Evaluation of Constructed Depression Storage on Reduction of Storm Runoff Flows in an Urban Area

The objective of this study was to determine the degree of variation in the quantity of urban storm runoff which could result by increasing pervious area, retention and depression storage, and permeability of cover material over a small residential watershed. This objective was to be attained by varying the hydraulic and hydrologic characteristics of the watershed under the same precipitation regimes and comparing the results. Runoff values were determined with the use of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) computer program, "Storm Water Management Model" (6,7,8,9), The study was treated as a simulation model since no previously monitored hydrologic or hydraulic data were available for the study area. The project utilized the hydraulic characteristics of a 154 acre watershed within Farrar Estates, a residential subdivision in southwest Lubbock, Texas. Historical rainfall data were obtained from the U-S, Weather Bureau at the Lubbock Regional Airport and the Texas Agricultural Experimental Station at Lubbock for the period of January 1974 to June 1976.Waller Creek Working Grou