Managing Stormwater as a Complex Adaptive System
Authored by Yosif A Ibrahim
Date Published: 2019
DOI: 10.1061/(asce)he.1943-5584.0001837
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Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Mathematical description
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
Understanding the cumulative impact of a set of stormwater interventions
is of paramount importance in urban stormwater planning. A model is
introduced to study the effect of 179 stormwater projects in the Cub Run
watershed in Fairfax County, Virginia. The results showed gains in
environmental benefits when the system was treated as a network of
interacting and coevolving measures. The study demonstrates the
importance of considering broader system benefits in the planning of
stormwater projects instead of point performance. Under different
implementation strategies, the dynamics of coevolution reveals a fixed
pattern of growth in the number of projects to be implemented. However,
their environmental benefits are not necessarily the same. Thus, any
decision to advance some projects for early implementation would have a
long-term impact on the system's overall trajectory. Furthermore, at a
certain threshold, the environmental benefits from these interventions
could diminish since more control does not yield a linear increase in
benefits.
Tags
Agent-based models
Management
complex adaptive system
Framework
Policies
Stormwater management
Dry ponds
Low impact
development
System growth
System connectivity