Despite the common use of stormwater infiltration systems, there is still only limited data available evaluating the long-term hydraulic function of such systems. The hydraulic performance of twelve stormwater infiltration systems (vegetated and unvegetated concrete grid pavers, unvegetated interlocking concrete pavers and grassed swales) was therefore investigated in field and laboratory environments in Växjö, Sweden. The systems investigated had not been subjected to regular maintenance to sustain infiltration capacity. Due to this, and the fact that, for most systems, an inappropriate joint filling material was used and (at the swales) there was severe compaction, most systems showed a reduced infiltration capacity. Despite this, especially the older vegetated systems, were still capable of infiltrating intense design rainfalls. This study showed the influence of some factors (type and age of the system, the type of joint filling material (grass and macadam) and the distance from the edge of the pavement) on the long-term behaviour of the infiltration capacity. In conclusion, there is a significant risk that existing stormwater infiltration systems are not working adequately in praxis. Proper implementation of construction and regular control by the inspecting authority has to be ensured.

Guidance on what type of rainfall to use when assessing hydraulic capacity of urban drainage systems under climate change is unclear; focus is mainly on what climate factors to use. Based on a case study in Kalmar, Sweden, this paper compares system performance using two design rainfalls, Block rainfalls and Chicago Design Storm (CDS), and selected observed rainfalls, with two methods of addressing future climate: a constant factor and Delta Change (DC) factors that depend on rainfall intensity. The use of CDS rainfalls presents the maximum hydraulic response, whereas Block rainfalls give lower responses but identify critical durations in the system, which may be useful addressing adaptation actions. Observed rainfalls of target return periods gave similar responses to CDS rainfalls, and can be applied with DC factors to address future changes in both intensity and volume. Differences between the two methods indicate a high dependence related to the maximum factors applied on the rainfalls

Great investment is made in the design and installation of stormwater control measures (SCMs). Substantial research investment, too, is made to optimise the performance of SCMs. However, once installed, SCMs often suffer from lack of maintenance or even outright neglect. Key maintenance needs for wet ponds, constructed stormwater wetlands, bioretention, infiltration practices, permeable pavement, swales, and rainwater harvesting systems are reviewed with many tasks, such as the cleaning of pre-treatment areas and the preservation of infiltration surfaces, being common maintenance themes among SCMs. Consequences of lacking maintenance are illustrated (mainly insufficient function or failure). Probable reasons for neglect include insufficient communication, unclear responsibilities, lack of knowledge, financial barriers, and decentralised measures. In future designs and research, maintenance (and lack thereof) should be considered. Assessing the performance of SCMs conservatively and including safety factors may prevent consequences of under-maintenance; and requiring regular inspection may help to enforce sufficient maintenance.

Needs for extending the principles of a sustainable urban drainage approach to the winter season with snow and pollutant accumulations have been so far unanswered. One of the first steps to remedy this situation is to make available a prototype snow management tool (PSMT) described herein. It is a simple empirical spreadsheet tool, as yet untested, which uses generally available input data to simulate accumulation of snow (as snow water equivalent) and pollutants in an urban catchment, intermittent snowmelt episodes, and snow management options including in situ melting, removal from the catchment, treatment of snowmelt by settling, and snow disposal in the receiving waters. The tool output comprises snow and the selected pollutant mass balances, and pollutant concentrations in snowmelt from individual snow deposits. Such data provide decision support for choosing the methods of disposal for individual snow deposits. The testing and refinement of the tool is planned.

Traditional hydrological objective functions may penalize models that reproduce hydrograph shapes well, but with some shift in time; especially for urban catchments with a fast hydrological response. Hydrograph timing is not always critical, so this paper investigates alternative objective functions (based on the Hydrograph Matching Algorithm) that try to mimic visual hydrograph comparison. A modified version of the Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation is proposed to compare regular objective functions with those that account for timing errors. This is applied to 2-year calibration and validation data sets from an urban catchment. Results show that such objective functions provide equally reliable model predictions (they envelop the same fraction of observations), but with more precision, i.e. smaller estimated uncertainty of model predictions. Additionally, identifiability of some model parameters improved. Therefore objective functions based on the Hydrograph Matching Algorithm can be useful to reduce uncertainties in urban drainage modelling.

