Sustainable land-use/Land-cover for stormwater management in three coastal watersheds in central Chile

Central Chile's Concon City urbanization trend has severely affected local hydrological processes. This research hypothesizes that switching to sustainable land-use/land-cover (LULC) in three Concon watersheds reduces the severity of their corresponding hydrological responses. High sustainability LULC zones would decrease runoff and enhance interception and infiltration, generating hydrograph curves with extended lag time and moderate peak flows. The Hydrological Simulation Program FORTRAN (HSPF) is used for simulating watershed processes. Decreases in peak flows of 31.1%, 19.8%, and 54.5%, were estimated. Therefore, sustainable LULC reduces the severity of the hydrological responses, benefiting storm water management. Real-world applications in Europe and the USA achieved comparable results. Urban master plans in Chile have favored the alteration of natural landscapes (anthropization). Per national regulations, changes to urban plans can be made every ten years. The results of this research will be valuable in future revisions of Concon's urban plan.