Abstract: Low impact development (LID) practice, a resilient solution, could effectively solve new and old water problems in urban areas; its comprehensive benefits are more significant compared to the single function of grey infrastructures oriented at controlling rainfall runoff volumes. To evaluate the benefits at the planning and design stage, this paper constructs a comprehensive assessment system of five different LID measures, including 18 indicators for disaster reduction benefits, economic benefits, environmental benefits, and social benefits. Application of this new system to the Jinan Daminghu sponge city construction pilot area indicates that under the 24h design storms with 5-year, 10-year and 20-year return periods, the LID measures reduce direct flood loss by 13.86%, 4.28% and 4.09% respectively, and increase groundwater recharge volume by 2.23, 2.86 and 2.87 million m3 respectively. And with green roofs constructed by LID, the air contents of NO2, O3, SO2 and PM10 could be reduced by 0.38-0.61, 0.74-1.17, 0.29-0.52 and 0.14-0.17 t/yr. In addition, LID practices help enhance environmental aesthetics.

Key words: urban water management, low impact development, comprehensive benefit assessment, sponge city, Jinan