Green Infrastructure Design for Stormwater Management

[0.50] credits · Undergraduate

In this course, students apply an understanding of the effects of urbanization on the hydrologic cycle and the importance of different sized storms to design and demonstrate the effectiveness of stormwater management systems. Green infrastructure design includes aspects of urban planning to reduce impacts on the quality and quantity of stormwater runoff. Students learn to select types of engineered facilities and their materials and design features for their ability to achieve water quantity and quality objectives, climate resilience and other environmental and social co-benefits. Students learn to size facilities like green roofs, infiltration trenches, permeable pavements, bioretention cells, vegetated swales, as well as stormwater ponds, and represent them in models. Continuous and event-based modelling are used to aid design and demonstrate the overall effectiveness of systems to prevent increased risks of flooding and erosion and protect water quality and aquatic ecosystems.