Grappling Locally Thinking Globally: Urban Issues, Civic Participation

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Grappling Locally Thinking Globally Urban
Issues, Civic Participation Data
AnalysisUrban Neighborhood Panel
Rubenstein School UVM

• Breck Bowden
• Rubenstein School of Environment Natural
  Resources
• Watershed for Every Classroom Workshop
• ECHO, Lake Aquarium Science Center
• Burlington, VT
• 1 February 2008

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The US at Night (1993 vs 2001)
Dense 1993
Fringe 1993
Dense 2001
Fringe 2001
The National Geographic Society (2001)
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Urban Sprawl in New England

• growth
• fragmentation
• corridors

The National Geographic Society (2001)
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Effects of Development

• Impairment of freshwater resources
• Rivers 30 of 3.5 million miles (17 surveyed)
• Lakes 37 of 41 million acres (42 surveyed)
• Sources of impairment (in priority order)
• Agriculture (lakes)
• Municipal point sources
• Urban runoff/Stormwater
• Unspecified NPS
• Industrial point sources
• Land disposal
• Hydro/Habitat modification
• Resource Extraction
• Riparian disturbances
• Forestry operations

• Impairment of freshwater resources
• Rivers 30 of 3.5 million miles (17 surveyed)
• Lakes 37 of 41 million acres (42 surveyed)
• Sources of impairment (in priority order)
• Agriculture
• Municipal point sources
• Urban runoff/Stormwater URBAN-NPS
• Unspecified NPS
• Industrial point sources
• Land disposal
• Hydro/Habitat modification
• Resource Extraction
• Riparian disturbances
• Forestry operations

US/EPA 1995, Burton and Pitt (2002)
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Sprawl, impervious area, impairment
Center for Watershed Protection 2003
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Primary Messages

• Why does stormwater impair streams?
• What happens to the stream physically?
• What happens to the stream biota?
• What are the learning opportunities?
• What sort of resources are available?

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Development Stormwater QuantityThe Stormwater
Hydrograph

• Higher highs/lower lows
• Intensification/flashiness

Stream flow (cubic feet per sec)
Undeveloped
Time (hours)
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How much water is there in ½ rain storm that
last about 2h?

• Say the rain falls on a 10 acre neighborhood.
• ½ on 10 ac 0.042 ft on 435,600 ft2
• Thats 18,295 ft3 or 137,000 gals
• At 8 lbs per gal, thats 1.1 million pounds or
  nearly 550 tons of water!!
• This is like putting bulldozer in your stream
  .in fact, very much like bulldozer!

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Natural Stream FormUpper Allen and Sucker
Brooks
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Impaired Stream FormEnglesby Brook
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Healthy Stream Substrate
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Impaired Stream Substrate
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Natural Stream Biota
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Impaired Stream Biota
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Opportunities for Learning

• Math geometry, units conversion
• Physics density, force, work, power
• Chemistry nutrients, pollutants
• Biology tolerant and intolerant species
• Ecology cycles, food webs, communities
• Economics traditional vs ecological
• Civics governance, community, policy

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Resources

• EPAs Surf Your Watershed
• USGS Water Resources for VT and NH
• Vermont ANR Stormwater Section
• Lake Champlain Basin Program
• Smart WaterWays program

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Thank you!
For additional information see http//www.uvm.ed
u/ran/ran/ or contact Breck
Bowden breck.bowden_at_uvm.edu
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The Bulldozer Story
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The Flow Duration Curve
Does this small increase in the 1 day flow
really make that much difference?
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Water (generally) flows down hilland does work
as it flows

• Head drop (ft) slope reach length

• For example
• for a reach of ½ mile
• with a slope of 3...
• the stream falls 79 feet.

Alaskan stream (B. Bowden)
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Hydroelectric Power

• P QHe/C
• where
• P Power (kW)
• Q discharge (cfs)
• H Head Drop (ft)
• e efficiency (80-85)
• C Coefficient for units
• conversion gravity
• (11.81 for English units)

H
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How much extra power is there in the 1-day
stormwater runoff from an urban area?
(Fitzgerald and Bowden, in press)
So what?
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Consider the Caterpillar 824H

• 30 ft length
• Blade 15 ft width
• 63,325 lbs (30 tons)
• 10 gals diesel fuel per hour 407 kW

• Sothe extra power of 8,849 kWh could power
  this bulldozer in every ½ mile of stream for
  22h every year year after year!

Okayso its really a front-end loader and not a
bulldozer. Go with me on this one.