Water-sensitive urban design

About: Water-sensitive urban design is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 507 publications have been published within this topic receiving 8443 citations. The topic is also known as: WSUD.

SUDS, LID, BMPs, WSUD and more – The evolution and application of terminology surrounding urban drainage

Abstract: The management of urban stormwater has become increasingly complex over recent decades. Consequently, terminology describing the principles and practices of urban drainage has become increasingly diverse, increasing the potential for confusion and miscommunication. This paper documents the history, scope, application and underlying principles of terms used in urban drainage and provides recommendations for clear communication of these principles. Terminology evolves locally and thus has an important role in establishing awareness and credibility of new approaches and contains nuanced understandings of the principles that are applied locally to address specific problems. