspended solids (TSS) event load distributions at four small urban environments (flat roof, parking lot, residential catchment, high traffic street). Theoretical distribution functions were fitted to the empirical distribution functions obtained. Parameters of the theoretical distribution functions were optimized with respect to a likelihood function to get both optimized parameters and standard errors. Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Anderson-Darling test statistics were applied to assess the goodness-of-fit between empirical and theoretical distribution. The lognormal distribution function was found to be most expressive to approximate empirical TSS event load distributions at all sites. However, the goodness-of-fit of the statistical model strongly depends on the number of events available. Based on the results of a Monte-Carlo-based resampling strategy, around 40 events should be considered