Michelle Sheehan

Intro GIS
Assignment 7

For this project I would like to rank priority areas within the city of Providence either for

Low Impact (Re)Development or for stormwater drainage retrofitting. Providence has a

problem with polluted urban runoff because of its conventional drainage system and its

high level of imperviousness. Some areas of the city do not have much potential to

address these issues because they are nearly entirely paved over, very dense, and have

narrow streets. There is no room for retrofits. Other sections are less dense, have more

green space, and have room for innovative/natural drainage systems. Furthermore, there

are some areas of the city that are being targeted for redevelopment and so have the

potential to incorporate innovative design elements that address stormwater issues.

I would like to determine which areas of the city have the most potential for green

retrofitting/ Low Impact (Re)Development for improved stormwater management.

Examples of such improvements include: installing pervious pavements (or alternatives

to pavement), green roofs, creating spaces on the sides of streets for the infiltration of

stormwater using a combination of vegetation and permeable mediums, underground

storage/leeching containers that treat stormwater onsite, etc.

Criteria and questions to consider (many of which come from the Charles River

Watershed Association http://www.crwa.org/index.html?gis/gis.html&2) include:

Proximity to streams, topography, existing green space/pervious surface or potential, is

there an opportunity to provide pedestrian improvements, traffic calming, or other

amenities?, does the land use type require frequent truck traffic or high parking volumes?

is the site too dense? is the traffic volume or street classification of the site too great? is

the right-of-way width too narrow? are the on-street parking demands too high? will the

soil type provide any infiltration? can the existing drainage infrastructure be easily

retrofitted? what conflicts arise with other infrastructure such as fire hydrants, lamp posts,

cable, etc.? Are there large existing trees that would be difficult to move or remove?

Some concerns I have about this project are that it might be too large in scope. I might

have to pick one or two stormwater management techniques to assess and limit the

criteria for their success.

I found four similar projects:

1) The Charles River Watershed Association

http://www.crwa.org/index.html?gis/gis.html&2

They have used GIS to complete an assessment of which areas would be most appropriate

for Green Street Design elements. A Green Street is designed to:

integrate a system of stormwater management within its right of way

reduce the amount of water that is piped directly to streams and rivers

be a visible component of a system of green infrastructure that is incorporated into the

aesthetics of the community

make the best use of the street tree canopy for stormwater interception as well as

temperature mitigation and air quality improvement

 ensure the street has the least impact on its surroundings, particularly at locations where

it crosses a stream or other sensitive area.

2) Zhen, J., Shoemaker, L., Riverson, J., Alvi, K., & Cheng, M. -. (2006). BMP analysis

system for watershed-based stormwater management. Journal of Environmental Science

and Health - Part A Toxic/Hazardous Substances and Environmental Engineering, 41(7),

1391-1403.

This study determined the most cost effective best management practices (BMP)

(including bioretention, green roof, and rooftop runoff collection (rain barrel) systems)

and their ideal placement for reducing the levels of urban runoff. They authors goal was

to reduce the number of combined sewer overflow (CSO) events into the Anacostia River

in the rapidly urbanizing Prince Georges County, MD. They used GIS to provide general

support for various BMPs, including how to determine the best location for the BMPs.

3) Ghayoumian, J., Mohseni Saravi, M., Feiznia, S., Nouri, B., & Malekian, A. (2007).

Application of GIS techniques to determine areas most suitable for artificial groundwater

recharge in a coastal aquifer in southern Iran. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 30(2),

364-374.

The third project uses GIS to determine the areas most suitable for groundwater

recharge in Iran. They use the following criteria to select these areas: slope, infiltration

rate, depth to groundwater, quality of alluvial sediments and land use. Thematic layers

for the above parameters were prepared, classified, weighted and integrated in a GIS

environment by the means of Boolean and Fuzzy logic.

Obviously this region of the world is much different than the Northeastern United States

but the analysis they use will be helpful for me. It gives me an idea of the kinds of

analysis I could use in my project.

4) Hipp, J. A., Ogunseitan, O., Lejano, R., & Smith, C. S. (2006). Optimization of

stormwater filtration at the urban/watershed interface. Environmental Science and

Technology, 40(15), 4794-4801.

This study uses GIS to analyize land use and pollutant loadings to determine the best

placement for storm drain filters in a watershed. The authors determined that different

filters should be used depending on the different pollutants coming from different kinds

of urban land use. They show that a strategic placement of filters brings results that are 5

times more effective than a random placement of fitlers.

Methods

I am not really sure of the best way to go about this. I would like to use some kind of

algorithm where I could enter all the criteria and it would spit out the results. I could also

use selection tools to select out areas with sufficient green space, or the areas within a

certain distance of water bodies, or areas with streets that are wide enough to encompass

natural drainage systems on the surface. I could also determine the points that most need

to have stormwater intercepted/filtered/infiltrated based on elevation and soils.

Layers I will need:
Layer Source Accuracy
Rivers RIGIS +/- 100 feet or so it would be
sufficient to have their general
location
Elevation National Elevation Dataset, I am looking at a very small area
USGS (Providence is 18.5 sq mi) so I
need a high level of accuracy.
USGS topos might be better.
Sewer lines RIGIS +/- 20 feet or so?
In a dream world I No where (or paper maps
could get storm water from Providence Public
pipes Works that are 30 years old
and incomplete!)
Soils RIGIS* +/- 20 feet
Impervious Surface Forthcoming from RIGIS Ideally I would like this to be
(hopefully) detailed to the parcel level and
have an accuracy of +/- 20 feet.
Providence Parcel Forthcoming from RIGIS +/- 20 feet
Data with land use,
land cover
This layer is in e00 format and I will need help converting it!