Effect of Rainwater Gardens as Flood

Mitigation using Storm Water Management

Model
2022 IEEE 14th International Conference on Humanoid, Nanotechnology, Information Technology, Communication and Control, Environment, and Management (HNICEM) | 978-1-6654-6493-2/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/HNICEM57413.2022.10109276

Kimberly Ann V. Yano
Department of Civil Engineering
FEU – Institute of Technology
Manila, Philippines
kvyano@feutech.edu.ph
Mike Aldrin D. Cabaluna
Department of Civil Engineering
FEU – Institute of Technology
Manila, Philippines
mikealdrin.cabaluna@gmail.com
Maricar B. Rempis
Department of Civil Engineering
FEU – Institute of Technology
Manila, Philippines
maricarrempis@gmail.com
Almira Iris S. Sales
Department of Civil Engineering
FEU – Institute of Technology
Manila, Philippines
salesalmira0905@gmail.com

Queenie Zyre P. Beren Florante D. Poso, Jr. John Manuel B. Vergel

Department of Civil Engineering Department of Civil Engineering Vergel3consult Incorporated
FEU – Institute of Technology FEU – Institute of Technology Quezon City, Philippines
Manila, Philippines Manila, Philippines john_2eight@yahoo.com
berenqueenie24@gmail.com fdposo@feutech.edu.ph

Abstract— Flooding is a perennial problem in the Philippines,
particularly in its capital city of Manila. Sampaloc is one of the
barangays in Manila vulnerable to flooding according to the Flood
Risk Map of Metro Manila. The researchers considered España
Boulevard as the area of study since it is one of the most flood prone
roads in Manila, according to Metro Manila Development
Authority (MMDA). The study is focused on the analysis of
Rainwater Gardens as an additional flood mitigation in España
Boulevard using Storm Water Management Model (SWMM)
simulation. Studies have proven that rainwater garden is
considered as one of the most effective, simplest, and low-cost
methods to address abrupt flooding. Moreover, it is easy to install,
maintain and has a lot of advantages such as removing nutrient-
based pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus, improving air
quality, money saving and water conservation and improving
environmental aesthetics. The data was collected through online
surveys. The gathered data was calibrated and simulated using
SWMM. As per the results, the rainwater garden is effective as an
additional flood mitigation system since it can reduce the flood
depth up to 19.42% and 14.78% for 25-year return period and 50-
year return period storm, respectively. The delay of abrupt flooding
is beneficial to the residents of flood prone areas. In real life
scenario, the 0.15 m difference in flood depth for a 25-year return
period storm and 0.17 m difference in flood depth for a 50-year
return period storm will serve as longer time for evacuation of the
residents when excessive flooding occurs. Moreover, rescuers will
have more time to respond to affected areas and save more people.
Keywords— Flood, Rain Gardens, Storm Water Management
Model, Typhoon Ondoy
I. I. INTRODUCTION
Flooding is a perennial problem in the Philippines,
particularly in its capital city of Manila. Being an archipelagic
country near the equator, the geographical location and physical
environment of the Philippines makes it prone to natural
disasters such as typhoons. In fact, the country is visited by at
least 20 typhoons annually, with Typhoon Ondoy, also known
by its international name “Typhoon Ketsana”, reported as one of
the most devastating typhoons that struck the country in the
southwest area of Luzon during the late 2009. The typhoon
caused heavy rainfall from September 25 to September 26 in the
year 2009. In the Quezon City Science Garden, half a meter of
rain fell, in which this amount is only expected once every 150
years. According to the collected data, the typhoon affected more
than half a million citizens, causing multiple fatalities, injuries,
and damaging thousands of buildings within the Metropolis.
Infrastructure damage was also reported to be more than half a
million Philippine peso [1, 2].
España Road, or España Boulevard as it is popularly known,
is a major arterial road in Sampaloc Manila. News of floods in
the area are usually reported during rainy seasons. During the
typhoon Ondoy, España Boulevard was once again one of the
heavily flooded roads in the entire Metropolitan Area.
According to the Department of Public Works and Highways
(DPWH), one main cause of floods in Metropolitan areas are
outdated drainage systems [3]. Accumulated rainfall runoff due
to poor drainage systems has been identified as the root of
surface floods in the country [4]. Due to the ineffective size of
existing drainage systems, roads in the Metropolitan continue to
be flooded with heavy rainfall [5].
According to the data taken from field observations during
the years 2016 to 2018, the country is reported to be regularly
struggling with minor to moderate flooding and would
occasionally suffer severe flooding in events of heavy typhoons.
The study discovered the direct threats associated with floods are
the economic stability of the Metropolitan area and the physical
health of its citizens [6].
Disruption in economic activities is one of the negative
effects of flooding, with employees encountering problems in
transportation to and from the Metropolis [7]. Through means of
surveys, it was revealed that a significant change in the time
traveled by the commuters between normal conditions and
conditions disrupted by flooding. Commuters have often been
forced to change routes to avoid flood prone roads, thus affecting
their performance in their respective fields [8].
The frequent occurrence of floods raises many concerns for
the physical and mental well-being of the citizens of not only the
city but the entire country as well. Drowning, exposure to
contaminated floodwater and the increase of diseases are some
of the worst consequences to human health brought by floods,
with some even causing death to the affected [9]. Some of the
psychosocial disturbances caused by exposure to flood are the
loss of a person’s routine, their sense of control and emotional
connection to loved ones [10].

