Examining How a Smart Rainwater Harvesting System Connected to a Green Roof Can Improve Urban Stormwater Management
This study quantified how a smart rainwater harvesting cistern that collected stormwater runoff from a green roof reduced stormwater flow into a combined sewer system (CSS) during wet-weather flow. The studied smart rainwater harvesting cistern collected runoff from a green roof located in Bronx, Ne...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Water |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/14/2216 |
| _version_ | 1797443094071738368 |
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| author | Nandan Shetty Mark Wang Robert Elliott Patricia Culligan |
| author_facet | Nandan Shetty Mark Wang Robert Elliott Patricia Culligan |
| author_sort | Nandan Shetty |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study quantified how a smart rainwater harvesting cistern that collected stormwater runoff from a green roof reduced stormwater flow into a combined sewer system (CSS) during wet-weather flow. The studied smart rainwater harvesting cistern collected runoff from a green roof located in Bronx, New York City; it used the Continuous Monitoring and Adaptive Control (CMAC) smart sensor provided by OptiRTC, Inc., to regulate the water flow from the cistern. The cistern collected stormwater runoff from the roof, usually draining completely after 24 h of dry weather. However, the smart sensor used weather forecasting data, and if additional rainfall was predicted immediately following another storm, the cistern only drained a specific amount, calibrated to mitigate the CSO. Five years of data from the cistern system were used to understand the role of the cistern’s smart sensor in reducing stormwater flow into the CSS during storms. The study results demonstrate that connecting the smart cistern system to the green-roof maximized stormwater collection (compared with the green roof alone) for storm sizes between 2 mm and 25 mm and for antecedent dry-weather periods greater than 2 days. The total of 65.2% of rainfall retained over the monitoring period by the green roof alone increased to 75.6% when considering the total stormwater retained and detained together by the green roof and cistern, thus yielding a 10% improvement. The study results also demonstrate that the smart sensor’s use of weather forecasting data failed to improve system performance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T12:51:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9e4142fd013c443daf671661092863da |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4441 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T12:51:10Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water |
| spelling | doaj.art-9e4142fd013c443daf671661092863da2023-11-30T22:06:38ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412022-07-011414221610.3390/w14142216Examining How a Smart Rainwater Harvesting System Connected to a Green Roof Can Improve Urban Stormwater ManagementNandan Shetty0Mark Wang1Robert Elliott2Patricia Culligan3Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, 171 Moultrie Street, 208 LeTellier Hall, Charleston, SC 29409, USADepartment of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, Center for Water and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin, 301 E. Dean Keeton St, Austin, TX 78712, USADepartment of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Columbia University, 500 West 120th Street, 610 Mudd, New York, NY 10027, USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, University of Notre Dame, 257 Fitzpatrick Hall of Engineering, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USAThis study quantified how a smart rainwater harvesting cistern that collected stormwater runoff from a green roof reduced stormwater flow into a combined sewer system (CSS) during wet-weather flow. The studied smart rainwater harvesting cistern collected runoff from a green roof located in Bronx, New York City; it used the Continuous Monitoring and Adaptive Control (CMAC) smart sensor provided by OptiRTC, Inc., to regulate the water flow from the cistern. The cistern collected stormwater runoff from the roof, usually draining completely after 24 h of dry weather. However, the smart sensor used weather forecasting data, and if additional rainfall was predicted immediately following another storm, the cistern only drained a specific amount, calibrated to mitigate the CSO. Five years of data from the cistern system were used to understand the role of the cistern’s smart sensor in reducing stormwater flow into the CSS during storms. The study results demonstrate that connecting the smart cistern system to the green-roof maximized stormwater collection (compared with the green roof alone) for storm sizes between 2 mm and 25 mm and for antecedent dry-weather periods greater than 2 days. The total of 65.2% of rainfall retained over the monitoring period by the green roof alone increased to 75.6% when considering the total stormwater retained and detained together by the green roof and cistern, thus yielding a 10% improvement. The study results also demonstrate that the smart sensor’s use of weather forecasting data failed to improve system performance.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/14/2216rainwater harvestingreal-time control (RTC)green roofsmartcistern |
| spellingShingle | Nandan Shetty Mark Wang Robert Elliott Patricia Culligan Examining How a Smart Rainwater Harvesting System Connected to a Green Roof Can Improve Urban Stormwater Management Water rainwater harvesting real-time control (RTC) green roof smart cistern |
| title | Examining How a Smart Rainwater Harvesting System Connected to a Green Roof Can Improve Urban Stormwater Management |
| title_full | Examining How a Smart Rainwater Harvesting System Connected to a Green Roof Can Improve Urban Stormwater Management |
| title_fullStr | Examining How a Smart Rainwater Harvesting System Connected to a Green Roof Can Improve Urban Stormwater Management |
| title_full_unstemmed | Examining How a Smart Rainwater Harvesting System Connected to a Green Roof Can Improve Urban Stormwater Management |
| title_short | Examining How a Smart Rainwater Harvesting System Connected to a Green Roof Can Improve Urban Stormwater Management |
| title_sort | examining how a smart rainwater harvesting system connected to a green roof can improve urban stormwater management |
| topic | rainwater harvesting real-time control (RTC) green roof smart cistern |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/14/2216 |
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