- Email: [email protected]
Urban runoff quantity and quality
288
Mountain, Frank, Alberta” written in 1912 by Daly, Miller, and Rice is a classic example of a scientific analysis written in clear fluid prose that aids rather than masks the understanding of a complex situation affecting economic and other community issues. Unfortunately, certain selections have been abbreviated to the point where one questions their inclusion at all, e.g. “Urban Sprawl” by W.H. Whyte Jr; others are informative but not particularly seminal, e.g. “Trees and Buildings” by Legget and Grawford, and others disproportionately technical and tabular. In short, the papers selected are somewhat uneven in scope, style, and legibility. The advent of readers such as “Environmental Geomorphology and Landscape Conservation” seems to be an increasing phenomenon. The objective of “Gathering into a Single Volume the critical material needed to reconstruct the background reading pertinent to a major topic” can clearly not be achieved if major issues such as flooding or urban sprawl are to be dealt with by one or two papers. The excellence of Donald R. Coates’ overview and text suggests that emphasis be placed once again on a book as an integrative statement, rather than an abbreviated and uneven compendium of articles, no matter how conscientiously they be selected. PETER JACOBS (Montreal,
Que.,
Canada)
URBAN WATER RESOURCES
Urban Runoff Quantity and Quality. William Whipple Jr (Editor). American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, N.Y., 1975, 272 pp., US $10.00 (paperback). This volume is the report of a research conference, co-sponsored by the Engineering Foundation and the American Society of Civil Engineers (A.S.C.E. ) Urban Water Resources Research Council, held in Rindge, New Hampshire, in August 1974. The conference, which brought together civil engineers and administrators together with representatives of the social sciences and environmentalists, was convened in the belief that “insufficient progress was being made in developing adequate technology and data-gathering systems for urban drainage and runoff control”. The conference was directed at identifying “technology gaps, research needs, and valuable new techniques which need only to be applied”. Problems addressed by the conference included flooding in drainage systems and urban streams, and water quality problems caused by overflows from combined sewerage systems, pollutants in urban surface runoff, and erosion and sediment associated with new development.
289
In his introduction, Conference Chairman W. Whipple Jr expresses his view that the main subject of the conference is the quality of urban runoff. He is concerned that huge loads of unrecorded urban pollution (which he defines as all sources except municipal and industrial effluents), and the technical problem of evaluating urban storm runoff, have been under-estimated. He is further concerned that gathering of urban runoff data, which is of crucial importance to the national pollution control effort, has been considered to be primarily a municipal, rather than a national, responsibility. The book reports the deliberations of seven sessions. Six include generally short (1-3-page) papers, followed by a working group discussion. The final session was an ad hoc work group on water quality aspects. The initial session, entitled User Needs for Problem Solving, emphasizes problems in translating research results into practice. Four of the eight papers relate to experience in cities - San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee - where innovative approaches to data collection or problem solving have been practiced; another describes the A.S.C.E. Water Resources Research Program. The work group report emphasizes needs for better field data, for more qualified manpower, for recognition of urban drainage problems in education of environmental engineers, and for research, at the national level, that improves the data base and leads to more effective legislation. Session II presents six papers on Social, Political, and Economic Aspects. One of these - “Notes on the usage of the term “institutional” “, by Norman Wengert - should help to resolve semantic problems associated with this term. The sub-group report considers public participation in water resources planning, differences in organizational and institutional arrangements, improved recognition by engineers of socio-political-economic aspects, institutional barriers, and research needs in socio-political-economic areas. The third and fourth sessions include 11 papers on Collection, Storage and Treatment of Urban Runoff. The sub-group summary report notes that quantity simulation capacity is well developed but quality simulation capacity is unproven; that more quality data is needed; that design objectives and criteria for urban water quality management are lacking; and that existing water quality models should be translated into user-oriented formats. The three papers under the subject heading of Environmental Impact and Esthetic Considerations deal with the adequacy of U.S. Federal environmental legislation, problems in flood plain planning, and public participation in urban drainage planning. The sub-group discussion includes a summary of basic objectives and design principles for urban drainage. Session VI, entitled Data Collection, includes six papers that describe precipitation, flow measurement and sampling installations in a variety of urban runoff applications. The sub-group summary emphasizes the lack of time-correlated rainfall-runoff (quality and quantity) data, and the need to apply recent developments in flow and quality measurement. Air quality monitoring is considered to be an integral part of urban water quality data collection programs.
