In this paper, the elephant in the room is the issue of projected longer-term population growths and declines in a finite world, while the Greek goddess Panacea is the opportunity to non-disruptively attain populations that live sustainably and solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. Particularly addressed in this paper is the potential of water systems models and modeling to facilitate a transition to planning for long-term sustainable lives of sustained quality. Anent “longer term”, for simplicity we consider both a typical period of family memory, for instance from 1880 to 2100, or 220 years, about seven or eight generations, as well as the anthropocene millenia. After setting down background definitions and introducing the underlying issues, we review key population and well-being trends, attitudes, and impacts, citing acknowledged experts. How, where, and when population and economic decline will occur is not covered; the paper rather suggests implications for water resources engineering and for water management modeling, even if the transition will be patchy in space and time. Confronting imminent degrowth, significant revisions of current water modeling practice are suggested: planned, phased, orderly removal of projected and existing urban development and drainage infrastructure and, for instance and where applicable, systematic restoration of keystone ecology and natural hydrology. Whether the imminent degrowth era will persist is uncertain, evidently. Also alluded to is degrowth’s countervailing assurance of improved well-being, providing more time for individuals to further their personal interests. The original PowerPoint presentation is at Robillynians.org and also at the CHI website (James 2023). Questions raised and the answers given at the presentation are included in the appendix to this paper.

Previous publications on restoring clogged permeable interlocking concrete pavers (PICPs), and also on available street sweeping equipment, are reviewed in some detail. Special drainage cell geometries, called cupules, in specific PICPs were tested under moving regenerative-air pick-up heads in a laboratory rig, and early results have been discussed in a previous paper. Reported here are follow-up field tests on three different parking lot pavements at one installation of rapidly cleaned out PICPs (RCPP) using a wide range of readily available street cleaning equipment. Rapid cleanout of the special purpose cupules at various sweeper speeds is measured and reported for a regenerative air sweeper, two types of mechanical sweepers, and a portable blower with two pick-up head directions of travel and for different filter media. A cost comparison of sweeper performance is presented. Preliminary results of these initial RCPP field tests evidently conflict with recommendations by authorities. Results are, however, considered to be initial, because of insignificant diminution in surface infiltration rates caused by clogging. However, according to the present study, routine RCPP management should ensure that rapid cleanouts similar to those observed here will continue to be experienced over extended time, and RCPP left uncleaned for a prolonged time will be restored more quickly and easily than is the case with the current generation of PICPs. Inexpensive and easy renewal of filter media could lead to improved pavement and deicing management strategies. Accompanying this paper are two short videos that show our field procedures for pavement installation, cleanout and restoration. An algorithm is provided for estimating minimum cost cleanout of PICPs.

Where clogging of drainage cells in permeable interlocking concrete pavers (PICPs) is dominantly in the upper parts of the filter media, as it is in most cases, infiltration rates in special PICPs may be rapidly restored if the PICP design is dovetailed to the fluid mechanics of the street cleaning equipment. PICPs described in this paper have special purpose cupules (shaped filter recesses in the upper surface of the block) for rapid cleaning, which are connected to drainage conduits. These cupules facilitate rapid removal of filter media and filtrate by routine street cleaning equipment at economical speeds. Below the cupules, the drainage conduits are designed to provide specified maximum or controlled drainage flow rates. Further, geometry of the resulting drainage cell also meets the requirements of the Americans with Disability Act as well as certain requirements for mass production.To develop these special PICPs-here denoted RCPPs (rapidly cleaned permeable pavers)-experiments were carried out in Guelph, Southern Ontario. This paper describes initial RCPP demonstrations using a rig designed to reveal the fluid mechanics and performance of a regenerative air cleaner moving horizontally over test blocks having the same geometry as the RCPPs, and filled with non-cohesive filter aggregate. Note that these tests were designed to examine the dynamic fluid mechanics of the removal of filter media by a moving pick-up head, as affected by geometrical variables only. In our continuing experiments, the independent variables are: V, speed of cleaning equipment over the pavement;., angle of the cleaning jets; v, air velocity in the cleaning jets; d and phi, geometry of the cupules; w, width of drainage conduit; and G, gradation of the filter media. S, the ratio of the mass of removed and captured to the original mass of cupule filter media (plus filtrate), is the dependent variable. S is measured by weighing the aggregate added when replacing that removed by the regenerative air vortices, and dividing by the original weight of the aggregate in the cupule. Our laboratory experiments demonstrated that, for the chosen geometries and filter aggregate, complete removal (S >= 1.0) is easily achieved in one pass at reasonable speed. The paper describes our experimental rig and demonstrates the cleanout concepts, and includes CAD files of detailed drawings of the components of the rig and test blocks, as well as slow motion video clips of the clean out processes.In essence, the new RCPP promises ready capture of particulates and pollutants attached to them by routine (routine meaning conventional, or off-the-shelf, non-special-purpose) regenerative-air street cleaning equipment. Evidently these RCPPs could significantly advance environmental protection, by rendering clean-out more effective and more economical.

