Graduation Year
2018
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Environmental Analysis
Second Department
Organizational Studies
Reader 1
Susan Phillips
Reader 2
Brinda Sarathy
Terms of Use & License Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Rights Information
© 2018 Benjamin J Rigby
Abstract
As California contends with climate change and more extreme cycles of drought and deluge, water management agencies and conservation groups are looking towards solutions to the decreasing reliability of imported water supplies. Stormwater has historically been perceived as a threat to development but when captured properly, it presents a resource that can augment local water supplies. Solutions to water supply issues in California have traditionally employed technical and centrally controlled methods for importing water, but there is a growing understanding that parcel-level capture through vegetated swales presents an opportunity for reducing the impact that development has on California’s hydrology. Vegetated swales mimic nature’s effectiveness in reducing runoff speeds, removing pollutants and increasing groundwater supplies. No less a piece of California’s water infrastructure than canals and dams, these swales bring water infrastructure into the context of the California landscape. My report for the Chino Basin Water Conservation District analyzes the feasibility of installing vegetated swales in the Chino Basin region.
Recommended Citation
Rigby, Benjamin, "Stormwater Capture in the Built Watershed: Fostering Public Awareness of Water Conservation Through a Parcel-level Approach to Stormwater Management" (2018). Pitzer Senior Theses. 85.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/pitzer_theses/85
Included in
Environmental Engineering Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Hydraulic Engineering Commons, Hydrology Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Sustainability Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons, Water Resource Management Commons
Comments
This senior project contains two sections within the PDF provided. The project itself is A Feasibility Report on Parcel-Level Vegetated Swale Installation in the Chino Basin, and it was prepared for the Chino Basin Water Conservation District. This is included in Appendix A and begins on page 38 of the PDF. Pages 1-38 situate the project within the context of California's historical approaches to water management and the challenges it faces with a changing climate.