290
Session VII deals with Flood Plain Hazard Management Programs. Five papers review problems in implementing flood plain management, structural and nonstructural alternatives, flood insurance programs, increasing emphasis on avoiding, rather than compensating for, flood damage, and decision-making re flood plain occupancy. The summary report emphasizes the justification for a federal flood loss idemnification program, the uniqueness of individual cities, and identifies needed action by the A.S.C.E. Water Resources Research Council. The final session, a working group discussion on water quality aspects of urban runoff, expresses concern that the complexity of the quality problem is not reflected in a comprehensive and well-supported research program. The working group identifies eight specific areas of needed information, and recommends that the Water Resources Research Council should develop strategies to bring these needs to the attention of all public agencies in order to increase funding support for research, data collection, and control programs. This document provides an authoritative and comprehensive overview of problems and research needs in the field of urban water resources. A common thread that runs through all of the conference sessions is the need for more effective transfer of information among those involved with education, research, design, and administration related to quality and quantity of urban runoff. This book should be one means to that end. D.H. WALLER (Halifax, N.S., Canada)
(NOT QUITE)
ALL ABOUT
CHICAGO
Chicago: Dansformations of an Urban System. Brian J.L. Berry, Irving Cutler, Edwin H. Draine, Ying-cheng Kiang, Thomas R. To&is and Pierre de Vise. Ballinger Publishing Company, Cambridge, Mass., 1976, 101 pp., 70 figures, 10 tables, US $5.45, $3.20, ISBN 88410-435-4. Historical writing is similar to time-lapse photography in that both serve to render sensible complex events that unfold slowly, or over a tediously long period of time. The photographer, however, is confined by the physics of light to an exploration of surface morphology. No matter how elegant or awesome the final effect, it reveals little of the myriad forces underlying the observed phenomenon. The historical writer, on the other hand, is well able to probe a little deeper, to reveal something of the anatomy and physiology of his subject. The catch is that human affairs are infinitely more complex than mere reflecting objects. Thus, in the absence of universal scope and true objectivity, the “historian” must choose his exploratory technique, and in so doing reveals his own peculiar strengths and weaknesses. With this analogy in mind, let us examine Brian J.L. Berry and colleagues’ concise
Mountain, Frank, Alberta” written in 1912 by Daly, Miller, and Rice is a classic example of a scientific analysis written in clear fluid prose that aids rather than masks the understanding of a complex situation affecting economic and other community issues. Unfortunately, certain selections have been abbreviated to the point where one questions their inclusion at all, e.g. “Urban Sprawl” by W.H. Whyte Jr; others are informative but not particularly seminal, e.g. “Trees and Buildings” by Legget and Grawford, and others disproportionately technical and tabular. In short, the papers selected are somewhat uneven in scope, style, and legibility. The advent of readers such as “Environmental Geomorphology and Landscape Conservation” seems to be an increasing phenomenon. The objective of “Gathering into a Single Volume the critical material needed to reconstruct the background reading pertinent to a major topic” can clearly not be achieved if major issues such as flooding or urban sprawl are to be dealt with by one or two papers. The excellence of Donald R. Coates’ overview and text suggests that emphasis be placed once again on a book as an integrative statement, rather than an abbreviated and uneven compendium of articles, no matter how conscientiously they be selected. PETER JACOBS (Montreal,
Que.,
Canada)
URBAN WATER RESOURCES
Urban Runoff Quantity and Quality. William Whipple Jr (Editor). American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, N.Y., 1975, 272 pp., US $10.00 (paperback). This volume is the report of a research conference, co-sponsored by the Engineering Foundation and the American Society of Civil Engineers (A.S.C.E. ) Urban Water Resources Research Council, held in Rindge, New Hampshire, in August 1974. The conference, which brought together civil engineers and administrators together with representatives of the social sciences and environmentalists, was convened in the belief that “insufficient progress was being made in developing adequate technology and data-gathering systems for urban drainage and runoff control”. The conference was directed at identifying “technology gaps, research needs, and valuable new techniques which need only to be applied”. Problems addressed by the conference included flooding in drainage systems and urban streams, and water quality problems caused by overflows from combined sewerage systems, pollutants in urban surface runoff, and erosion and sediment associated with new development.
