Integrated Stormwater and Groundwater Management in Urban Areas, a Case Study

Urbanization and its further consequences and limitations, especially in arid and semi-arid regions, make societies use practices to return predevelopment conditions. In this study, stormwater runoff is aimed to comprehensively manage as a sustainable resource using the best management practices (BMPs). Potential groundwater recharge from stormwater runoff is subsequently estimated in Isfahan- the third-largest city of Iran, as the study area. To estimate the runoff volume, different watershed's characteristics were overlaid using the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) method in the ArcGIS environment and runoff volume was calculated based on CN classes over the urban area (410km(2)) in dry, normal and wet conditions. Then, according to flooding levels in the study area, three of the best management practices (BMPs) were chosen and considered as a source control method to infiltrate the calculated runoff to the zones as their potential recharges. Based on Isfahan Groundwater Model (IGM), the potential recharge volumes determined by BMPs were found to be 2.4, 11.1 and 37.5million cubic meters per year (MCM/year) for dry, normal and wet years, respectively. These results could be a motivator for decision makers and may also change the attitudes of the managers when the optimal ways for stormwater control are addressed. Thus, it is more reasonable to primarily utilize optimal solutions to control stormwater in especially when water resources are scarce and invaluable.