We recognize our analysis has many limitations. Data
sources may be inaccurate or incomplete in ways that analysts
cannot understand, due to incomplete documentation and the
unknown number of parties who can alter local drainage. Fur-
ther, local jurisdictions, such as Fairfax County, must respond
to requirements to change drainage infrastructure, especially
in light of new federal and state stormwater management
regulations. In addition, other drainage infrastructure, e.g.,
drainage tiles, homeowner drainage modifications, or rainwa-
ter harvesting systems, may not be visible, or documented by
the local government. Such changes can further complicate
urban watershed delineation.
This geospatial analysis has supported the original conten-
tion that using
GIS
in delineating watersheds in urban areas is
not as simple as it is in natural settings, and that anthropogen-
ic alterations to land cover and landscape create complex hy-
drologic geometries. The greatest complications are stormwater
sewer networks and impervious surfaces, which are designed
to redirect water flow. With the stormwater drain networks,
lidar and high-resolution aerial photography, geospatial evalu-
ation can include these features in delineating the watersheds.
However, despite the ability to include stormwater net-
works in our analysis, impervious surfaces, such as roads and
parking lots, interfere with use of ArcGIS
Hydrology
toolset,
require repeated delineation to capture all the land area
that drained into a specific locale (either stormwater inlet or
stormwater facility), and thus ground assessment may still be
necessary. Rain collection from roof areas also needs further
evaluation to determine its inclusion or exclusion from sur-
face flow and in the main stream channel and watershed area.
In addition, relationships between natural and built drainage
systems require further evaluation.
Surface runoff in urban regions has significance for lo-
cal climates, water quality, transport and concentration of
contaminants, flood control, and public health. The complex
hydrologic characteristics of urban landscapes, including
complex patterns of impervious surfaces, vegetation, struc-
tures, and compacted soils, present immense challenges for
hydrologic analysis. The complexity of urban systems are fur-
ther challenged by climate change and the increasing intensi-
ties of precipitation. Still, the biggest challenges for urban
hydrology is the inability of conventional tools and strategies,
transferred from rural and natural landscapes, to describe
hydrologic processes prevalent in urban systems.
Acknowledgments
We thank John Jastram, Hydrologist, US Geological Survey,
for providing the geospatial files used in this analysis. We also
thank members of the audience attending our paper presen-
tation at the 2014 ASPRS Conference, Louisville, Kentucky,
for their encouragement to submit this research as a journal
article. Further, we recognize the contributions of the
PE&RS
reviewers for their careful attention, comments, and insights
that have strengthened this paper. The Virginia Space Grant
Consortium provided partial support for this project.
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(Received 29 April 2014; accepted 05 December 2014; final
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PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
