Comparative evaluation of urban storm water quality models

The estimation of urban storm water pollutant loads is required for the development of mitigation and management strategies to minimize impacts to receiving environments. Event pollutant loads are typically estimated using either regression equations or “process‐based” water quality models. The relative merit of using regression models compared to process‐based models is not clear. A modeling study is carried out here to evaluate the comparative ability of the regression equations and process‐based water quality models to estimate event diffuse pollutant loads from impervious surfaces. The results indicate that, once calibrated, both the regression equations and the process‐based model can estimate event pollutant loads satisfactorily. In fact, the loads estimated using the regression equation as a function of rainfall intensity and runoff rate are better than the loads estimated using the process‐based model. Therefore, if only estimates of event loads are required, regression models should be used because they are simpler and require less data compared to process‐based models.