Sustainable Stormwater management

International casesLars Rydén

The Baltic University ProgrammeCentre for Sustainable Development

Uppsala University

Stormwater

Stormwater is water that originates from precipitation events and snow/ice melt

Stormwater can - run into the sewage system- soak into the soil - be held on the surface and evaporate- run off and end up in nearby streams

Urban runoff entering a storm drainin Kharkiv. Early spring

SWITCH Sustainable water management

in the city of the futurewww.switchurbanwater.eu

• protection of the hydrological cycle• landscape aesthetics• integration with neighbouring land • correctness of design• environmentally: habitat integrity, biodiversity

The SWITCH project

• Cities in four continents and at various stages of development• All aspects of the water cycle – water, wastewater, stormwater and

natural systems• A wide range of climatic, socio-economic and institutional situations• Social, economic and environmental perspectives• Scales ranging from household to city levels• Water as part of urban planning and the built environment• From the present time to the 'City of the Future'

Water in the CitySustainable Development Applications SeriesEdited byTomasz Bergier, AGH University of Science and TechnologyJakub Kronenberg, University of LodzIwona Wagner, University of Lodz, ERCE u/a UNESCO PAS

Published byThe Sendzimir Foundationwww.sendzimir.org.pl

http://www.sendzimir.org.pl/images/zrz-5-en/ZRZ5_web.pdf

Sustainability Challengesfor stormwater managment

• To be able to take care of a large volume of water during floods• To reduce pollution of the receiving water• To take care of water as a resource• To promote biodiversity• To increase the beauty and functionality of the urbanscape

Large surfaces devoid of greenery, such as parking lots, roads and sidewalks cause the most troublein terms of uncontrolled surface runoff. Green infrastructureis often impossible to apply.

It is possible to use materials that allow water to infiltrate, i.e. pervious paving and asphalt.

Infiltration basin and footbridge in Aiken, USA

Pervious pavements, asphalt and grass pavers

Vegetated buffer strips

Vegetated grass buffer strips are a good solution in areas with looser development, especially nearroads.

These slightly inclined vegetated surfaces allow the slow (horizontal and lateral) flow of stormwater from adjacent land

Infiltration basin and footbridge in Aiken, USA

Curb indentations

Curb indentations channel water, allowing it to flow from the streets and sidewalks.

Runoff water flowing down NE Siskiyou street in Portland, Oregon, USA

Detention basin used for recreation during dry weather can collectwater from the streets and parking lot.

Grangetown , Wales, UKSuDS WalesSustainable Drainage Systems

Detention basins

Infiltration ditches and grass ditches

Grass ditch along tramway tracks in the city centre of Freiburg, Germany.

Dry detention pond Benthemplein water square in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Photo during dry weather. Can accommodatenearly 2 million litres of water during rain.

Sedimentation – biofiltration system pilot project in theSokolowka river in Lodz, Poland

A large stormwater wetland in Massachusetts, USA

Buffer zone with biogeochemical barrier

for the pre-treatment of water conveyed directly to the reservoir

schematic representation and pilot project in the ponds of Arturowek in Lodz, Poland

Sustainable Stormwater System

Augustenborg, Malmö Sweden, 1998–2014

Sidewalk Garden Project

San Francisco, USA, Established in May 2013

Human–Nature–TechnologySustainable stormwater management

Kronsberg, Hanover Germany, concept – 1992, beginning of construction – 1997

Children are playing by the “bächle” in Freiburg, Germany. The “bächle” are small open water channels thatfollow the streets downhill to the river.

Conclusions1. Acknowledge the importance of water as a natural system that provides a range of benefits (ecosystem services) to the city; a shift in the perception from the need to desiccate the city and perceiving water as a threat to the benefits of increasing the presence of water in a controlled way and seeing water as a resource.

2. Accept the presence of water in the city and design space for it; use technical solutions that enhance stormwater infiltration and retention in the urban drainage basin, and its treatment.

3. Allow the use of best practices in stormwater management alone or in combination with traditional methods (combined or stormwater sewer systems).