From Sponge Cities to Sponge Watersheds: Enhancing Flood Resilience in the Sishui River Basin in Zhengzhou, China
Increasing extreme rainfall and increasingly severe flood disasters worldwide make it essential to enhance flood resilience research and practice. The Sponge City Approach (SCA) has been proposed as a nature-based solution for solving pressing water problems in cities, but there is an urgent need to...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Water |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/19/3084 |
| _version_ | 1797476463487746048 |
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| author | Xiao Peng Xianpei Heng Qing Li Jianxia Li Kongjian Yu |
| author_facet | Xiao Peng Xianpei Heng Qing Li Jianxia Li Kongjian Yu |
| author_sort | Xiao Peng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Increasing extreme rainfall and increasingly severe flood disasters worldwide make it essential to enhance flood resilience research and practice. The Sponge City Approach (SCA) has been proposed as a nature-based solution for solving pressing water problems in cities, but there is an urgent need to apply the approach at the broader catchment scale to address the rising challenges driven by climate change. This study established a Sponge Watershed Approach (SWA) using the “Source-Flow-Sink” framework and applied it in the Sishui River Basin in Zhengzhou, China, to reconstruct a town after a heavy rainfall disaster and enhance its resilience to future floods. An integrated modeling approach utilizing hydrologic, hydraulic, and flood-loss curve models was used to analyze and evaluate the flood-reduction effects of different strategies under multiple scenarios. The results show that: (1) a strategy focusing solely on interventions at the source of runoff cannot adequately cope with extreme rainfall, and a whole-system approach to managing floods is necessary instead; (2) the effectiveness of the flow strategy depends on the intervention magnitude and the location where interventions are made; (3) the sink strategy offers the most effective way (approximately 30% decrease in flood loss) to adapt to extreme rainfall; (4) the risk and impact of flood disaster in the town was significantly reduced with the SWA (approximately 35–50% decrease in flood loss) compared to those without any interventions; (5) the effects of these strategies are interactive, and the optimal strategy depends on the rainfall condition. These results demonstrate the practicability of SWA by integrating the source, flow, and sink strategy at the whole-catchment scale, which will help promote natural flood management and enhance the climate resilience of catchments worldwide. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:58:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-368f57d8deef40e08d357c68f70226e5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4441 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:58:11Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water |
| spelling | doaj.art-368f57d8deef40e08d357c68f70226e52023-11-23T22:15:30ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412022-10-011419308410.3390/w14193084From Sponge Cities to Sponge Watersheds: Enhancing Flood Resilience in the Sishui River Basin in Zhengzhou, ChinaXiao Peng0Xianpei Heng1Qing Li2Jianxia Li3Kongjian Yu4College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, ChinaTurenscape Urban Planning and Design Co., Ltd., Beijing 100080, ChinaTurenscape Urban Planning and Design Co., Ltd., Beijing 100080, ChinaTurenscape Urban Planning and Design Co., Ltd., Beijing 100080, ChinaCollege of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Peking University, Beijing 100871, ChinaIncreasing extreme rainfall and increasingly severe flood disasters worldwide make it essential to enhance flood resilience research and practice. The Sponge City Approach (SCA) has been proposed as a nature-based solution for solving pressing water problems in cities, but there is an urgent need to apply the approach at the broader catchment scale to address the rising challenges driven by climate change. This study established a Sponge Watershed Approach (SWA) using the “Source-Flow-Sink” framework and applied it in the Sishui River Basin in Zhengzhou, China, to reconstruct a town after a heavy rainfall disaster and enhance its resilience to future floods. An integrated modeling approach utilizing hydrologic, hydraulic, and flood-loss curve models was used to analyze and evaluate the flood-reduction effects of different strategies under multiple scenarios. The results show that: (1) a strategy focusing solely on interventions at the source of runoff cannot adequately cope with extreme rainfall, and a whole-system approach to managing floods is necessary instead; (2) the effectiveness of the flow strategy depends on the intervention magnitude and the location where interventions are made; (3) the sink strategy offers the most effective way (approximately 30% decrease in flood loss) to adapt to extreme rainfall; (4) the risk and impact of flood disaster in the town was significantly reduced with the SWA (approximately 35–50% decrease in flood loss) compared to those without any interventions; (5) the effects of these strategies are interactive, and the optimal strategy depends on the rainfall condition. These results demonstrate the practicability of SWA by integrating the source, flow, and sink strategy at the whole-catchment scale, which will help promote natural flood management and enhance the climate resilience of catchments worldwide.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/19/3084Sponge City Approach (SCA)Sponge Watershed Approach (SWA)flood resilienceSource-Flow-Sinkwatershed managementZhengzhou |
| spellingShingle | Xiao Peng Xianpei Heng Qing Li Jianxia Li Kongjian Yu From Sponge Cities to Sponge Watersheds: Enhancing Flood Resilience in the Sishui River Basin in Zhengzhou, China Water Sponge City Approach (SCA) Sponge Watershed Approach (SWA) flood resilience Source-Flow-Sink watershed management Zhengzhou |
| title | From Sponge Cities to Sponge Watersheds: Enhancing Flood Resilience in the Sishui River Basin in Zhengzhou, China |
| title_full | From Sponge Cities to Sponge Watersheds: Enhancing Flood Resilience in the Sishui River Basin in Zhengzhou, China |
| title_fullStr | From Sponge Cities to Sponge Watersheds: Enhancing Flood Resilience in the Sishui River Basin in Zhengzhou, China |
| title_full_unstemmed | From Sponge Cities to Sponge Watersheds: Enhancing Flood Resilience in the Sishui River Basin in Zhengzhou, China |
| title_short | From Sponge Cities to Sponge Watersheds: Enhancing Flood Resilience in the Sishui River Basin in Zhengzhou, China |
| title_sort | from sponge cities to sponge watersheds enhancing flood resilience in the sishui river basin in zhengzhou china |
| topic | Sponge City Approach (SCA) Sponge Watershed Approach (SWA) flood resilience Source-Flow-Sink watershed management Zhengzhou |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/19/3084 |
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