Development and Application of Hydrologic and Hydraulic Modeling for Green Stormwater Practices

The Staten Island Bluebelt Program focuses on addressing flood problems that are a result of natural landscape, tidal factors and overdevelopment. Using Best Management Practices (BMPs), New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) seeks to mitigate stormwater flooding and improve water quality in a cost-effective manner using natural hydrologic features in a gravity-driven system. To quantify the potential benefits of BMPs in the New Creek watershed, a robust one-dimensional model was developed using United States Army Corps of Engineers HEC software. The model was calibrated to historical rainfall and tidal data and supplied with watershed information from a GIS land use database. It was then possible to test a variety of improvements, and the model showed that incorporating BMPs could result in a significant decrease in storm event peak water surface.