The rapid conversion of land to urban and suburban areas has profoundly altered how water flows during and following storm events, putting higher volumes of water and more pollutants into the nation's rivers, lakes, and estuaries. These changes have degraded water quality and habitat in virtually every urban stream system. The Clean Water Act regulatory framework for addressing sewage and industrial wastes is not well suited to the more difficult problem of stormwater discharges. This book calls for an entirely new permitting structure that would put authority and accountability for stormwater discharges at the municipal level. A number of additional actions, such as conserving natural areas, reducing hard surface cover (e.g., roads and parking lots), and retrofitting urban areas with features that hold and treat stormwater, are recommended.

Prepared byØtheØTask Committee of the Urban Water Resources Research Council of ASCE. Copublished by ASCE and the Water Environment Federation. Design and Construction of Urban Stormwater Management Systems presents a comprehensive examination of the issues involved in engineering urban stormwater systems. This Manual?which updates relevant portions of Design and Construction of Sanitary and Storm Sewers, MOP 37?reflects the many changes taking place in the field, such as the use of microcomputers and the need to control the quality of runoff as well as the quantity. Chapters are prepared by authors with experience and expertise in the particular subject area. The Manual aids the practicing engineer by presenting a brief summary of currently accepted procedures relating to the following areas: financial services; regulations;Ø surveys and investigations;Ø design concepts and master planning;Ø hydrology and water quality;Ø storm drainage hydraulics; andØ computer modeling.

The 20th century's automobile-inspired land use changes brought about tremendous transformations in how stormwater moves across the modern urban land-scape. Streets and parking areas in the average urban family's neighborhood now exceed the amount of land devoted to living space. Add parking, office and commercial space, and it's easy to understand how modern cities have experienced a three-fold increase in impervious areas. Traditional wet weather collection systems removed stormwater from urban areas as quickly as possible, often transferring problems downstream. Innovative Urban WetWeather Flow Management Systems does two things: It considers the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of urban runoff; then describes innovative methods for improving wet weather flow (WWF) management systems. The result of extensive research, Innovative Urban Wet-Weather Flow Manage-ment Systems looks most at how to handle runoff in developments of the 21st century: the confl icting objectives of providing drainage while decreasing stormwater pollutant discharges; the impact of urban WWF on surface and groundwater, such as smaller urban stream channels scoured by high peak flows; sediment transport and the toxic effects of WWF on aquatic organisms; the effectiveness of WWF controls-including design guidelines and source and downstream controls-are an important issue. Innovative Urban Wet-Weather Flow Management Systems looks at how source controls like biofi ltration, created through simple grading, may work in newly developing areas, while critical source areas like an auto service facilities, may need more extensive treatment strategies. Focusing WWF treatment on intensively used areas, such as the 20 percent of streets that handle the bulk of the traffic, and under utilized parking areas is also considered. Developing a more integrated water supply system-collecting, treating, and disposing of wastewater, and handling urban WWF-requires innovative methods, such as a neighborhood-scale system that would recycle treated wastewater and storm water for lawn watering and toilet flushing, or use treated roof runoff for potable purposes.

This book provides an essential overview of ecotechnologies (also known as green infrastructure or nature-based solutions) which are considered to be relatively resilient to variations in stormwater and wastewater inflow. In particular, it focuses on various types of constructed wetlands, biofilters and ponds. Stormwater flows are inherently variable, due to rainfall events and fluctuations in loading. This variability has significant effects on the performance of treatment systems, but has rarely been specifically addressed in design manuals, performance assessments or modelling. The book’s respective chapters cover the main contaminant categories of interest (nutrients, faecal microbes, metals and emerging contaminants) and their removal processes using ecotechnologies, addressing urban, industrial and agricultural applications. In addition, they review modelling tools with the potential to improve our understanding of flow variability and the ability to simulate and predict responses to it.

Both practical and theoretical, this book provides the basic principles of soil chemistry, hydrology, wetland ecology, microbiology, vegetation and wildlife as a sound introduction to this innovative technology to treat toxic wastewaters and sludges. The use of wetlands for acid mine drainage, and metals removal in municipal, urban runoff, and industrial systems is discussed. Case histories are also presented, demonstrating specific types of constructed wetlands and applications to municipal wastewater, home sites, coal and non-coal mining, coal-fired electric power plants, chemical and pulp industry, agriculture, landfill leachate, and urban stormwater. Construction and management guidelines are clearly explained, providing information on applicable policies and regulations, siting and construction, and operations and monitoring of constructed wetlands treatment systems. Recent theoretical and empirical results from operating systems and research facilities, including such new applications as nutrient removal from eutrophic lakes and urban stormwater treatment within highway rights-of-way, are included. This book is an ideal resource for wastewater treatment plants, consulting engineers, federal and state regulators, industrial environmental managers, municipalities, environmental health professionals, and ecologists.

Making buildings and infrastructure more sustainable represents a key and global challenge. This presents the results of research from the Australia Co-operative Research Centre for Construction Innovation, covering four themes, applied to regeneration as well as to new build: Sustainable Materials and Manufactures; Virtual Design, Construction and Management; Integrating Design, Construction and Facility Management over the Project Life Cycle; and Integration across spatial scales.

This collection contains 49 papers presented at an Engineering Foundation Conference, held in Snowmass Village, Colorado, August 19-24, 2001.