Investigations of the pollutant trapping capability of a grassed swale receiving runoff from a road with a traffic intensity of 8,000 vehicles/day were carried out in central Luleå, Sweden. Transport and retention of suspended solids, particles and heavy metals (copper, lead and zinc) were analysed. The sampling was carried out during seven rain events. The results show that once pollutants are trapped in a grassed swale they are not permanently bound to vegetation or soil. A roadside grassed swale may be regarded as a stormwater treatment facility that attenuates the peaks in pollutant loads, without being capable of producing consistently high removal rates.

The traditional use of piped systems for stormwater management is increasingly criticized as being ‘unsustainable’. These systems are part of the water domain where much research has focused on sustainable development indicators to support decision-makers in selecting systems that are more sustainable. However, the interest in sustainable development indicators is low. This paper identifies conditions to engage the practitioners to inform their actions in regard to sustainable stormwater management. Empirical evidence has been obtained from interviews with water professionals from Swedish municipalities. The environmental-technical discourse of sustainable stormwater development is a strong barrier in the change process, to the neglect of the social aspects. In the interviews, reframing the discourse was possible in visions of future sustainable stormwater systems embracing green infrastructure. In action, primary conditions can support sustainable pathways in realizing this vision. The paper suggests further incentives for increased implementation of non-structural measures by developing the identified conditions.

The management of urban stormwater has become increasingly complex over recent decades. Consequently, terminology describing the principles and practices of urban drainage has become increasingly diverse, increasing the potential for confusion and miscommunication. This paper documents the history, scope, application and underlying principles of terms used in urban drainage and provides recommendations for clear communication of these principles. Terminology evolves locally and thus has an important role in establishing awareness and credibility of new approaches and contains nuanced understandings of the principles that are applied locally to address specific problems. Despite the understandable desire to have a 'uniform set of terminology', such a concept is flawed, ignoring the fact that terms reflect locally shared understanding. The local development of terminology thus has an important role in advancing the profession, but authors should facilitate communication between disciplines and between regions of the world, by being explicit and accurate in their application. © 2014 © The work of Tim D. Fletcher is Crown copyright in the Commonwealth of Australia 2014, University of Melbourne. The work of Danielle Dagenais is Copyright of the Crown in Canada 2014, University of Montreal. The work of William Shuster was authored as part of his official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 USC. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under US Law. William F. Hunt, Richard Ashley, David Butler, Scott Arthur, Sam Trowsdale, Sylvie Barraud, Annette Semadeni-Davies, Jean-Luc Bertrand-Krajewski, Peter Steen Mikkelsen, Gilles Rivard, Mathias Uhl and Maria Viklander hereby waive their right to assert copyright, but not their right to be named as co-authors in the article.

A polymeric ultrafiltration (UF) membrane was used for stormwater treatment, with the focus on evaluating the increase in the membrane process productivity by adding pulsatile fluid flow to UF membrane treatment. Sedimentation and sieving were used as pre-treatment. The result showed that increasing the pulse frequency from 0 to 4 Hz increased productivity from -6.6 to 82 LMH. UF membrane removed suspended solids, oil and turbidity below detection limit. The UF membrane also separated total coliforms, E. coli and P. aeruginosa below detection limit. Total organic carbon (TOC) was reduced by between 70 and 91%. In addition, the UF membrane was able to reduce BOD7 and COD to below 7 mg/L in the permeate. According to the US EPA, WHO, and national regulations in Canada,  Japan, and South Korea, treated stormwater can be used for flushing toilets and streets irrigation and agricultural use. 