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 The researchers considered Sampaloc Manila, particularly Fig. 1 shows the model of the sub-catchments of España
España Boulevard, as the area of study since it was identified by Road Manila. After simulating the initial map area, an
the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Flood application of the rain garden system was introduced. The data
Control Center as one of the most flood prone roads within the used are the sub-catchment areas, average area dimension of
Metropolis. According to a study that examined flood prone street to street based on flow of water, and dimension of rain
areas within Metro Manila, Sampaloc Manila was discovered to garden. The data gathered was used to determine the quantity and
be one of the identified areas that would be at high risk of flood the area occupied by the rain garden in the map area.
by 2020 and 2030 [11].
Fig. 2 shows the Low Impact Development (LID) control
Despite having records of the resilience to flood hazard of properties on sub-catchments. The percentage difference is then
rigid pavements in various literatures, there is scarcely any computed to determine the percent of runoff the rain garden has
awareness of flood impact about its behavior and response [12, mitigated. The percent difference value for 25-year return period
13]. The data from a study in Louisiana discovered that roads ranges from 12% to 19% and for 50-year return period ranges
submerged in flood water for an extended period can lead to the from 5% to 15%.
deterioration of a road’s intended structural lifespan [14].
The study focused on rainwater gardens as an additional
solution to address flooding along España Road Manila.
Retention and purification of storm or rainwater runoff are one
of the many benefits of rainwater gardens along with reducing
mosquito breeding and filtering pollutants from rainwater runoff
[15]. A rainwater garden is recommended as one of the best
management practices to reduce pollutant transport to surface
waters and to infiltrate stormwater runoff. Another study
involving rain gardens installed in several places within the
campus reveals that the infiltration rate of rain gardens does not
deteriorate within the span of eight (8) years [16].
Rainwater gardens are installed and implemented in several
countries around the world. However, in the Philippines, there
are no current studies regarding the effect of rainwater gardens
for flood water runoff, thus there is no evidence that the plants
installed along the España Road can be considered rainwater
gardens.
II. METHODOLOGY
A. Material and Methods
Fig. 1. Model of the sub-catchments of España Road in Manila
The study assessed the flood mitigation capacity of rain
gardens system along España Road Manila. The methodology
uses a rainfall simulator, which is the Storm Water Management
Model (SWMM). It is used to determine the percentage capacity
of which the rain garden can hold given an amount of time. There
are three (3) processes in the study, the calibration, the
simulation, and the application of rain garden system. The
calibration was used to find the parameters on España Road
Manila using Typhoon Ondoy “Ketsana” rainfall data, the
simulation was used to determine the rainfall capacity on the area
with a given return period of rainfall, and the application of rain
garden is to determine the percentage difference in terms of flood
depth. In the calibration phase, the Typhoon Ondoy data was
used to determine the needed parameters for the simulation,
which comes after calibration. Data for map area, topography,
drainage layout, and rainfall were used in the calibration and was
patterned to the reported flood depth during the Typhoon Ondoy.

Fig. 2. LID control properties of the sub-catchments

B. Data Gathering
The properties were defined for each sub-catchment in the
drainage model. After calibrating the needed parameters, it is
then simulated using SWMM to determine the initial rainfall
capacity and flood depth of the map area with a 25-year and 50-
year return period of rainfall.
The values of Rain Gage Property were set as R1 or
OndoyRain for sub-catchment that flows on the outfall. The
outlet property was determined through observation on where
the water flow from each sub-catchment. Input values for the
different parameters such as % Slope, % Imperviousness, N-
Perviousness, N-Imperviousness, D-store Imperviousness, and
D-store Perviousness were obtained from the standards and

