SUSTAINABLE DRAINAGE SYSTEMS
A recent article in GEOGRAPHY magazine (April 2003) talked about the use of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS)
KEY POINTS
There has been an increase in the population of urban centres (from 737 million in 1950 to 2.7 billion in 2000)
About 4% of the world's land area is covered by urban areas
Urban areas have an effect on the shape of the hydrograph of rivers which are unsustainable and have lead to an increase in flooding episodes
SuDS involve the following: reduce the quantity of surface runoff, slow the velocity of runoff and provide a possible treatment of the collected water
They usually involve retention areas e.g wetlands, some sort of permeable surface or underground storage of the water.
An example is Hopwood Services on the M42 where water collected on the rooves of the buildings is channelled into a wetlands area
More soon....