Evaluating the Thiessen polygon approach for efficient parameterization of urban stormwater models

Catchment discretization plays a key role in constructing stormwater models. Traditional methods usually require aerial or topographic data to manually partition the catchment, but this approach is challenging in areas with poor data access. Here, we propose an alternative approach, by drawing Thiessen polygons around sewer nodes to construct a sewershed model. The utility of this approach is evaluated using the EPA's Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) to simulate pipe flow in a sewershed in the City of Pittsburgh. Parameter sensitivities and model uncertainties were explored via Monte Carlo simulations and a simple algorithm applied to calibrate the model. The calibrated model could reliably simulate pipe flow, with a Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) of 0.82 when compared to measured flow. The potential influence of sewer data availability on model performance was tested as a function of the number of nodes used to build the model. No statistical differences were observed in model performance when randomly reducing the number of nodes used to build the model (up to 40%). Based on our analyses, the Thiessen polygon approach can be used to construct urban stormwater models and generate good pipe flow simulations even for sewer data limited scenarios.

Automated summary

In this study, an alternative approach using Thiessen polygons around sewer nodes to construct a sewer shed model was proposed, and the pipe flow in a sewer shed in the City of Pittsburgh was simulated using the EPA's SWMM. Parameter sensitivities and model uncertainties were explored via Monte Carlo simulations and the model was calibrated using a simple algorithm. The results showed that the Thiessen polygon approach can be used to construct urban stormwater models and generate good pipe flow simulations even in scenarios with limited sewer data.