This document discusses how green infrastructure and low impact development (LID) strategies can help create vibrant communities. LID aims to manage stormwater close to its source through small-scale integrated controls that minimize impervious surfaces and prolong water flow. Conventional drainage has limited effectiveness and urban growth is impacting watershed health. LID techniques like bioswales, porous pavement, green roofs, and rainwater reuse can help reduce runoff volumes while providing water treatment, infiltration, and community benefits like aesthetics, education, and property values. The key is planning LID approaches at the site, neighborhood, and watershed levels.
6. LID Low Impact Development
SUDS Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems
WSUD Water Sensitive Urban Design
BMP Best Management Practices
SCP Source Control Practices
7. LID is an approach to land development that works
with nature to manage stormwater as close to its
source as possible
Key principles:
Preservation of natural soil infiltrating potential;
Small scale integrated controls dispersed throughout the site;
Minimizing and disconnecting impervious areas;
Prolonging stormwater runoff flow paths and times
Creating multi-functional landscapes.
9. Land development alters the natural balance
between runoff and natural absorption
• greater amounts of impervious
surface
• increased rates and volumes of
surface runoff
• increased susceptibility of
eroded land to flooding,
• damage to public and private
property
• in-stream and wetland habitat degradation
10. Limited pollutant removal
• Effective for large sediment particles only
• Limited nutrient removal
No runoff volume reduction
Concerns with winter operation
High maintenance cost
11. New regulation requires better stormwater
quality treatment
Stormwater rate and volume control
targets are established through watershed
management planning process
12. 12
Watershed
Drinking
Water
Wastewater
People
Bow &
Elbow
River
Land Use
•Source protection
•Watershed Yield (Glaciers)
•Water resources
•Water rights
•Water Quality
•Pollutants
•Collection infrastructure
•Total loadings
•Assimilative capacity
•Supply and demand
•Service levels
•Treatment
Infrastructure
•Drinking water
quality
•Distribution
infrastructure
•Imperviousness
•hydrology
•Storm water
infrastructure
Storm
Water
•Urban runoff
13. Bioswales / Vegetated Swales
Shallow and deep infiltration
Low susceptibility to cold climate
Treatment
Porous pavement
Shallow and deep infiltration
Low to high susceptibility to cold climate
Treatment
Green Roofs
Shallow infiltration
Low susceptibility to cold climate
Volume reduction
Rainwater reuse
Volume reduction
15. A variety of easy and practical, cost-saving techniques to
manage stormwater runoff close to its source (where rain
falls) while preserving and protecting natural landscape
features
Principles of Low Impact Development
33. Stormwater oriented low impact development strategies contribute
to Vibrant Communities on multiple fronts:
• financial
infrastructure – construction, repairs, maintenance, operation
natural and environmental disasters
environmental services
property values and development costs
• community resources
community health
delight / aesthetics
education
community interaction
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40. Low Impact Development is a creative design
strategy that informs development opportunities on
how to better connect with the surrounding
energetic, ecological and social patterns to
promote integrative sustainability.
Key principles:
Designing with the environment and the land
Give priority to social dimensions and environmental
protection
Do we need it? Can we maintain it? Is there a solution
requiring fewer interventions? Is it local, integrated and
decentralized?
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46. Next lecture: Tuesday September 17
Mark Anielski
Creating Flourishing Communities of
Wellbeing and Happiness
www.urbansystems.ca
Editor's Notes
There are a number of interdependencies in how we use water in Calgary. We rely on our watershed to sustain the Bow and Elbow Rivers. We extract water for our potable use and we treat wastewater to a high standard and use the rivers to assimilate the final pollutants. The people change the landscape and the land use and this changes the nature of the rainfall that makes it back to the river as stormwater.All of these dependencies make it easy to see where climate change in this region will affect our water resources the most.NEXT SLIDE
Biophilia – connection to nature and water
With this definition in mind we can easily see how LID may impact other areas of development such as: transportation, energy, urban formIt is important to promote the social dimension of LID and how it promotes a vibrant community.
Efficiencies in transportation, energy, urban form, hillside development
Stormwater integrated into site development as an amenity
Multi-functional spaces for employment and enjoyment
Re-use of on site materials
Designing with the environment and the land – swales, no retaining structures, no plastics – natural materials