Analysis of the Influence of Coastal Urban Regeneration Strategies on Water Quality

The ongoing urbanization motivated past research works on pollutant transport in urban areas. Indeed, impermeabilization of the soil has detrimental impacts on evapotranspiration, filtration, and recharge of groundwater. Besides the waterproofing of urban surfaces, the presence of elements such as roads, parking lots, roofs, and sidewalks enhance the build-up of pollutants on the surfaces during dry weather periods while contributing to the increase in the runoff volume. The hydrological and hydraulic characterization of urban catchments allows for identifying the pollutants that influence the water quality, particularly in coastal areas. This aspect is crucial to identify the most appropriate measures to preserve the quality of water receptors and to ensure their specific uses. Sustainable urban drainage systems (related to the Low Impact Development approach, i.e. LID) have been identified as appropriate practices to address these issues. They aim to control stormwater and its quality through low-impact technologies, which exploit natural resources and are conceived to mimic the water regime in the pre-urbanization configuration. This work aims to evaluate the effects of LIDs within the frame of an in-depth parametric analysis applied to an ideal urbanized area. The analysis relies on using hydrologic and hydraulic modeling to assess the influence of LIDs on water quality. For a given configuration and extension of LIDs, the influences of (i) duration of dry weather periods, (ii) rainfall intensity, and (iii) land use are investigated.