Modelling the Hydrological Performance of Stormwater Management Retention Ponds in Scotland

The work presented here is part of a wider modelling study into the long-term performance of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems in Scotland, a stormwater management technique employed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to protect watercourses from flooding and water quality deterioration. In particular, the study aims to predict how retention ponds perform under varying inflow conditions and climate change scenarios to assess the long-term impact of this form of stormwater management on Scotland's future water resources. A suite of simulations was conducted to explore the flow attenuation characteristics of conical retention ponds that have outflows controlled by triangular notch weirs. The inflows were represented as triangular hydrographs using a range of peak flows. Optimum flow attenuation occurs when peak outflow is reduced and hydrograph time lags are prolonged. Analysis of the results has shown that the Temporary Storage Volume available in the retention pond during any given storm exercises a critical control on flow attenuation performance of the pond. Factors which increase Temporary Storage Volume such as increasing pond radius, decreasing water level at the start of a storm, decreasing pond side slope gradient and increasing weir crest elevation lead to a marked improvement in pond flow attenuation performance. Conversely, factors which decrease Temporary Storage Volume result in poor flow attenuation performance. These simulations also demonstrate the secondary control that weir angle has on flow attenuation performance through its influence on the Dynamic Storage Volume, which is only effective once outflow through the weir has begun. Larger weir angles reduce the flow attenuation performance of ponds; however caution must be exercised in using smaller weir angles, which despite improving performance, may lead to an increased risk of overtopping. Other simulations show that ponds suffer a reduction in performance when subject to larger inflow volumes and that the provision of an additional outflow device can have a marked, but complex, effect on performance. With regard to the latter, for example, a low-level orifice outlet may decrease flow attenuation (by increasing the peak outflow and decreasing lags), but will decrease the risk of the pond not being well drawn down at the start of the next storm. Clearly, there is a trade off between the attenuation of a current and a subsequent storm. Although these trends are not unexpected, there is little published information that quantifies them in such a way that the performance of a retention pond can be predicted over the range of conditions likely to be encountered during its operating life. The generation of performance curves from the simulations being carried out in this study should lead to a better design process for retention ponds, for both single-event and event sequence scenarios.