Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Role and Concept of Rooftop Disconnection in Terms of Runoff Volume and Flood Peak Quantity

  • Research paper
  • Published:
International Journal of Environmental Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In developing countries, the intensification of urban processes affects the correct management of the territories. Specific natural hazards such as landslides, floods or soil sealing are influencing several urban settlements worldwide. One example can be found in the oldest city of the world, i.e., Hamadan City, where floods are associated with human and economic losses and the destruction of several ancient sites. However, solutions to be implemented to reduce the risks in such a city are still scarce. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate roof rainwater harvesting (RRWH) in reducing the urban floods in Hamadan City. To achieve this goal, three different scenarios are tested, i.e., simulation of the rainfall-runoff process through the Hamadan City (1) without any RRWH, (2) considering that the harvested rainfall is used for household consumes, and (3) considering that the RRWH is used for garden irrigation. The results showed that scenario 2 (using harvested rainfall for household consumption) presented reductions of 30.4% and 28.52% in the inflow volume compared to scenario 1 respectively for 2-year and 100-year return periods, whereas these reductions were 38% and 31.9% for scenario 3. Besides, a remarkable difference was noted between scenarios 2 and 3. In scenario 3, we found that the current drainage network has more capability to transfer surface runoff through Hamadan City, which would help reduce the risk of floods in the city. Therefore, it is concluded that the policymakers and land managers should consider these possibilities, and awareness of the urban inhabitants must be enhanced to reduce the risks and promote sustainability.

Highlights

  • Water scarcity and urban flood risk are growing rapidly due to urbanization and climate change, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

  • A Hydrological model is evaluated and employed.

  • Impact of rooftop disconnection on urban runoff volume.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abi Aad MP, Suidan MT, Shuster WD (2010) Modeling techniques of best management practices: rain barrels and rain gardens using EPA SWMM-5. J Hydrol Eng 15:434–443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Babaei S, Ghazavi R, Erfanian M (2018) Urban flood simulation and prioritization of critical urban sub-catchments using SWMM model and PROMETHEE II approach Physics and Chemistry of the Earth. Parts A/b/c 105:3–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baek S-S, Ligaray M, Pyo J, Park J-P, Kang J-H, Pachepsky Y, Chun JA, Cho KH (2020) J Hydrol 586:124886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.124886

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bai Y, Zhao N, Zhang R, Zeng X (2019) Storm water management of low impact development in urban areas based on SWMM. Water 11:33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carmen N, Hunt WF, Anderson A (2016) Volume reduction provided by eight residential disconnected downspouts in Durham, North Carolina. J Environ Eng 142:05016002

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Choo YM, Jo DJ, Yun GS, Lee EH (2019) A study on the improvement of flood forecasting techniques in urban areas by considering rainfall intensity and duration. Water 11:1883

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Council NR, Press NA, Schaffer D, Vollmer D (2010) Pathways to urban sustainability: research and development on urban systems: summary of a workshop. National Academies Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Damodaram C, Giacomoni MH, Prakash Khedun C, Holmes H, Ryan A, Saour W, Zechman EM (2010) Simulation of combined best management practices and low impact development for sustainable stormwater management 1. JAWRA 46:907–918

    Google Scholar 

  • Dos Santos SM, de Farias MMM (2017) Potential for rainwater harvesting in a dry climate: assessments in a semiarid region in northeast Brazil. J Clean Prod 164:1007–1015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • El Alfy M (2016) Assessing the impact of arid area urbanization on flash floods using GIS, remote sensing, and HEC-HMS rainfall–runoff modeling. Hydrol Res 47:1142–1160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elliott A, Trowsdale SA (2007) A review of models for low impact urban stormwater drainage. Environ Model Softw 22:394–405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farreny R, Morales-Pinzón T, Guisasola A, Tayà C, Rieradevall J, Gabarrell X (2011) Roof selection for rainwater harvesting: quantity and quality assessments in Spain. Water Res 45:3245–3254

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fernández D, Lutz M (2010) Urban flood hazard zoning in Tucumán Province, Argentina, using GIS and multicriteria decision analysis. Eng Geol 111:90–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freni G, Liuzzo L (2019) Effectiveness of rainwater harvesting systems for flood reduction in residential urban areas. Water 11:1389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garde F, Ayoub J, Aelenei L, Aelenei D, Scognamiglio A (2017) Solution sets for net zero energy buildings: feedback from 30 buildings worldwide. Wiley, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Geraldi MS, Ghisi E (2017) Influence of the length of rainfall time series on rainwater harvesting systems: a case study in Berlin Resources. Conserv Recycl 125:169–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang M, Jin S (2019) A methodology for simple 2-D inundation analysis in urban area using SWMM and GIS. Nat Hazards 97:15–43

