HomeMy Public PortalAbout442676MGD
Metropolitan
St. Louis Sewer
District
2350 Market Street
St. Louis, MO 63103-2555
(314) 768-6200
May 18, 2012
RE: Notice of Updated Volume Reduction Calculator Spreadsheet and User Instructions
To Whom It May Concern:
The purpose of this letter is to convey Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) changes with regard
to use of the "MEP spreadsheets", which are used to assess volume reduction as a metric of post -
construction best management practice (BMP) performance. The changes resulted in significant revision
to these spreadsheets. Instructions on how to use the revised spreadsheets are also provided.
Change Summary
Effectively immediately, MSD will evaluate runoff volume reduction based on average annual
precipitation.
Also, for local vegetated areas located on silt or clay soil over limestone bedrock, MSD believes that
approximately 42% of annual precipitation results in discharge. (The basis for this factor is provided in
the attached paper, Locally Derived Water Balance Method to Evaluate Realistic Outcomes for Runoff
Reduction in St. Louis, Missouri.)' Where applicable, MSD will use this value to calculate the annual
runoff from vegetated areas (e.g., turf, native grasses, and urban forest).
The purpose of the MEP spreadsheets is to document expected BMP performance relative to a site's pre-
BMP runoff condition, and to determine if the BMP strategies utilized meet Stormwater Phase II Permit
requirements. The revised MEP spreadsheets provide little information on BMP design, and no changes
in BMP performance are proposed herein. Designers are referred to the BMP Toolbox website for BMP
performance requirements and design aids.2 Additional information on the design parameters that are
applicable to the reduction factors in the spreadsheets is available on the Chesapeake Stormwater
Network website.3
Revised MEP Spreadsheet Instructions
The revised MEP spreadsheets are available on the MSD website, at
http://www.stlmsd.com/engineering/planreview/bmptoolbox/calctools. This tool consists of six MS Excel
worksheets, which can be individually viewed by clicking on the tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet. In
all worksheets, spreadsheet input should be provided in the cells that are shaded green. Cells that are
shaded gray make calculations, or are linked to other cells. The six worksheets are described below.
1. Pre -Construction Runoff.
This worksheet determines whether the site is considered new or redevelopment, and calculates
the pre -development annual runoff volume (VA,pre) for the site's drainage area.
' Hoskins, 2012. Watershed Science Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 1.
2 The BMP Tool box website is located at http://www.stlmsd.com/engineering/planreview/bmptoolbox.
3 The Chesapeake Stormwater Network website is located at
http://chesapeakestormwater.neticategory/publications/design-specifications/
Step 1: Enter project name, MSD P#, computed by, checked by, and dates at the top of the
worksheet.
Step 2: Answer, "Is complete elimination of runoff required?" This is a project specific question.
In most cases, the answer to this question will be "no". "No" is the default entry. Only answer
"yes" if instructed by MSD.
Step 3: Answer, "Is the site located in the Missouri, Mississippi, or Meramec River floodplain?"
This is a project specific question. "No" is the default entry. Answer "yes", if the site is located in
the Missouri, Mississippi, Meramec River, or other floodplain alluvium.
The spreadsheet tool will pick which runoff factor to use based on the answer to this question.
Vegetated (pervious) areas that are located on silt or clay soil over limestone bedrock will be
assigned a runoff factor of 0.42. Vegetated areas that are located over alluvium will be assigned a
value of 0.05.
Step 4: Enter "Total Drainage Area (A)" in acres. The total drainage area is the watershed
drainage area draining to the furthest downstream outfall. This area may be the same as or
different from the acreage of land disturbance or size of the parcel.
Step 5: Enter "Impervious Area" in acres. The value of this entry should reflect the total acreage
of impervious area that exists within the total drainage area, prior to the development project.
2. Post -Construction Runoff.
This worksheet calculates the post -development annual runoff volume (VA.Post) for the site's
drainage area.
Step 1: Enter project name, MSD P#, computed by, checked by, and dates at the top of the
worksheet.
Step 2: Enter the impervious area (in acres) that will exist within the total drainage area after the
proposed construction and development is complete. (For this calculation, all pavement and roof,
including permeable pavement and green roof, should be treated as impervious area. The
subsequent runoff reduction calculator worksheets address the runoff reduction achieved by
permeable pavement and green roof.)
3. Runoff Reduction Calculators (RR-BMP1, RR-BMP2, & RR-BMP3).
The runoff reduction calculation sheets estimate the annual volume of runoff that is retained on
site (not discharged by overflow or underdrain flow). BMPs can operate in a "treatment train",
whereby stormwater flows between BMPs before it is discharged (Figure 1).