There are several factors influencing the comparability of results generated in HEC-RAS to those computed using other hydraulic software programs using HEC-RAS…

The aim of the major study was to determine if sufficient data at no charge is available on the Internet to use as input to a free and open source hydrological…

Following the events of September 11, 2001, in the United States, world public awareness for possible terrorist attacks on water supply systems has increased dramatically. Among the different threats for a water distribution system, the most difficult to address is a deliberate chemical or biological contaminant injection, due to both the uncertainty of the type of injected contaminant and its consequences, and the uncertainty of the time and location of the injection. An online contaminant monitoring system is considered as a major opportunity to protect against the impacts of a deliberate contaminant intrusion. However, although optimization models and solution algorithms have been developed for locating sensors, little is known about how these design algorithms compare to the efforts of human designers, and thus, the advantages they propose for practical design of sensor networks. To explore these issues, the Battle of the Water Sensor Networks (BWSN) was undertaken as part of the 8th Annual Water Distribution Systems Analysis Symposium, Cincinnati, Ohio, August 27-29, 2006. This paper summarizes the outcome of the BWSN effort and suggests future directions for water sensor networks research and implementation.

The objective of this study was to generate hydrographs using design storms and real rain data recorded over a 30 y time period. In the first step rainfall cha…

This chapter presents a multi-objective calibration of the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) using the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) deve…

This chapter presents a novel approach to optimizing the design of stormwater management systems based on lifecycle cost. A new mathematical model coupled with…

Optimization methodology for design of stormwater systems is developed.The methodology uses a Genetic Algorithm Cost Minimization tool (GA-CM) to evaluate stormwater drainage system project costs.Also used are design capacity and water quality controls, real-world design standards, cost analysis, PCSWMM and version 4.4HGUX of the US-EPA SWMM program.It was successfully applied to a realistic but hypothetical stormwater system to select a near-optimal (minimum cost) set of design parameters.The GA-CM considered standard design practices from (i) the Ministry of the Environment of Ontario 2003 Stormwater Management Practices Planning and Design Manual and (ii) design information collected from interviews with consultants.The detail provided in the GA-CM is perhaps beyond what consultants feel that they need today.Interviews with consultants emphasized the need to address sizing of significant design parameters (e.g.depth of storage facility).This was the focus of the optimization methodology developed.Genetic algorithm routines are a powerful tool for the selection of the best combination of stormwater system design parameters.Semi-automatic optimization of urban drainage systems and associated costs will lead to improved urban drainage design practices and improve stormwater quality discharges to downstream receiving waters.

This chapter discusses studies on the thermal enrichment of receiving water bodies due to urban runoff, and the development of a general model to compute runoff temperature at a fine time step and spatial resolution.Complex urban drainage systems comprise many different elements; the model proposed herein is applicable to many of these, and may be configured for large systems.