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huber WC, Rossman LA, Dickinson RE (2005) EPA storm water management model, SWMM5 Watershed Modeling. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 339–361

    Google Scholar 

  • Hwang J, Rhee DS, Seo Y (2017) Implication of directly connected impervious areas to the mitigation of peak flows in urban catchments. Water 9:696

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jarah SHA, Zhou B, Abdullah RJ, Lu Y, Yu W (2019) Urbanization and urban sprawl issues in city structure: a case of the Sulaymaniah Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Sustainability 11:485

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jennings AA, Adeel AA, Hopkins A, Litofsky AL, Wellstead SW (2013) Rain barrel–urban garden stormwater management performance. J Environ Eng 139:757–765

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang L, Chen Y, Wang H (2015) Urban flood simulation based on the SWMM Model. Proc Int Assoc Hydrol Sci 368:186–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiang Y, Zevenbergen C, Ma Y (2018) Urban pluvial flooding and stormwater management: a contemporary review of China’s challenges and “sponge cities” strategy. Environ Sci Policy 80:132–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim J, Lee J, Song Y, Han H, Joo J (2018) Modeling the runoff reduction effect of low impact development installations in an industrial area, South Korea. Water 10:967

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kong F, Ban Y, Yin H, James P, Dronova I (2017) Modeling stormwater management at the city district level in response to changes in land use and low impact development. Environ Model Softw 95:132–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee JY, Bak G, Han M (2012) Quality of roof-harvested rainwater–comparison of different roofing materials. Environ Pollut 162:422–429

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee J, Moon H, Kim T, Kim H, Han M (2013) Quantitative analysis on the urban flood mitigation effect by the extensive green roof system. Environ Pollut 181:257–261

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lee JG, Nietch CT, Panguluri S (2018) Drainage area characterization for evaluating green infrastructure using the storm water management model. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 22:2615

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y et al (2017) Seeking urbanization security and sustainability: Multi-objective optimization of rainwater harvesting systems in China. J Hydrol 550:42–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y, Li HX, Huang J, Liu C (2020) An approximation method for evaluating flash flooding mitigation of sponge city strategies—a case study of Central Geelong. J Clean Prod 257:120525

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malekinezhad H, Talebi A, Ilderomi AR, Hosseini SZ, Sepehri M (2017) Flood hazard mapping using fractal dimension of drainage network in Hamadan City, Iran. J Environ Eng Sci 12:86–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malekinezhad H, Sepehri M, Pham QB, Hosseini SZ, Meshram SG, Vojtek M, Vojteková J (2021) Acta Geophysica. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-021-00586-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marchi M et al (2018) Sustainable land-use, wildfires, and evolving local contexts in a Mediterranean Country, 2000–2015. Sustainability 10:3911

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marlow DR, Moglia M, Cook S, Beale DJ (2013) Towards sustainable urban water management: a critical reassessment. Water Res 47:7150–7161

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Masseroni D, Cislaghi A (2016) Green roof benefits for reducing flood risk at the catchment scale. Environ Earth Sci 75:579

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Movahedinia M, Samani JMV, Barakhasi F, Taghvaeian S, Stepanian R (2019) Simulating the effects of low impact development approaches on urban flooding: a case study from Tehran, Iran. Water Sci Technol 80:1591–1600

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munafo M, Norero C, Sabbi A, Salvati L (2010) Soil sealing in the growing city: a survey in Rome, Italy. Scott Geogr J 126:153–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nabelkova J, Kominkova D, Jirak J (2012) The impact of highway runoff on the chemical status of small urban streams. Urban Environment. Springer, New York, pp 297–306

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen TT et al (2019) Implementation of a specific urban water management-Sponge City. Sci Total Environ 652:147–162

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Norman M, Shafri HZM, Mansor SB, Yusuf B (2019) Int Soil Water Conserv Res 7:266–274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iswcr.2019.05.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oswald CJ, Giberson G, Nicholls E, Wellen C, Oni S (2019) Spatial distribution and extent of urban land cover control watershed-scale chloride retention. Sci Total Environ 652:278–288

