Changes in storm runoff with urbanization: the role of pervious areas in a semi-arid environment
Author
Kennedy, Jeffrey RonaldIssue Date
2007Advisor
Troch, Peter A.
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The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
Although urban stormwater runoff has received considerable scientific attention, the role of pervious areas in the infiltration of rainfall in residential areas is not well understood. In the southwestern U.S., where poorly developed, heterogeneous soils are common, the typical residential housing development process includes extensive modification of pervious soil surfaces to accommodate the dominant tract-housing style of construction, which in tum affects soil infiltration properties. The application of a physically based rainfall-runoff model, KINEROS2, to adjacent grassland and urban watersheds shows that effective saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) decreases from about 25 mm/hr in the grassland area to 2.5 mm/hr in the urban area, a change that is confirmed in direction, but not magnitude, by tension infiltrometer measurements. This . change in infiltration properties results in a 3 8 percent increase in the volume of runoff from the urban area over what would be expected if the soil were undisturbed.Type
textThesis-Reproduction (electronic)
Degree Name
M.S.Degree Level
mastersDegree Program
Graduate CollegeHydrology and Water Resources