Impacts of stormwater infiltration on downslope soil moisture and tree water use

Abstract

Infiltration of stormwater is a widely used strategy to mitigate the flooding and environmental risks that come from urban runoff and conventional urban drainage. An understanding of the fate of this infiltrated water is required for rigorous design. Principal design objectives are typically to restore more natural hydrology in order to protect receiving waters from pollution and hydrologic change. Without such understanding there is also a risk of unforeseen impacts on nearby infrastructure and urban vegetation. We sought to understand the pathways and fate of water from a stormwater infiltration basin. To trace water, we used a combination of water table monitoring and isotopic composition..