Impervious
Area
BMP
Group 1
BMP
Group 2
BMP
Group 3
Figure 1. Schematic of BMPs in Series
► Discharge
Using worksheets RR-BMP1, RR-BMP2, and RR-BMP3, designers can utilize up to 3 groups of
BMPs discharging (in series) to a single point. (Sites may use more than 3 groups of BMPs in
series, however, this will necessitate site specific modeling requirements.)
Credits or BMPs within a group can be the same, or different. If multiple credits or BMP types
are used within a group, then the impervious area entered should reflect the cumulative area
addressed by that type of BMP.
When rainwater harvesting or other BMPs not listed in these MEP spreadsheets are used,
modeling will be required to estimate the annual reduction in runoff from the rainwater harvesting
or other BMP system. Based on this modeling, the fraction of runoff that is retained on site can be
input into the spreadsheet (2i or 11 a, as applicable).
Designers will note that the worksheets that evaluated enhancing bioretention for volume
reduction have been removed. BMPs may still be enhanced to achieve additional volume
reduction; however, their assessment should be based on site specific continuous simulation
modeling.
Step 1: Enter project name, MSD P#, computed by, checked by, and dates at the top of the
worksheets.
Step 2: The impervious area(s) captured by the first group of BMPs should be entered into the
"RR-BMP1" spreadsheet. Only impervious areas should be entered into the runoff reduction
calculator spreadsheets.
Step 3: The impervious area(s) captured by the second group of BMPs or credits should be
entered into the "RR-BMP2" spreadsheet. The impervious area captured by the second group
must include the impervious area captured by the group 1 BMPs.
Step 4: The impervious area(s) captured by the third group of BMPs or credits should be entered
into the "RR-BMP3" spreadsheet. The impervious area captured by the group 3 BMPs must also
include the impervious area captured in groups 1 and 2.
4. Summary
Step 1: Enter project name, MSD P#, computed by, checked by, and dates at the top of the
worksheet.
Step 2: Review summary sheet.
First, review the pre- and post -development runoff volumes (VA,Pre and VA,Post) respectively), and
confirm that values appear correctly. If in error, go back to the spreadsheets labeled "Pre -
Construction Runoff' and "Post -Construction Runoff" and revise input (green cells).
Second, review the "Runoff Reduction" volumes (RR,,) and depths (RR.). If in error, go back to
the applicable spreadsheet (RR-BMP1, RR-BMP2, or RR-BMP3) and review information. Note
that the runoff reduction calculators for RR-BMP2 or RR-BMP3 will not indicate reduction if the
impervious area entered is less than the impervious area treated by the upstream BMP group.
Annual runoff volumes are converted to runoff depth for use in curve number modification
spreadsheets. The basis for this is provided by the Center for Watershed Protection in their paper
The Runoff Reduction Method. 4 Runoff depth is provided for each BMP group, as well as
cumulative runoff depth. Curve number modification can be used for reducing the size of
downstream detention. Curve number modification may not be used to reduce the size of
detention when the water quality volume is nested within the detention volume.
The net increase or decrease in runoff is calculated from VA,Post — VA,Pre — RR, Many
redevelopment sites with BMPs will indicate a decrease in runoff, and this decrease can be
interpreted as an improvement in the site runoff condition. The amount of the decrease needed to
meet the Phase II stormwater permit's maximum extent practicable (MEP) standard is site
specific, and largely determined by the pre -redevelopment site conditions and BMPs utilized by
the redevelopment project. MSD suggests that, early in the project, designers check with MSD
staff as to whether the District will consider the proposed approach as MEP.
"Total Additional Volume Reduction Needed" calculates the additional runoff volume required to
mimic pre -construction runoff conditions on new development sites. To demonstrate compliance,
the value in this cell should be zero. If the BMP strategies used on a new development site do not
reduce runoff volume to the pre -development estimate, then the strategy will be required to be
modified. Only in very limited site -specific circumstances will variance be granted.
Example Project Calculations
For assistance in properly using MEP spreadsheets, attached are two sets of example calculations.
Site Specific Modeling
MSD provides these standard equation spreadsheets as a tool for developers and engineers who decide not
to use site -specific modeling. Site -specific continuous simulation modeling - in lieu of the above MEP
spreadsheets approach - is allowed as long as performance criteria are met.
Please direct any questions regarding this policy to my attention, at (314) 768-2709.
