Applying the Systems Approach to Decompose the SuDS Decision-Making Process for Appropriate Hydrologic Model Selection

Abstract

Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) have gained popularity over the last few decades as an effective and optimal solution for urban drainage systems to cope with continuous population growth and urban sprawl. A SuDS provides not only resilience to pluvial flooding but also multiple other benefits, ranging from amenity improvement to enhanced ecological and social well-being. SuDS modelling is used as a tool to understand these complex interactions and to inform decision makers. Major developments in SuDS modelling techniques have occurred in the last decade, with advancement from simple lumped or conceptual models to very complex fully distributed tools. Several software packages have been developed specifically to support planning and implementation of SuDS. These often require extensive amounts of data and calibration to reach an acceptable level of accuracy. However, in many cases, simple models may fulfil the aims of a stakeholder if its priorities are well understood. This work implements the soft system engineering and Analytic Network Process (ANP) approaches in a methodological framework to improve the understanding of the stakeholders within the SuDS system and their key priorities, which leads to selecting the appropriate modelling technique according to the end-use application.

Protecting rivers by integrating supply-wastewater infrastructure planning and coordinating operational decisions

“…396 City at's lumped approach also assumes homogeneity in a heterogeneous system. This prevents 397 assessment of small-scale interventions, impacts of upstream water quality on abstractions and the In addition, our assessment is based on water management criteria only, and the approach should be 402 extended to include wider benefits of multifunctional infrastructure such as green roofs (Ossa-Moreno 403 et al, 2017; Hattab et al, 2020). Finally, the modelling approach is yet to be tested on how it could be 404 used for flood risk management (Rezazadeh Helmi et al, 2019), planning under deep uncertainty 405 (Erfani et al, 2018;Babovic & Mijic, 2019) and examination of how different combinations of options might interact in a portfolio approach (Kasprzyk et al, 2012).…”

Application of the Systems Approach to the Management of Complex Water Systems

“…Horriche and Benabdallah [10], Lee and Kang [11], and Hattab et al [12] further the discussion to the applications of groundwater management, multipurpose reservoir operations, and urban drainage, respectively. The first paper examines the impact of an artificial recharge site on groundwater level and salinity using treated domestic wastewater for the Korba aquifer (north eastern Tunisia).…”

The Value of Aggregated City Scale Models to Rapidly Assess SuDS in Combined Sewer Systems

“…These studies all employ some form of spatial aggregation to achieve the reduction in complexity. Even though they are significant simplifications, spatially aggregated modelling approaches can be acceptable by stakeholders when looking at high-level catchment interventions (El Hattab et al, 2020). To reduce the volume and frequency of CSOs, Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) are now recognised as one of the most effective catchment interventions, demonstrated in hydraulic modelling (Riechel et al, 2020) and have become the standard method for surface water management in new developments in the UK (GLA, 2015).…”