WRRC 2025 Spring Seminar

April 25, 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Mānoa Campus, Zoom Add to Calendar

Advancing Stormwater BMP Field Monitoring and Performance Metrics

by Dr. Elizabeth Fassman-Beck

Multi-million dollar investments in BMPs are being made annually across southern California for stormwater quality project planning, design and implementation to comply with NPDES permits and TMDL objectives. The magnitude of the public investments warrant on-going evaluation of technical solutions. Pollutant treatment and runoff reduction are primary goals of BMPs; however, few BMPs can treat all concerns equally. Interpreting the success or failure of a BMP using common metrics such as %- removals requires subjective judgement of the reviewer and cannot be transferred amongst or between BMPs or sites. To support public stormwater agencies, we developed performance indices for BMP water quality treatment and hydrology (runoff capture volume) derived from quantitative field monitoring data of influent and effluent runoff. The key attributes of the indices include customization to watershed-specific objectives, and clear interpretation of index scores to inform future planning or corrective actions. An analytical hierarchy procedure is applied to combine individual index scores to an overall performance evaluation, according to user prioritizations of each parameter’s importance. Indices benchmark performance against specific water quality and runoff capture volumes design goals, while considering operating conditions on a storm-by-storm basis. An open-source web application and calculator has been developed to implement and explore the BMP Performance Index. The index concept and application using real-world data from Colorado will be presented.

Register for meeting:

https://hawaii.zoom.us/meeting/register/e32E7TinR5WWukpNnLnLSw


Event Sponsor
Water Resources Research Center, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Chris Shuler, 8087229785, cshuler@hawaii.edu

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