Geographical Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, and Urban Stormwater Management

Abstract

The full report reviews the application of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to the field of urban stormwater modeling. The GIS literature is reviewed in the context of its use as a spatial database for urban stormwater modeling, integration of GIS and hydrologic time series, and integration of GIS and urban stormwater models. The available urban stormwater modeling software is reviewed and discussed with respect to their GIS integration capabilities. Decision Support Systems (DSS) are reviewed with respect to their integration with GIS, and their applicability to urban stormwater management problems. A simplified neighborhood scale decision support system (DSS) is presented that includes a GIS, a database, a stormwater system design template, and an optimization capability for screening alternatives. The area and soil based National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) method is used for calculating runoff from GIS information. Using economic analysis that compares the costs of controls, including the opportunity cost of land for land intensive controls, the optimal selection of Best Management Practice (BMP) controls was accomplished by use of a linear programming (LP) method. The full report provides an example of the types of problems that become possible to explore with the application of DSS and GIS technology on a small scale. This field is evolving rapidly, and warrants carefully targeted research efforts, particularly at developing nonspecific software tools that aid in integrating existing models.

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2000
EPA# EPA/600/R-00/027
NTIS# PB2000-104077