Where Does Infiltrated Stormwater Go? Interactions with Vegetation and Sub-surface Anthropogenic Features

Abstract

The practice of stormwater infiltration is widely used to reduce the amount of urban stormwater runoff delivered to drainage systems and receiving waters. In theory, the practice recharges groundwater, leading to increased urban stream baseflows. However, little is known about the fate of infiltrated stormwater. We tracked the fate of infiltrated stormwater from an infiltration basin using a network of piezometers for three years. We found that groundwater levels downslope of the basin were increased while water levels in an array of reference piezometers lateral to the basin showed no change. In summer, most of the infiltrated stormwater was evapo-transpired by the vegetation downslope of t..