Hydrology

 Hydrology:

Hydrology is the science of studying water. Water, the source of life, is the most important element of life, nevertheless we are taking it for granted. For many people drought is a relative term; it is receiving less rain than we expected. For others it is an event that they have to live with. As water shortage is a major disaster, floods are disasters too. What we have in West Philadelphia is a combination of both.

 Location:
The Mill Creek is a part of the Schuylkill river watershed. It has the area of 103,307,825.1385 sq. ft. with a quite gentle slope. Rain is the main source of water in the Mill Creek area. The lowest recorded monthly rain fall in the last 52 years was 0.09 in. in October, 1963, while the maximum daily rain fall was 4.77 in. on August 27, 1971. On that day the volume of water collected at the Mill Creek watershed was 41,064,860.48 cu. ft. More climate information can be found at the climate page.

 

 

 Site Problems:

The run-off water at rain season is a very vital asset. It is a good resource of clean water that should be utilized appropriately, rather than causing problems. The main problem we have on the site is a high amount of rain falling in a short period, flushed directly to the main sewer system, reaching it’s maximum capacity, and flooding the community with polluted water at the intersection points of the sewer system, shown in the following figure as circles.The reason for this problem is that the main tunnel of the Mill Creek sewer system was not designed to receive the large amount of wastewater it is receiving now.

 

The run-off water can be deflected and channeled to open grounds, including the golf course landscape design, to be used at water channels, cascades and lagoons. We should plan to harvest as much water as we can from the watershed. Some examples of water harvesting techniques are:

· Locating retention basins at the areas of depression at the community.
· Building terraces to retain water and to collect suspended soil particles.
· Channeling water off all the hard surfaces into the retention basins.
· Laying drains to collect groundwater and channel it to a reservoir.
· Providing protection to the retention basins from sun and wind by plants, and location at the protected parts of the design.
· Planting water plants in the lagoons to reduce water evaporation off the surface.

 

Basins with water plants

Terraces to slow & retain water

Underground water harvesting

Water plants to reduce evaporation

 

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