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literatures. The values for the %-Zero Imperviousness were
estimated from 0 - 100% and other properties remained at the
default values as there were no objects and conditions added
from the model.
C. Rainfall Data
Considering the strong typhoons that greatly affect Metro
Manila, the rainfall data that was used for the calibration was
Typhoon Ondoy as shown in fig. 3.
The data of Typhoon Ondoy have been obtained from
Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical
Services Administration (PAGASA).
Fig. 2. Typhoon Ondoy rainfall data
D. Results Comparison
After the simulation of the drainage model with and without
rain gardens design with 25 and 50-year return period, time
series average precipitation from Rainfall Intensity-Duration-
Curve values for flood depth were developed by SWMM and
compared to the initial flood depth data. With the utilization of
the percentage difference method the values were compared and
analyzed.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Rain gardens are used for collecting rainwater to reduce the
amount of water runoff and it can prevent abrupt flooding.
After running the simulation for the proposed drainage model
with Rainwater Gardens System using the 25-year and 50-year
return period time-series precipitation, a set of values for flood
depth was developed by SWMM.
A. Modelling Parameters
The properties of the sub-catchments, junction nodes, outfall
node and rain gage were obtained from google maps, PAGASA,
and the drainage plan provided by the DPWH. Moreover,
properties like elevation were obtained from Google Earth Pro.
Table 1 presents the summary of the catchment properties that
were inputted in the simulation.
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TABLE I. Summary of the catchment properties
B. Calibration using SWMM
The principle of calibration was used to ensure that the model
is precise. After running a calibration for the drainage model
using the time series of Ondoy 180-year return period, the
resulting flood depths from each junction node were compared
with the flood depths obtained from the online survey around the
area of study. The calibration results show the maximum flood
depths of the drainage model after running calibration. The data
of calibration showed that the flood depths have a discrepancy
with the surveyed flood depth. This means that there is a need to
adjust the properties of the sub catchments repetitively until the
flood depth obtained from the simulation is near the surveyed
flood depth. The final calibration was used in performing the
simulation to mimic the scenario during the time of Typhoon
Ondoy.
C. Flood Depth Result
Table 2 shows the flood depths in España Road Manila after
the installation of the Rain Gardens system represented by LID
controls, using the 25 and 50-year return period time series.
These values were compared to the flood depth obtained from
the survey that the researchers conducted from the residents of
España. After the comparison of the parameters, the flood depth
obtained was estimated to be 0.8 to 1.6 meters.
D. Percentage Difference of Flood Depths
The maximum depth before and after the application of rain
gardens were obtained during the time series used in the
simulation from the RIDF values. For 25-year and 50-year
return period, fig. 3 and fig. 4 show that after the application of
rain gardens, there is a decrease in flood depth.
In terms of the results on the percentage difference of the
depths, the maximum percent difference of the final depth in the
25-year return period is 19.42% from junction 3 and the
minimum percent difference is 12.84% in junction 4 for 1 hour
interval. While the maximum percent difference of the final
depth in the 50-year return period is 15% from junction 3 and the
minimum percent difference is 5.83% in junction 2 for 1 hour
interval.
 TABLE II. Flood Depth with Rain Garden

Fig. 4. Percentage Difference of Flood Depth per Junction, 50-year, 1 hr.

interval

IV. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Fig. 3. Percentage Difference of Flood Depth per Junction, 25-year, 1 hr.
interval
The parameters of rain gardens along España Road Manila
were calibrated using Storm Water Management Model
(SWMM) with the use of the rainfall data of Typhoon Ondoy
“Ketsana”. The maximum flood depths of the drainage model
were obtained after running calibration wherein the results
showed that junction 2 had the highest flood depth measured at
1.61m.
The calibrated parameters with and without rain gardens
along España Road Manila were simulated which served as the
medium for a 25- and 50-year Rainfall Intensity Duration
Frequency (RIDF) curves. The maximum flood depth of the
drainage model without rain gardens was measured at 1.20m at
junction 2 for both the 25- and 50-year RIDF curves while the
maximum flood depth of the drainage model with rain gardens
was measured at 1.05m for the 25-year RIDF curve and 1.13m
for the 50-year RIDF curve both located at junction 2.
The results of the flood depths with and without rain gardens
for both the 25- and 50-year RIDF curves along España Road
Manila were compared using the percentage method. For the 25-
year RIDF curve, the maximum percent difference of the final
depth is 19.42% from junction 3 and the minimum percent
difference is 12.84% in junction 4. While the maximum percent
difference of the final depth in the 50-year return period is 15%
from junction 3 and the minimum percent difference is 5.83% in
junction 2 for 1 hour interval.
In conclusion, rainwater gardens are effective in mitigating
rainwater runoff along España Road Manila for a 25-year return
period rainfall but insufficient for a 50-year return period
rainfall.
It is also recommended to try other rainwater harvesting
methods involved in Low Impact Development (LID) systems to
come up with the most suitable method for mitigating flood
water runoff. Also, a further study to perform an estimate or
computation for the probable cost of the implementation of this
project.
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