Research Internships for a Sustainable Environment with Undergraduate Participation

Improving Water Management in the

Great Lakes BasinAssessing Environmental Impacts of Water

Use and ConservationBy: Jonathan Witham

August 6, 2014

Project Goals Examine the importance of water

conservation in the Great Lakes region Sustainable, financial model for Great

Lakes communities Effective knowledge transfer of case

studies

The Ontario Municipalities

Image Source: Improving Water Management in the Great Lakes Basin. Extreme Makeover: How Six Model Municipalities Are Greening Their Water Management Program and Their Bottom Line. (2014). Great Lakes Commission, ECT Inc., Alliance for Water Efficiency. Slide 7.

The Michigan Municipalities

Image Source: Improving Water Management in the Great Lakes Basin. Extreme Makeover: How Six Model Municipalities Are Greening Their Water Management Program and Their Bottom Line. (2014). Great Lakes Commission, ECT Inc., Alliance for Water Efficiency. Slide 8.

Why is Water Conservation Needed in the Great Lakes Region?

Image source: http://planetforward.ca/blog/study-shows-the-great-lakes-are-being-overused-and-face-long-term-peril/

Groundwater Withdrawals

Image Source: http://www.horsleywitten.com/evergreen/mod-1-safe-yield.html

Great Lakes Surface Water Withdrawals No measureable impacts on lakes Impacts associated with water use, not

withdrawal Water that would flow into terrestrial habitats

or wetlands now flows into storm sewers Upstream urban and agricultural runoff

Why don’t all municipalities just use surface water?

Must have sufficient population density to support the cost of infrastructure

Examples: Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit Economic effects of pumping to inland communities

Image Source: http://www.city-data.com/forum/city-vs-city/596868-city-skylines-before-after-12.html

Urbanization Impacts

Image Source: http://detroitfirstaid.com/tag/detroit/

Natural infiltration to recharge groundwater

Urban areas push water into storm sewers to discharge to open water

Overwhelming storm sewer systems

Runoff Gallons per Road Mile

1-inch Rain 24 Foot Wide Road 1 mile long Does not include parking lots or runoff from

land adjacent to roads

Cover TypeSoil Type Area (sf) Area (ac)

Runoff Volume, V

(ft3)

Runoff Volume (gallons)

Yearly Average

Volume (gal)Assuming D Type Soils

Pavement and Rooftop D 126,720 2.9091 8,352 62,473 1,360,946

How much water runs off of a 1 mile road, 24 feet wide?

City of Guelph: 330 miles

Region of Waterloo: 450 miles

Oakland County: 5,400 miles

Guelph = 450 Million Gallons/year

Waterloo = 600 Million Gallons/year

Oakland County = 7.3 Billion Gallons/year Image Source: Microsoft Online.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=road&ex=1#ai:MP900401482|

Service Area Characteristics

Image Source: Google Earth. 2014.

City of Waterloo, ON Southwest Oakland Township, MI

Water Use Conservation Practices Green Infrastructure (Best Management

Practices) Household Amenities

Low flush Toilets Irrigation Evapotranspiration Controllers

Conservation By-Laws (Ontario) Purpose to reduce water use peaks

Green Infrastructure Different BMPs for urban and suburban areas Vegetated BMPs versus smart cisterns

Bioswale Forest Retention

Image Sources: Rain Garden: http://www.soildistrict.org/healthy-yards/rain-garden-resources/; Others: Brenner, A., Edstrom, J., McCarthy, J., Higuchi, R., & Vernier, M. (2011). Planning and Beginning Reforesting of Detroit Using Strategic Ecological and Environmental Analysis. The Greening of Detroit. Environmental Consulting & Technology, Inc., Sanborn, Photo Science Geospatial Solutions. Used with Permission.

Rain Barrel

Wet Meadow

Rain Garden

Effective Knowledge Transfer Issue Media Group Audience:

Local decision makersGovernmental authoritiesResidents

Impossible to convey the same message to everyone

Image Sources: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?

Summary of Lessons Learned for Decision-Making Need to take integrated water system

approach to planning Green infrastructure should be designed in

context of local needs and sizing. Each service area is unique, and similar

practices will not work effectively for all areas.

Questions?

Image source: http://colebradburn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/questions.jpg