Ecohydrology of Green Stormwater Infrastructure in Shrinking Cities: A Two-Year Case Study of a Retrofitted Bioswale in Detroit, MI

Stormwater management is of great importance in large shrinking cities with aging and outdated infrastructure. Maintenance of vegetated areas, particularly referred to as green infrastructure, is often aimed at mitigating flooding and the urban heat island effect by stormwater storage and evaporativ...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Shirley Anne Papuga, Emily Seifert, Steven Kopeck, Kyotaek Hwang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-09-01
Series:Water
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/19/3064
Description
Summary:Stormwater management is of great importance in large shrinking cities with aging and outdated infrastructure. Maintenance of vegetated areas, particularly referred to as green infrastructure, is often aimed at mitigating flooding and the urban heat island effect by stormwater storage and evaporative cooling, respectively. This approach has been applied in large cities as a cost-effective and eco-friendly solution. However, the ecohydrological processes and how the ecohydrology influences the function of green infrastructure and its potential to provide those ecosystem services are not well understood. In this study, continuous field measurements including air temperature, stomatal conductance, and phenocam images were taken in a 308 m<sup>2</sup> bioswale retrofitted into a 4063 m<sup>2</sup> parking lot on the Wayne State University campus in Detroit, Michigan over a two-year period. Our results suggest that plant characteristics such as water use efficiency impact the ecohydrological processes within bioswales and that retrofitted bioswales will need to be adapted over time to meet environmental demands to allow for full and sustained success. Therefore, projected shifts in precipitation regime change are expected to affect the performance of green infrastructure, and each bioswale needs to be developed and engineered to be able to adapt to changing rainfall patterns.
ISSN:2073-4441