Reduction of Urban Runoff Through Economic Incentives: Boulder,Colorado1

ABSTRACT: The problems of increased surface runoff which follow in step with urbanization can be conceptualized in terms of environmental economics. The private transformation of land from a permeable to an impermeable surface imposes the externality of increased surface runoff upon society as a whole and especially on those downstream. The city of Boulder, Colorado, has enacted an ordinance which attempts to internalize some of these external costs and at the same time decrease surface runoff from the urban environment.     

DUAL PURPOSE DETENTION BASINS IN STORM WATER MANAGEMENT1

Storm water management contributes to flood hazard mitigation; but new approaches now being developed consider also the reduction in particulate pollution and stream erosion. Such approaches involve retardation of storm runoff, or detention programs of some kind, and detention basins are usually required if large storms are to be controlled. The usual concept is that future storms occurring after development should have no more adverse effect than similar storms would have had before development; but a number of different criteria are being used. If control of storms of different sizes is required, only a small amount of additional capacity is required to obtain retention of particulate pollution in the same basin. In at least three different parts of the country, such dual purpose detention basins are being required of developers. In such programs the developers bear the cost, the governmental contributions are not involved.     

A PLANNING METHOD FOR EVALUATING DOWNSTREAM EFFECTS OF DETENTION BASINS1

While storm water detention basins are widely used for controlling increases in peak discharges that result from urbanization, recent research has indicated that under certain circumstances detention storage can actually cause increases in peak discharge rates. Because of the potential for detrimental downstream effects, storm water management policies often require downstream effects to be evaluated. Such evaluation requires the design engineer to collect additional topographic and land use data and make costly hydrologic analyses. Thus, a method, which is easy to apply and which would indicate whether or not a detailed hydrologic analysis of downstream impacts is necessary, should decrease the average cost of storm water management designs. A planning method that does not require either a large data base or a computer is presented. The time co-ordinates of runoff hydrographs are estimated using the time-of-concentration and the SCS runoff curve number; the discharge coordinates are estimated using a simple peak discharge equation. While the planning method does not require a detailed design of the detention basin, it does provide a reasonably accurate procedure for evaluating whether or not the installation of a detention basin will cause adverse downstream flooding.     

EFFECT OF SURFACE MINING ON STORM FLOW AND PEAK FLOW FROM SIX SMALL BASINS IN EASTERN KENTUCKY1

ABSTRACT: Hydrologic records from six small Eastern Kentucky watersheds were analyzed to determine the effect of surface mining on storm flows and peak flows. Average storm flow volumes were not changed by surface mining, whereas average peak flows were increased 36 percent. Peak flow increases were only in the summer. Smaller peak flows are doubled; moderate ones are increased by about a third; peak flows around 100 csm seem to be largely unaffected; and the larger peak flows may have been reduced by surface mining. The maximum annual storm flows, usually in winter or spring, appeared slightly reduced. No time trend in either storm flows or peak flows could be detected in five years of postmining record. Surface mining is not a serious floodwater discharge problem.     

北非沙尘天气时空分布特征及其远程传输路径

通过对北非地面300个气象站20a沙尘暴、浮尘、风场及冬夏季气溶胶指数（AI）的时空分布分析,探讨了其远程传输路径,结果表明：1）北非在阿尔及利亚、毛里塔尼亚、尼日尔和乍得中部、埃及东部、苏丹北部、博德莱洼地存在6个主要沙源区,3月沙尘暴范围和强度最大,8~11月最小.从11月起逐渐在萨赫勒地区形成了一条浮尘带,其强度和范围在3月最大,其后逐渐收缩并在6~10月分裂成3~4个小带.2）受冬春季地面高压影响,萨赫勒浮尘带由其北部发生的沙尘暴远距离传输而来.4~8月,来自赤道的南风北抬并与来自大西洋的西北风在萨赫勒中西部交汇,形成静风区并导致浮尘带收缩、断裂.3）北非存在2条沙尘主传输路径,其中Ⅰ起自阿尔及利亚,向东到地中海、埃及和苏丹,然后转向萨赫勒,从东向西传到大西洋;Ⅱ起自阿尔及利亚,向南传输到毛里塔尼亚,向西传到大西洋;同时在主传输路径Ⅰ上还出现了4个分支路径.     

