PROPER SIZING OF INFILTRATION TRENCHES & BIORETENTION CELLS FOR URBAN STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PURPOSES

Abstract

The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change establishes design criteria for the sizing of Low Impact Development (LID) practices in the province of Ontario. The current sizing standards are based on the concept of the 90th percentile storm and require LIDs to provide enough storage capacity to store catchment runoff from a 25 mm rainfall event. The notion of 90th percentile storm means that 90% of all rainfall events have event volumes below a 25 mm rainfall event. This research examines the performance and cost of infiltration trenches and bioretention cells sized for alternative sizing standards ranging from 5–50 mm. Analytical probabilistic equations are used to determine the runoff reduction rates of infiltration trenches and bioretention cells, while the Sustainable Technologies Evaluation Program (STEP)’s LID Practices Costing Tool is used to estimate the overall cost of each LID. The costs are used to create a ratio denoted the fraction of maximum cost by dividing each cost by the cost of the 50 mm sized LID to receive a unitless ratio. This ratio is compared with the runoff reduction rates of both LIDs. Four different catchment sizes and various soil types are included to broaden the scope of the analysis and make the conclusions more dependable. Results indicate that the current sizing standard of 25 mm is probably too high and not cost-effective. In fact, depending on the type of soil and LID, little increase in performance occurs while there is a large increase in cost. A new methodology is proposed for setting sizing criteria for infiltration trenches and bioretention cells which focuses on achieving a desired capture efficiency instead of a required volume of rainfall. The method proposes using the capture efficiency, fraction of maximum cost and sizing criteria to determine what value is an economically more justifiable sizing standard based on individual catchment size and soil type. Use of the analytical probabilistic approach allows for the capture efficiency to be easily calculated and provides better sizing targets on a case by case basis. Recommending a specific capture efficiency can be more uniformly applied LID design in any soil conditions or any catchment size. This can reduce government spending when building LIDs and greatly reduce the possibility of over-design.