Environmental Modelling & Software 25 (2010) 813–814

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Environmental Modelling & Software

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envsoft

Software, Data and Modelling News

A new applications manual for the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM)
Jorge Gironás a, *, Larry A. Roesner b, Lewis A. Rossman c, Jennifer Davis d
a
Departamento de Ingenierı́a Hidráulica y Ambiental, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile
b
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80523-1372, USA
c
National Risk Management Research Laboratory, US Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA
d
United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, Hydrologic Engineering Branch, Hydrology Section, Omaha, NE, 68102-4901, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The EPA Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) is a widely used program for simulating urban runoff
Received 29 August 2009 quantity and quality. Its existing documentation includes a User’s Manual that describes how to run the
Received in revised form program and a Reference Manual that covers its theory and algorithms. A new manual, the ‘‘SWMM
10 November 2009
Applications Manual’’, has been added to this collection. It contains nine worked-out examples
Accepted 19 November 2009
Available online 6 December 2009
addressing common stormwater management and design problems encountered in practice. The manual
will be especially useful for new SWMM users who need additional guidance in applying this powerful
tool to urban drainage design and analysis.
Keywords:
SWMM Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Application manual
Stormwater
Urban drainage
Computer model

Software availability 1. Introduction

SWMM 5.0 Applications Manual: An applications manual with
examples illustrating how SWMM 5.0 can be used to model
common stormwater management and design problems
encountered in practice.
Name of the tool: Storm Water Management Model Applications
Manual.
Authors: Jorge Gironás, Larry A. Roesner, Jennifer Davis.
Contact information as defined in the paper. Year first available:
2009.
Contact address: National Risk Management Research Laboratory,
US Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH 45268,
USA.
Software required: EPA SWMM5 (available from the same source as
this manual), and a PDF reader software. Number of pages: 179
pp. Total size: 5.5 Mb. Zip file includes the manual in PDF format
and the computer files.
Availability and cost: http://www.epa.gov/ednnrmrl/models/
swmm/index.htm, free of charge.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ56 2 354 4227; fax: þ56 2 354 5876.
E-mail address: jgironas@ing.puc.cl (J. Gironás).
The EPA Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) is
a dynamic rainfall-runoff model used for single event or long-term
simulation of runoff quantity and quality from primarily urban
areas (Rossman, 2009). The model is widely used for planning,
analysis and design related to drainage systems in urban areas
(Rossman, 2009). SWMM5, the newest version of the model,
provides an integrated Windows environment for editing input
data, running simulations, and viewing the results in the form of
thematic maps, graphs, tables, profile plots and statistical reports.
SWMM5 has modernized both the model’s structure and its user
interface, making SWMM easier to use and more accessible to
a new generation of engineers and water resources specialists,
although is too complex to be used by the general public or plan-
ners with no modelling experience (Elliotta and Trowsdale, 2007).
Previous documentation recently updated for the program
included a Users Manual (Rossman, 2009) that describes how to
build and analyze a SWMM model using the program’s Graphical
User Interface, and a Reference Manual (Rossman and Huber, in
preparation) that covers the theory and algorithms behind the
program’s computations. What was missing from this set of docu-
mentation was an applications manual that would show users
(particularly new ones) in step-by-step fashion how to use this
powerful and free computer model to solve typical urban drainage

1364-8152/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2009.11.009
814 J. Gironás et al. / Environmental Modelling & Software 25 (2010) 813–814
problems. Such a manual has finally been written and now it is
available for the SWMM5 community.
2. The manual
The manual’s purpose is to provide a practical application guide
for SWMM users who already have a basic background in hydrology
and hydraulics. It contains nine worked-out examples, along with
their associated SWMM input files, that illustrate how SWMM can
be used to model some of the most common stormwater
management and design problems encountered in practice. All the
examples are developed for the same watershed and each one
builds on the results of the previous ones. The first five examples
illustrate basic applications of the model; and the next four address
more advanced topics such as runoff treatment, continuous simu-
lation, combined system overflows and pipe flooding. The exam-
ples and the topics included in the manual are:
1. Post-Development Runoff – illustrates how one sets up a study
area and develops the required input data to compute runoff
for several design-storm events for both pre- and post-devel-
opment conditions.
2. Surface Drainage Hydraulics – shows how to represent a simple
conveyance network in a developed catchment using SWMM’s
various hydraulic routing options to route runoff flows through
this network.
3. Detention Pond Design – demonstrates how to design a deten-
tion pond that achieves both water quality control and peak
flow reduction goals.
4. Low Impact Development – shows how SWMM can simulate
two common types of LID controls: filter strips and infiltration
trenches.
5. Runoff Water Quality – illustrates how to model the buildup,
washoff and routing of total suspended solids (TSS) within
a developed watershed.
6. Runoff Treatment – shows how to simulate removal of TSS in
both infiltration LIDs and detention ponds.
7. Dual Drainage Systems – shows how SWMM can model
a parallel system of street gutters and below-ground pipes
subjected to surcharged flow and street flooding.
8. Combined Sewer Overflows – demonstrates how to represent
a combined sewer system, including the flow regulators and
pump stations used to control them.
9. Continuous Simulation – shows how to set up SWMM to
perform a long-term continuous simulation and use its statis-
tical tools to analyze the results.
References
Elliotta, A.H., Trowsdale, S.A., 2007. A review of models for low impact urban
stormwater drainage. Environmental Modelling and Software 22 (3),
394–405.
Rossman, L.A., 2009. Storm Water Management Model User’s Manual Version 5.0.
EPA/600/R-05/040, National Risk Management Research Laboratory. United
States Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Rossman, L.A., Huber, W.C., Storm Water Management Model Version 5.0.
Reference Manual. National Risk Management Research Laboratory,
United States Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio. in
preparation.