Thermal enrichment of receiving water bodies due to urban surface runoff has been recognized for some time as a potential threat to the aquatic environment, and many studies have repeatedly verified the effect (Pluhowski, 1970;Galli, 1990;Xie, 1993;Buren, 1999).Hqwever, thermal research on urban storm water is basically still at an early stage, lacking theoretical and experimental support, especially the thermal behavior of shallow flow.In addition, a large number of variables are involved, causing many uncertainties, with the result that thermal modeling is not widely used.After reviewing four previous studies (V erspagen, 1995;Buren, 1999;Norman and Roa, 2000;Haq, 2001), Li (2003) concluded that, currently, two major problems should be explored more deeply: (i) runoff temperatures should be calculated using a heat balance analysis; (ii) a model for temperature of runoff from urban storm water drainage systems should include at least four categories of basic hydraulic element: overland surface, enclosed pipe, open channel and pond.Attempting to solve the two problems, the authors built a model, called HEATRAN, that computes runoff temperature directly, using a distributed heat balance for the four types ofhydraulic element in urban drainage systems.

The water resources engineering community has available an array of computer models that can be applied to support analysis, planning and design of water resou…

Clogging of permeable interlocking concrete block pavement (PP) was studied.Samples of parking lot dust and dirt (D&D) were collected from an existing PP installation and processed to remove moisture and volatile compounds.The samples were analyzed for their particle size distribution.For the experiments, city street D&D was then collected in larger quantities, processed and reconstituted into the same fractions found on the permeable paver surface.Tests were then conducted on a full-scale PP set up in a special outdoor rig.Synthesized D&D and artificial, intense rains were systematically applied to the pavement, and surface and subsurface drainage flow rates measured.Four different PPs were tested and drainage cell, bedding and base material throughout the test pavement analyzed.Results indicated the rate at which the synthesized D&D may clog the drainage cells of PP.

This chapter examines the effectiveness of methods used to restore the infiltration capacity of permeable pavers.The decrease in infiltration capacity with age and increased traffic use was tested and the possibility of street-s\veeping/vacuuming the surface to maintain infiltration capacities of permeable pavers was investigated.Permeable pavers allow water to easily infiltrate into the subsurface layers, thus reducing the volume of runoff reaching receiving waters.As penneable-paver installations age, and are heavily used, the infiltration capacity decreases due to clogging of the extemal drainage cell (EDC) with fines (silt and day), organic matter and extractable solvents from automobiles (primmily oil and grease).An eight-year old installation of two different types of permeable pavements in a parking lot at the University of Guelph was studied.No maintenance procedmes were used over the 8 y period, other than snow removal and street sweeping with rotating brushes once a year in spring.Infiltration rates were tested before and after material was extracted from the EDCs and subjected to a particle size and constituent analysis.The extracted material was tested for a number of different organic and chemical constituents such as heavy metals, nutrients and organic matter.Results indicate that the infiltration capacity decreases with increasing average daily traffic counts, and as the amount of organic matter and fine matter in the EDC

Rainfall rate is a key input function for the analysis and design ofhydrologic and hydraulic systems.One common problem with existing records of rain is that the time increments are not fine enough for use in mban storm water models.To solve this problem, observed rainfall data can be disaggregated into shorter time steps.In this chapter two artificial neural networks are used to disaggregate hourly rainfall data into 5 min time steps.One model is a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) with a fast back propagation learning algorithm, while the other is a radial basis function (RBF) network with an orthogonal least-squared error-learning algorithm.Both models are described and evaluated.It is shown that the RBF model performed poorly and its use is not recommended for rainfall disaggregation.However the MLP model achieved generally comparable results to Ormsbee's continuous detenninistic model, and did better in the prediction of maximum incremental rainfall depth, but at significantly higher computational effort.

In order to improve the reliability of the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM), a parameter-optimization approach is required to determine the "best" input parameter sets. Within SWMM, the RUNOFF module is the best candidate module for uncertainty reduction by parameter optimization. The Genetic algorithm (GA) method is developed to optimize SWMM RUNOFF parameters. The basic principle of the GA is the same as that which controls the genetic reproduction process with crossover and mutation being the major operations. By applying the genetic algorithm to SWMM with the aid of the sensitivity wizard in PCSWMM, a sensitivity-based method for automating the calibration of the runoff model is developed. Overall, the average accuracy of the calibrated model was within 97% of the target dataset (TD) after approximately 58 cycles of the GA calibration program. The paper covers the genetic algorithm calibration method and its accuracy, efficiency, robustness and reliability.