289
In his introduction, Conference Chairman W. Whipple Jr expresses his view that the main subject of the conference is the quality of urban runoff. He is concerned that huge loads of unrecorded urban pollution (which he defines as all sources except municipal and industrial effluents), and the technical problem of evaluating urban storm runoff, have been under-estimated. He is further concerned that gathering of urban runoff data, which is of crucial importance to the national pollution control effort, has been considered to be primarily a municipal, rather than a national, responsibility. The book reports the deliberations of seven sessions. Six include generally short (1-3-page) papers, followed by a working group discussion. The final session was an ad hoc work group on water quality aspects. The initial session, entitled User Needs for Problem Solving, emphasizes problems in translating research results into practice. Four of the eight papers relate to experience in cities - San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee - where innovative approaches to data collection or problem solving have been practiced; another describes the A.S.C.E. Water Resources Research Program. The work group report emphasizes needs for better field data, for more qualified manpower, for recognition of urban drainage problems in education of environmental engineers, and for research, at the national level, that improves the data base and leads to more effective legislation. Session II presents six papers on Social, Political, and Economic Aspects. One of these - “Notes on the usage of the term “institutional” “, by Norman Wengert - should help to resolve semantic problems associated with this term. The sub-group report considers public participation in water resources planning, differences in organizational and institutional arrangements, improved recognition by engineers of socio-political-economic aspects, institutional barriers, and research needs in socio-political-economic areas. The third and fourth sessions include 11 papers on Collection, Storage and Treatment of Urban Runoff. The sub-group summary report notes that quantity simulation capacity is well developed but quality simulation capacity is unproven; that more quality data is needed; that design objectives and criteria for urban water quality management are lacking; and that existing water quality models should be translated into user-oriented formats. The three papers under the subject heading of Environmental Impact and Esthetic Considerations deal with the adequacy of U.S. Federal environmental legislation, problems in flood plain planning, and public participation in urban drainage planning. The sub-group discussion includes a summary of basic objectives and design principles for urban drainage. Session VI, entitled Data Collection, includes six papers that describe precipitation, flow measurement and sampling installations in a variety of urban runoff applications. The sub-group summary emphasizes the lack of time-correlated rainfall-runoff (quality and quantity) data, and the need to apply recent developments in flow and quality measurement. Air quality monitoring is considered to be an integral part of urban water quality data collection programs.
290
Session VII deals with Flood Plain Hazard Management Programs. Five papers review problems in implementing flood plain management, structural and nonstructural alternatives, flood insurance programs, increasing emphasis on avoiding, rather than compensating for, flood damage, and decision-making re flood plain occupancy. The summary report emphasizes the justification for a federal flood loss idemnification program, the uniqueness of individual cities, and identifies needed action by the A.S.C.E. Water Resources Research Council. The final session, a working group discussion on water quality aspects of urban runoff, expresses concern that the complexity of the quality problem is not reflected in a comprehensive and well-supported research program. The working group identifies eight specific areas of needed information, and recommends that the Water Resources Research Council should develop strategies to bring these needs to the attention of all public agencies in order to increase funding support for research, data collection, and control programs. This document provides an authoritative and comprehensive overview of problems and research needs in the field of urban water resources. A common thread that runs through all of the conference sessions is the need for more effective transfer of information among those involved with education, research, design, and administration related to quality and quantity of urban runoff. This book should be one means to that end. D.H. WALLER (Halifax, N.S., Canada)
(NOT QUITE)
ALL ABOUT
CHICAGO
Chicago: Dansformations of an Urban System. Brian J.L. Berry, Irving Cutler, Edwin H. Draine, Ying-cheng Kiang, Thomas R. To&is and Pierre de Vise. Ballinger Publishing Company, Cambridge, Mass., 1976, 101 pp., 70 figures, 10 tables, US $5.45, $3.20, ISBN 88410-435-4. Historical writing is similar to time-lapse photography in that both serve to render sensible complex events that unfold slowly, or over a tediously long period of time. The photographer, however, is confined by the physics of light to an exploration of surface morphology. No matter how elegant or awesome the final effect, it reveals little of the myriad forces underlying the observed phenomenon. The historical writer, on the other hand, is well able to probe a little deeper, to reveal something of the anatomy and physiology of his subject. The catch is that human affairs are infinitely more complex than mere reflecting objects. Thus, in the absence of universal scope and true objectivity, the “historian” must choose his exploratory technique, and in so doing reveals his own peculiar strengths and weaknesses. With this analogy in mind, let us examine Brian J.L. Berry and colleagues’ concise