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Palla A, Gnecco I, Lanza L, La Barbera P (2012) Performance analysis of domestic rainwater harvesting systems under various European climate zones. Resour Conserv Recycl 62:71–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palla A, Gnecco I, La Barbera P (2017) The impact of domestic rainwater harvesting systems in storm water runoff mitigation at the urban block scale. J Environ Manage 191:297–305

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Perry T, Nawaz R (2008) An investigation into the extent and impacts of hard surfacing of domestic gardens in an area of Leeds, United Kingdom. Landsc Urban Plan 86:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rai PK, Chahar B, Dhanya C (2017) GIS-based SWMM model for simulating the catchment response to flood events. Hydrol Res 48:384–394

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodrigo S, Sinclair M, Leder K (2010) A survey of the characteristics and maintenance of rainwater tanks in urban areas of South Australia. Water Sci Technol 61:1569–1577

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rui Y, Fu D, Do Minh H, Radhakrishnan M, Zevenbergen C, Pathirana A (2018) Urban surface water quality, flood water quality and human health impacts in Chinese cities. What do we know? Water 10:240

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Salvati L, Zitti M (2009) Assessing the impact of ecological and economic factors on land degradation vulnerability through multiway analysis. Ecol Indic 9:357–363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sepehri M, Malekinezhad H, Ilderomi AR, Talebi A, Hosseini SZ (2018) Studying the effect of rain water harvesting from roof surfaces on runoff and household consumption reduction. Sustain Cities Soc 43:317–324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sepehri M, Malekinezhad H, Hosseini SZ, Ildoromi AR (2019a) Assessment of flood hazard mapping in urban areas using entropy weighting method: a case study in Hamadan city. Iran Acta Geophys 67:1435–1449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sepehri M, Malekinezhad H, Hosseini SZ, Ildoromi AR (2019b) Suburban flood hazard mapping in Hamadan city, Iran. In: Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Municipal Engineer. Thomas Telford Ltd, pp 1–13

  • Sohn W, Kim J-H, Li M-H (2017) Low-impact development for impervious surface connectivity mitigation: assessment of directly connected impervious areas (DCIAs). J Environ Plan Manag 60:1871–1889

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steffen J, Jensen M, Pomeroy CA, Burian SJ (2013) Water supply and stormwater management benefits of residential rainwater harvesting in US cities JAWRA. J Am Water Resour Assoc 49:810–824

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Summerville N, Sultana R (2019) Rainwater harvesting potential in a semiarid Southern California city. AWWA Water Sci 1:e1123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teston A, Teixeira CA, Ghisi E, Cardoso EB (2018) Impact of rainwater harvesting on the drainage system: case study of a condominium of houses in Curitiba, southern Brazil. Water 10:1100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ugai T (2016) Evaluation of sustainable roof from various aspects and benefits of agriculture roofing in urban core. J Elsevier Soc Behav Sci 216:850–860

    Google Scholar 

  • Villarreal EL, Dixon A (2005) Analysis of a rainwater collection system for domestic water supply in Ringdansen, Norrköping, Sweden. Build Environ 40:1174–1184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y, Xie X, Liang S, Zhu B, Yao Y, Meng S, Lu C (2020) Quantifying the response of potential flooding risk to urban growth in Beijing. Sci Total Environ 705:135868

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yao L, Wei W, Chen L (2016) How does imperviousness impact the urban rainfall-runoff process under various storm cases? Ecol Ind 60:893–905

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yazdi MN, Ketabchy M, Sample DJ, Scott D, Liao H (2019) An evaluation of HSPF and SWMM for simulating streamflow regimes in an urban watershed. Environ Model Softw 118:211–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zahmatkesh Z, Burian SJ, Karamouz M, Tavakol-Davani H, Goharian E (2015) Low-impact development practices to mitigate climate change effects on urban stormwater runoff: Case study of New York City. J Irrig Drain Eng 141:04014043

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang S, Jing X, Yue T, Wang J (2020) Performance assessment of rainwater harvesting systems: Influence of operating algorithm, length and temporal scale of rainfall time series. J Clean Prod 120044

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hossein Malekinezhad.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Malekinezhad, H., Sepehri, M., Hosseini, S.Z. et al. Role and Concept of Rooftop Disconnection in Terms of Runoff Volume and Flood Peak Quantity. Int J Environ Res 15, 935–946 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41742-021-00355-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41742-021-00355-9

Keywords

Navigation