The present research develops a systematic application of a selected family of 11 well-known design storms, all of them obtained from the same rainfall data sample. Some of them are fully consistent with the intensity–duration–frequency (IDF) curves, while others are built according to typical observed patterns in the historical rainfall series. The employed data series consists on a high-resolution rainfall time series in Valencia (Spain), covering the period from 1990 to 2012. The goal of the research is the systematic comparison of these design storms, paying special attention to some relevant quantitative properties, as the maximum rainfall intensity, the total cumulative rainfall depth or the temporal pattern characterising the synthetic storm. For comparison purposes, storm duration was set to 1 h and return period equal to 25 years in all cases. The comparison is enhanced by using each of the design storms as rainfall input to a calibrated urban hydrology rainfall–runoff model, yielding to a family of hydrographs for a given neighbourhood of the city of Valencia (Spain). The discussion and conclusions derived from the present research refer to both, the comparison between design storms and the comparison of resulting hydrographs after the application of the mentioned rainfall–runoff model. Seven of the tested design storms yielded to similar overall performance, showing negligible differences in practice. Among them, only Average Variability Method (AVM) and Two Parameter Gamma function (G2P) incorporate in their definition a temporal pattern inferred from empirical patterns identified in the historical rainfall data used herein. The remaining four design storms lead to more significant discrepancies attending both to the rainfall itself and to the resulting hydrograph. Such differences are ~8% concerning estimated discharges.

Since Water Framework Directive (WFD) was passed in year 2000, the conservation of water bodies in the EU must be understood in a completely different way. Regarding to combined sewer overflows (CSOs) from urban drainage networks, the WFD implies that we cannot accept CSOs because of their intrinsic features, but they must be assessed for their impact on the receiving water bodies in agreement with specific environmental aims. Consequently, both, urban system and the receiving water body must be jointly analysed to evaluate the environmental impact generated on the latter. In this context, a coupled scheme is presented in this paper to assess the CSOs impact on a river system in Torrelavega (Spain). First, a urban model is developed to statistically characterise the CSOs frequency, volume and duration. The main feature of this first model is the fact of being event-based: the system is modelled with some built synthetic storms which cover adequately the probability range of the main rainfall descriptors, i.e., rainfall event volume and peak intensity. Thus, CSOs are characterised in terms of their occurrence probability. Secondly, a continuous and distributed basin model is built to assess river response at different points in the river network. This model was calibrated initially on a daily scale and downscaled later to hourly scale. The main objective of this second element of the scheme is to provide the most likely state of the receiving river when a CSO occurs. By combining results of both models, CSO and river flows are homogeneously characterised from a statistical point of view. Finally, results from both models were coupled to estimate the final concentration of some analysed pollutants (biochemical oxygen demand, BOD, and total ammonium, NH₄⁺), within the river just after the spills.

The use of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) to manage urban runoff and contribute to environmental and landscape improvement is now widely known, but its application is still limited in many regions, like in Mediterranean countries. In addition, there is a lack of Decision Support Tools that consider all their benefits in the decision making process in a clear and integrated holistic way.In this paper, the E2STORMED Decision Support Tool is presented. This tool analyses the impact of stormwater management in the urban environment and introduces energetic and environmental criteria in the decision making process. Therefore, it aims to fill in the existing \"gap\" between SuDS manuals and guidelines and regional and local decision makers, since it quantifies SuDS benefits and includes them in the comparison of different stormwater scenarios. Finally, the results of applying this tool to compare drainage infrastructures in a real urban development are described. The E2STORMED Decision Support Tool for stormwater management is presented.It complements financial analyses with energy and environmental criteria.It provides robust decision criteria for informed stormwater management.This tool encourages a more sustainable urban water management.The tool is very useful to promote SuDS between local and regional decision makers.