What This Tutorial Covers

This tutorial serves as a hands-on guide for professionals using GeoSWMM, with a focus on the practical application of urban stormwater runoff modeling. It is intended for users who already have a working knowledge of hydrology, stormwater management modeling, model input data in ArcGIS Pro and the use of EPA SWMM elements and flow routing methods for representing drainage systems.  

The tutorial walks users through the development of a hydrologic model for an urban catchment and demonstrates how to use that model to compare stormwater runoff under undeveloped and post-development conditions. It emphasizes key tasks such as preparing the model structure, organizing required input data, setting up simulation parameters, running the model, and evaluating runoff responses under different land development scenarios. These skills are especially relevant for engineers and planners addressing urban drainage concerns related to land use change and increasing impervious surfaces. 

Users will learn how to better understand rainfall-runoff behavior, assess peak runoff characteristics, and evaluate the effect of urbanization-driven imperviousness on both peak and total runoff. This tutorial complements the GeoSWMM User’s Manual by offering a structured, example-driven walkthrough of real-world modeling scenarios.  

The following sections begins a step-by-step demonstration of the worked example project, guiding users through each stage of building and simulating a GeoSWMM urban hydrologic model.