583 pages, b/w & col illus
With the continuing increase in population, more people are sharing the finite resources of the urban watershed, resulting in new and increasingly complex interactions between humans and the environment. Environmental contamination is a chronic problem - and an expensive one. In urban areas, water and soil contamination poses a threat to public health and has implications for future development.
Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this volume offers a framework for those working to improve the urban environment and create sustainable urban watersheds. The book presents over 20 years of research and professional practice on urban watersheds from the fields of environmental geology, geochemistry, risk analysis, hydrology, and urban planning. The geological characteristics of urbanized watersheds along with the properties of their common contaminants are integrated to assess risk factors for soil, groundwater, and air.
With a framework rooted in scientific knowledge, the authors demonstrate the benefits of scientifically informed planning and decision making, offering guidelines to improve watershed management practices as well as urban development and redevelopment practices.
Long overdue, Urban Watersheds addresses a socially relevant issue where geology provides a leadership role in coordinating extensive interdisciplinary studies. It is hard to impress upon the global populace how important water resources are especially in the urban environment. This volume does an admirable job in raising the awareness of the subject. Especially significant is the ability of the authors to actually address sustainable development within the context of water as an essential resource. Kaufman, Rogers and Murray should be congratulated for championing the effort. The topic of watersheds is usually discussed in the perspective of the rural landscape and this volume makes a positive but quantum leap towards linking the management of water within the urban environment. From mapping and quantifying vulnerability to contaminant identification and remediation techniques, this single volume does an admirable job in addressing all aspects for this fascinating subject. The collective expertise and knowledge of Kaufman, Rogers and Murray ensured a professional standard of output was achieved in this technically accurate and scientifically interesting treatise. A must have book for engineers, geologists, hydrologists, and all others concerned with water.
--Peter Bobrowsky, PhD, Secretary General of the International Union of Geological Sciences
Urban Watersheds: Geology, Contamination, and Sustainable Development serves as a comprehensive reference for anyone working in, or studying the field of urban stormwater runoff management. The book addresses the multi-faceted nature of urban stormwater issues, and offers insightful well organized solutions to watershed contamination problems caused by runoff. The multidisciplinary nature of the book is a welcomed strength. The book logically follows the various and important aspects of the stormwater problem -- hydrology, ecology, pollution prevention and low impact development. The authors capitalize on this interdisciplinary approach by demonstrating the links between science and planning, in hopes that urban land use decisions can be made with a sound scientific backing. The book also aims to increase the effectiveness of watershed restoration by highlighting successful and unsuccessful approaches to contaminant remediation. Government officials, municipal regulators, stormwater utility personnel, watershed groups, researchers and students of a variety of courses from urban planning to environmental studies will find this book very useful.
--Hale W. Thurston, PhD, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
With the heightened risk of human exposure to a multitude of urban-sourced pollutants, ensuring healthy living conditions in heavily populated environments has become a daunting challenge. Contaminants that accumulate and migrate in the shallow subsurface represent one of the greatest threats to urban sustainability, but this concern is frequently ignored by an urban planning process that tends to be two-dimensional and ignores the critical role that groundwater plays in an urban setting. In this book on the sustainable development of urban watersheds, authors Kaufman, Rogers and Murray introduce a fundamentally new framework for planning and achieving sustainable urban watersheds, a framework that is rooted in the principles of hydrogeology, is soundly based in science and considers the watershed as a dynamic, fully integrated system. The book will strongly interest all students and professionals who are concerned with the urban water cycle or have an interest in contaminant migration, risk assessment or site remediation. It should be obligatory reading for all who contribute to the urban planning process.
-- Prof. Ken W.F. Howard, Vice-President of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), Chair of the IAH Commission on Groundwater in Urban Areas, and Professor of Hydrogeology at the University of Toronto, Canada
Urban Watersheds is a comprehensive study of the hydrogeology, pollutant behaviors, investigation methods and remedial approaches in our most populated regions. The authors provide technical depth across this wide range of topics with a writing style that makes the topics very accessible, even to non-technical readers. This book will be a valuable resource for the technical, regulatory and policy-making communities.
--Fred Payne, PhD, Vice President and Technical Director, ARCADIS, Novi, Michigan, USA
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