Rainfall is posing a dangerous threat to high-precipitation cities such as Vancouver. In natural, forested conditions, 10-20 mm of the rainfall that occurs is intercepted by the lush, vegetative canopy of trees and plants, as it is eventually soaked into the ground before stormwater runoff is generated. This contrasts heavily with unnatural, urbanized areas, where runoff can be generated from as little as 2 mm of precipitation! In an average month in Vancouver, 240 mm of precipitation may fall in 30 days. This equates to an average of 8 mm of precipitation a day. As our climate continues to warm, the frequency and the intensity of our rainfall will only increase. By the year 2050, Vancouver is expected to experience a 5% increase in the volume of rain that occurs over the winter months, alternatively experiencing a 19% decrease in the amount of rainfall throughout the summer months. On Vancouver’s wettest days, extreme rainfall events are expected to intensify by 63%. Our snowpack  is expected to decrease by 53%, as our city’s snow will melt due to the increased temperatures. This will result in surface water flooding, sewer backups, and sewage overflow. Currently, Vancouver’s only approach to solving this issue is spending money to fix and replace the damages that are generated from this unmitigated stormwater runoff. The city of Vancouver has allocated $29.5 million towards Sewer Main replacement. The amount of runoff that is generated from our urbanized city is not only harming the environment, but the economy as well. What could possibly be a better solution than spending money to fix all of these damages runoff is creating? Green Infrastructure! By implementing green infrastructure, this issue is combated in a holistic manner. Through thoughtfully designed living roofs, swales, rain gardens, permeable paving, and rain barrels, we are able to mitigate this stormwater runoff in an effective way that supports our environment, economy, and our society.

BRIEF OPENING PARAGRAPH:

Our sustainability challenge surrounds the issues that stem from ineffective mitigation of stormwater. Through this, there is an increased risk of flooding, as stormwater runoff is directly released into rivers. This unregulated runoff creates social, economic, and environmental issues. The increased chance of floods creates social issues such as property damage to homes, destruction of crops and livestock, and severe mental trauma to those affected. The environment is also impacted by this issue, as improper stormwater mitigation creates an increase in temperature through the Urban Heated Island Effect. Finally, this challenge raises several economic issues, as funds for repairing damages may become limited through repeated flood damage, with property value will plummeting as a result. Our model will present the challenge of ineffective stormwater mitigation, and the social, economic, and environmental issues that occur as a result.

BRIEF CLOSING PARAGRAPH:

Through our model, the issues of improper mitigation of runoff have been presented. It is clear that without regulation, stormwater runoff can be detrimental to our society, economy, and our environment. Living in an area that rains often, such as Greater Vancouver, this issue is extremely relevant, as we are directly impacted by unregulated runoff. When running a simulation of our model on InsightMaker, groundwater is shown to increase initially, and then quickly plateaus. This is because groundwater is not infinite, and if this problem continues to persist, we will eventually run out of drinkable water. It is important that we raise awareness to this issue, and that we understand its impacts from societal, economic, and environmental perspectives.

SEPARATE PAGE FOR A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE MODEL AND THE ISSUES EXPLAINED IN DETAIL:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11-Md0b_tNKTJMsKvJmUB2U3A-S9YERFpcXZSmZ4JPco/edit?usp=sharing

For Applying the Systems Approach Document available as a word doc from Systemswiki page