Abstract

Building Physically-Based Urban Hydrologic Runoff Models using ArcPy
Track: Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater
Authors: Shyam Prasad, Derek Sutton

Urban stormwater modeling has traditionally consisted of delineating catchments to represent lumped hydrologic surfaces. A state-of-the-art approach presented in this paper uses numerous tools in ArcGIS to disaggregate lumped surfaces into separate runoff surfaces (buildings, lawns, streets, etc.). The result gives way to a physically-based hydrologic model with greater certainty. Discretized runoff surfaces give perspective on flow sources and the ability to assess engineering alternatives.