Designing stormwater controls to protect streams from erosion—A simple (and implementable) channel-protection strategy
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Stormwater control measures (SCM) must restrict erosive flows to reduce stream erosion in developed watersheds. Over 20 y ago, Bledsoe (2002) proposed the erosion potential approach, which suggests managing excess stormwater runoff to mimic the sediment transport capacity of the undeveloped flow regime. Subsequent research has documented that the benefits of this approach extend beyond stable streams and include improvements to biotic integrity and water quality. However, the lack of its widespread implementation, or that of any SCM approach that successfully limits stream erosion, underscores its challenges. In this paper we document the mechanics of integrating the erosion potential approach into stormwater management programs in northern Kentucky (NKY) and Austin, Texas, USA. We applied a simple strategy of capturing excess stormwater runoff and releasing it below the critical discharge for streambed erosion (Qc) for a single design storm. We calibrated the Qc design targets with local streambed mobility monitoring and sediment transport modeling, an important step in this relatively straightforward approach. The field-validated Qc threshold in NKY was ∼45% of the undeveloped 2-y peak discharge (Q2). The Qc threshold in Austin was 2% of Q2. Sediment transport modeling indicated that excess stream erosion can be mitigated by designing SCMs to restrict the 2-y design storm to be discharged at <Qc (0.45 × Q2) in NKY and to restrict the 2-mo design storm to be discharged at
Source: Freshwater Science
DOI: 10.1086/735100
Language: English
Subfield: Environmental Engineering
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4407098304