\Sincerely,
(\t-
Jay S \Hoskin , PE
Princiljaing eer
Erigirieering/Planning — Development Review
Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District
4 Battiata, Collins, Hirschman, and Hoffmann, 2010. Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education. Issue
146.
1
Locally Derived Water Balance Method To Evaluate Realistic
Outcomes for Runoff Reduction in St. Louis, Missouri
Introduction
The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) is the coordi-
nating authority of a 61-permittee Phase II municipal separate
storm sewer system (MS4) permit. MSD is carefully following
the development of new national postconstruction storm -
water regulations, which focus on maintaining or restoring
the runoff component of the undeveloped (i.e., natural)
water balance. If the Energy Independence and Security Act
(EISA) Section 438 technical
guidance is the "writing on
the wall" for a national rule,
then development projects
would be required to imple-
ment postconstruction controls
that capture and retain on -site
(i.e., no discharge) the 95th
percentile daily rainfall depth
(3.8 cm in St. Louis).
Stormwater professionals
may question whether a rule
like this would be appropriate
nationwide. MSD developed
a water balance model to
evaluate the potential runoff reduction that may be achieved
in local watersheds in response to the targeted EISA rule.
The predevelopment water balance in the St. Louis region
has not previously been studied for this purpose. This vignette
presents a "simple" approach to developing an annual esti-
mate of runoff, and one that may be a useful tool for other
stormwater managers whose watersheds' predevelopment
hydrology has not been assessed.
Methods
The water balance is the balance between the input of
water from precipitation and the output of water by runoff,
evapotranspiration, storage, and infiltration. Numerically,
the runoff component of the water balance is expressed as
R = P — ET — N — S, where R is runoff, P is precipitation, ET
is evapotranspiration, N is infiltration or recharge, and S is
the change in storage (in soil).
The one-dimensional Thornthwaite method is used to esti-
mate components of the water balance on a daily time -step.
MSD used a modified version of this method, as described
below.
Figure 1. Example of naturally vegetated Missouri prairie
and sinkhole pond.
Climate, Evapotranspiration, and Vegetation
MSD obtained 21 years of daily weather data from the
National Weather Service' for Lambert St. Louis Airport for
the period January 1989 to December 2009. We calcu-
lated daily potential evapotranspiration rates according to
the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) standard-
ized reference evapotranspiration equation, thus replacing
the Thornthwaite evapotranspiration rates with the ASCE
rates. We then multiplied
daily reference evapo-
transpiration rates by the
landscape coefficient for
a grass prairie (0.5), a
reasonable approximation
of an undeveloped, natu-
rally vegetated condition in
Metropolitan St. Louis and
much of Missouri (see Figure
1). This prairie landscape
coefficient is consistent with
the US Geological Survey
(USGS) rain garden report,
Evaluation of Turf -Grass
and Prairie -Vegetated Rain
Gardens in Clay and Sand Soil, Madison, Wisconsin,
Water Years 2004-2008, which estimates the landscape
coefficient for a prairie -planted rain garden area to range
from 0.2 to 0.7.
Infiltration (Recharge)
The near -surface geology of much of St. Louis City and
County consists of urbanized (e.g., cut, filled, and reworked)
clayey silt soil over limestone bedrock. The thickness of
urbanized fill over bedrock varies greatly. MSD used results
for Southwest Missouri from the USGS report, Groundwater -
Flow Model and Effects of Projected Groundwater Use in
the Ozark Plateaus Aquifer System in the Vicinity of Greene
County, Missouri-1907-2030, to estimate groundwater
recharge as only limited research and modeling of ground-
water has been conducted for Metropolitan St. Louis. The
surficial geologic conditions (clay or silt soil over limestone
bedrock) in Southwest Missouri and St. Louis are similar in
many ways.
' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service, "NHDS Access of
Historical Data," http://amazon.nws.noaa.gov/hdsb/data/archived/indez.html.
SPRING2012 65
"
T h e U S G S g r o u n d w a t e r r e p o r t e s t i m a t e d r e c h a r g e t o b e
a n a v e r a g e o f 2 . 5 % o f a n n u a l p r e c i p i t a t i o n . T h u s , o n l y a
l i m i t e d a m o u n t o f p r e c i p i t a t i o n c a n r e s u l t i n d e e p i n f i l t r a t i o n .
S o i l S t o r a g e
T h e m a x i m u m a v a i l a b l e w a t e r s t o r a g e i s t h e p r o d u c t o f t h e
s o i l '