Incentive Index Developed to Evaluate Storm-Water Low-Impact Designs

In practice, the challenge of storm-water low-impact-development (LID) design is often related to how to quantify the effectiveness of a LID layout. In this study, the watershed imperviousness was chosen as a basis to evaluate the performances of various LID designs. Often, LID designs apply cascading planes to drain the runoff flow from the upstream impervious area to the downstream pervious area. In this study, the conventional area-weighting method is revised with a pavement-area-reduction factor (PARF) to produce the effective imperviousness. PARF is employed as an incentive index to quantify the on-site runoff volume reduction and cost savings from downsized sewers. Two sets of PARF are derived: conveyance-based and storage-based LID designs. The conveyance-based LID approach is to drain runoff flows on various porous surfaces while the storage-based LID approach is to temporarily store runoff flows in an on-site basin. For a specified LID layout, the PARF provides a consistent basis to translate the infiltration and storage effects into the reduction on the area-weighted imperviousness. The nondimensional governing equation derived in this paper indicates that the PARF depends on the ratio of the soil infiltration rate to rainfall intensity, the ratio of receiving pervious area to upstream impervious area, and the on-site storm-water storage capacity. The PARF serves as a basis for the engineers, planners, and/or developers to select a LID design and also for regulatory agencies to assess meritorious credits for cost savings.