沙尘暴评估中土壤含水量概率分布模型研究 --以内蒙古中西部地区为例

根据内蒙古中部地区二连浩特,乌拉特中旗和乌海3个观测站2001年4月至2004年4月的逐时土壤含水量观测结果和相应的沙尘暴发生的实况,对沙尘暴发生时和没有沙尘暴发生时的土壤含水量,分别用正态分布、指数分布、伽马分布、瑞利分布、威布尔分布和耿贝尔分布函数进行了拟合,并根据相关系数和最小二乘法进行了拟合优度检验.结果表明,对内蒙古中部地区这3个地点而言,沙尘暴发生时的土壤含水量服从耿贝尔分布,沙尘暴不发生时的土壤含水量服从伽马分布.根据耿贝尔分布,建立了土壤含水量重现期的曲线拟合模型.     

Characteristics of air pollution in Beijing during sand-dust storm periods

In the Beijing area, March and April have the highest frequency of sand-dust weather. Floating dust, blowing sand, and dust storms, primarily from Mongolia, account for 71%, 20%, and 9% of sand-dust weather, respectively. Ambient air monitoring and analysis of recent meteorological data from Beijing sand-dust storm periods revealed that PM₁₀ mass concentrations during dust storm events remained at 1500 μg m⁻³, which is five to ten times higher than during non-dust storm periods, for fourteen hours on both April 6 and 25, 2000. During the same period, the concentrations in urban areas were comparable to those in suburban areas, while the concentrations of gaseous pollutants, such as SO₂, NO _x , NO₂, and O₃, remained at low levels, owing to strong winds. Furthermore, during sand-dust storm periods, aerosols were created that consisted not only of many coarse particles, but also of a large quantity of fine particles. The PM_2.5 concentration was approximately 230 μg m⁻³, accounting for 28% of the total PM₁₀ mass concentration. Crustal elements accounted for 60–70% of the chemical composition of PM_2.5, and sulfate and nitrate for much less, unlike the chemical composition of PM_2.5 on pollution days, which was primarily composed of sulfates, nitrates, and organic material. Although the very large particle specific surface area provided by dust storms would normally be conducive to heterogeneous reactions, the conversion rate from SO₂ to SO₄ ²⁻ was very low, because the relative humidity, less than 30%, was not high enough.     

海岸带风暴潮减水的统计分析

在青岛大港观测站连续30年实测资料的基础上,按照年、季、月等时段分别抽样,对风暴潮减水进行了长期统计分析.考虑到海岸地区风暴潮减水的诱因不同,在一维复合极值分布的基础上,提出了"组合分布法".新方法探讨了假设所有数据源于同一分布而产生的重现值估计误差.与年极值法和阈值法的计算结果进行了比较,说明以往算法得到的重现值偏低,并给出了青岛地区受季节变化影响的风暴减水设计重现值.统计表明,青岛大港春、秋、冬季均有风暴减水发生.由于寒潮大风是其产生的主导因素,以冬季的极值减水序列为样本,所得重现值与考虑季节变化得到的重现值相当.说明在实际工程区域,选取主要天气形势产生的水文要素为样本,替代所有观测数据,使统计计算得以简化的做法是可行的.     

MODELED IMPACTS OF DEVELOPMENT TYPE ON RUNOFF VOLUME AND INFILTRATION PERFORMANCE1

ABSTRACT: Development type has emerged as an important focal point for addressing a wide range of social, cultural, and environmental concerns related to urban growth. Low impact development techniques that rely heavily on infiltration practices are increasingly being used to manage storm water. In this study, four development types (conventional curvilinear, urban cluster, coving, and new urbanism) were modeled both with and without infiltration practices to determine their relative effects on urban runoff. Modeling was performed with a modified version of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) runoff method that enables evaluation of infiltration practices. Model results indicate that urban cluster developments produce the smallest volume of runoff due to the large portion of land kept in a natural condition. Infiltration practices are most effective for small storms and in developments with Hydrologic Group A soils. Significant reductions in runoff can be achieved in all four development types if infiltration practices treat many impervious surfaces. As more infiltration practices are implemented, the differences in runoff among development types diminish. With a strategic combination of site layout and infiltration design, any development type can reduce hydrologic impacts, allowing developers to consider other factors, such as convenience, marketability, community needs, and aesthetics.