The applicability of LID facilities as an adaptation strategy of urban CSOs management for climate change

Abstract

Abstract The magnitude and frequency of extreme rainfall due to climate change is increasing. Increasing rainfall causes serious hydrological problems in cities. Rainfall does not infiltrate the soil, but mostly flows through the sewer pipes into the stream. Most old urban watersheds have combined sewer pipes. When rainfall exceeds the capacity of the combined sewer pipes, sewage mixed with stormwater overflows the sewer pipes and flows directly into the stream. This is called Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). CSOs enter the stream with non-point source pollutants accumulated on the surface and pollute the stream. CSOs are one of the major water quality problems in older urban watersheds. This can be solved by replacing the combined sewer pipes with separated sewer pipes, but in reality it requires astronomical costs. As an alternative, the Low Impact Development (LID) technique has recently been introduced. In this study, we analyzed the effects of climate change on CSOs in urban watersheds and applied LID techniques to offset the effects. The LID facility was applied with the most commonly used Bio-Retention cells.