RAINWATER MANAGEMENT AIMING TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF URBAN SURFACE RUNOFF
I. HAIDU1, KINGA IVAN1 1 Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Geography, Clinicilor Street, 5-7, 400006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania, ivan_kinga@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT. – Rainwater Management Aiming to Improve the Quality of Urban Surface Runoff. Currently many urban areas experience the quality degradation of rooftop runoff and accumulated rainwater. The present study aims to estimate the volume of water draining from rooftops within an area of 0.68 km² in the municipality of Cluj-Napoca. The volume of water flowing from rooftops presents a beneficial alternative not only for collecting rainwater for later use, but also for reducing the volume of water and for improving surface runoff quality in urban areas. The procedure was based on the Michel Simplified SCS-CN model, a derived variant of the most popular hydrological model, the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN). The results of the applied method reveal that the highest rooftop runoff water values correspond to the summer months, these being based on daily rainfall data. Estimating the volume of water draining from rooftops for future harvesting is an important step in the sustainable management of rainwater in urban areas and in improving water quality.
Keywords: SCS-CN method, rooftop runoff, urban area, impervious area