Copper is a common roofing material used in urban environments, yet it poses a threat to the ecosystem. Space requirements for stormwater treatment in urban areas are often problematic. This study investigated the treatment efficiency of a filter system containing zeolite as filter medium and treatment of copper roof runoff in field conditions. Emphasis was placed on copper and zinc treatment, while the release of sodium and aluminium was also evaluated. The filter system was monitored over a period of 16 months (7 sampling events). The filter reduced the total and dissolved copper by 52–82% and 48–85%, respectively. Although the average observed treatment efficiency of copper and zinc was high, considerable decline in filter efficiency was noticed, indicating potential saturation of the filter medium. Moreover, the copper concentrations in the outlet were still high, 350–600 μg/l, and significantly higher than the concentrations recommended by the relevant authorities.

A literature review of selected snowmelt models or algorithms was undertaken to identify which of these tools could be readily used, or easily modified, for simulating urban snowmelt. In this context, the urban factors influencing snowmelt were classified into three categories: human activities, land use, and the origin of deposited snow; and served to develop a classification of urban snow covers with characteristic properties influencing snowmelt. Finally, the assessment of capabilities of the surveyed models or algorithms to simulate snowmelt for these covers indicated that: (i) only two of the tools addressed the critical characteristics of urban snow covers (for specific cases only), (ii) urban runoff models with snowmelt subroutines offered best operational flexibility, though modifications and/or guidance on input values would be required for satisfactory simulations, and (iii) the review findings should help modellers in choosing a snowmelt simulation tool best serving their task with respect to urban conditions.

Metal accumulation in stormwater ponds may contaminate the inhabiting fauna, thus jeopardizing their ecosystem services function. We evaluated bioaccumulation of metals in natural fauna and caged mussel indicator organisms in two wet retention ponds. Mussel cages were distributed throughout the ponds to detect bioaccumulation gradients and obtain a time-integrated measure of metal bioavailability. We further investigated if sediment metal concentrations correlate with those in the fauna and mussels. Metal concentrations in the fauna tended to be higher in the ponds than in a reference lake, but statistical significance was only shown for Cu. Positive correlations were found for some metals in fauna and sediment. Sediment metal concentrations in one pond decreased from inlet to outlet while no gradients were observed in the mussels in either pond. These findings indicate that metal accumulation in the examined ponds currently does not pose a threat to their habitat function.

The present Swedish design values (DV) for urine, faeces, greywater and biodegradable solid waste were scrutinised and compared to the composition of these fractions in two blocks of flats, Gebers and Ekoporten. For evaluation of the greywater composition, two additional areas were included: the housing area Vibyåsen and a calculation based upon the composition of the sewage sludge in Ryaverken sewage treatment plant in Gothenburg. The parameters scrutinised were dry mass, wet mass, BOD7, COD, N, P, K, Cu, Cr, Ni, Zn, Cd, Hg and Pb. Based on the results, new updated Swedish DV were proposed for these parameters in the fractions urine, faeces, greywater and biodegradable solid waste

Assessing uncertainties of urban drainage models is important for their applications. While most attention in the literature was paid to large comprehensive models, little has been published about Low-Complexity Conceptual Models (LCCMs). This paper explores the uncertainties inherent to a conceptual, data-based proprietary model StormTac Web, simulating annual urban runoff quantity and quality, and serving here as an example of a LCCM. The analyses were demonstrated for a small urban catchment, Sätra in Stockholm, Sweden, using the Law of Propagation of Uncertainties and Morris screening methods. The results indicate that the uncertainty of the modelled annual runoff quality (about 30%) is greater than that of annual runoff volumes (about 24%), and the latter uncertainties can significantly contribute to the uncertainty in runoff quality. In computations of pollutant loads, the most sensitive inputs were land-use specific parameters, including the annual volumetric runoff coefficients and default pollutant concentrations for various land uses.