Enhancing Stormwater Control Measures Using Real-Time Control Technology: A Review

Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs) are increasingly applied to capture and utilise urban runoff to augment water supply, reduce flood risk, and to restore natural flow regimes in receiving waters. New advances in Real-Time Control (RTC) technology offer the potential to dynamically optimise SCM performance to meet multi-objectives, without the need for major structural upgrades. This paper reviews the application of RTC applied to different types of SCMs at a range of scales, revealing both the benefits and challenges. RTC can improve urban water management both now and into the future, and the applications are vast. SCM performance can be optimised at a single-site scale, but its real utility will be in larger collaborative systems, and its potential will increase with improved forecast capability and decreased costs of sensors and control elements. There is a critical need for creating new regulatory environments, governance and business models, to facilitate widespread implementation.