Transcript Effects of urbanization on the hydrologic cycle

Jon Luevano
Urbanization

Growth and development of cities
 Large population density
 Highly industrialized

Comparing city to city
 Size (area)
 Population density
 Percentage of urban coverage

Hydrological impacts
Key Hydrological Impacts
Urban runoff hydrology
 River channelization
 Climatic changes
 Water quality
 Snow melt

Urban Runoff Hydrology

Impermeable surfaces change surface
runoff patterns
 Lower percolation rates
 Higher overland flow rates
 Reduction in peak discharge time/size
○ Cherkauer (1975)
○ Rose and Peters (2001)

Problems
 Potential for flooding
 Pollution
River Channelization
Human intervention on flow body of water
 Resource management

 Navigation and resource/power production

Flood control
 Controlling runoff paths
 Increase discharge rates

Problems
 Biological
 Vast increase in stream flow
○ Simon and Senturk (1977)
Water Quality

Sources for pollution
 Higher surface runoff
 Higher concentrations of contaminants
○ Davis (2001)
○ Gromaire-Mertz (1999)

Focus
 Pinpoint and reduce use of specific sources
of contamination
 Water treatment methods
Snow Melt
Surface water created from melting
snow
 Factors

 Air temperature
 Solar radiation at surface
○ Ferguson (1999)

Urban snow melt
 Timing/intensity of melt
○ Semandi-Davis (1998)
○ Jones (1997)
Climatic Changes
Climatic factors control hydrologic cycle
 Rural vs. Urban

 Warmer temperatures
○ Heat island effect
 Evaporation rates
○ Lowry (1967)
 Precipitation rates
○ Atkinson (1979)
Concluding Remarks
Importance of urban water management
 Keys

 Control of urban runoff pathways and
exposure
 Limit contamination
 Improve treatment processes
 Increase knowledge and awareness
References

Atkinson, B.W. (1979) Urban influences on precipitation in London. In: G.E. Hollis (ed.) Man’s influence on the hydrological cycle in the United Kingdom.
Geobooks, Norwich, pp. 123-133.

Bengtsson, L., Westerstrom, G. (2009) Urban snowmelt and runoff in northern Sweden. Hydrological Science Journal 37:263-275.

Cech, T. (2005). Principles of water resources: history, development, management and policy. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Cherkauer, D.S. (1975) Urbanization’s impact on water quality during a flood in small watersheds. Water Resources Bulletin 11:987-998.

Chin, A., and Gregory, K.J. (2004) Managing urban river channel adjustments. Geomorphology 69:28-45.

D’Arcy, B.J., Usman, F., Griffiths, D. and Chatfield, P. (1998) Initiatives to tackle diffuse pollution in the UK. Water Science and Technology 38:131-138.

Davie, T., & Gerrard, J. (Eds.). (2008). Fundamentals of Hydrology (2nd ed.) New York, NY: Routledge.

Davis, A.P., Ni, S.B. (2001) Loading estimates of lead, copper, cadmium, and zinc in urban runoff from specific sources, Chemospheren44:997-1009.

Egodawatta, P., Miguntanna, N.S., Goonetilleke, A. (2012) Impact of roof surface runoff on urban water quality. Water Science & Techology
66(7):1527-1533.

Ferguson, R.I. (1999) Snowmelt runoff models. Progress in Physical Geography 23:205-228.

Gromaire-Mertz, M.C., Garnaud, S., Gonzalez, A. and Chebbo, G. (1999) Characterization of urban runoff pollution is Paris. Water Science and
Technology 39:1-8.

Jones, J.A.A. (1997) Global hydrology: processes, resources andenvironmental management. Longman, Harlow.

Krein, A. and Schorer, M. (2000) Road runoff pollution by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and its contribution to river sediments. Water Research
34:4110-4115.

Lee, J.H., and Bang, K.W. (2000) Characterization of urban stormwater runoff. Water Research 34:1773-1780.

Lowry, W.P. (1967) The climate of cities. Scientific American 217(2):20.

Rose, S. and Peters, N.E. (2001) Effects of urbanization on streamflow in the Atlantic area (Georgis, USA): a comparative hydrological approach.
Hydrological Processes 15:1441-1457.

Semandi-Davies, A. (1998) Modeling snowmelt induced waste water inflows. Nordic Hydrology 29:285-302.

Simons, D.B. and Santurk, F. (1977) Sediment transport technology. Water resources punlications, Fort Collins, Colo.

Weng, Q. (2012) Modiling urban growth effects on surface runoff with the integration of remote sensing and GIS. Environmental Management 28:737748.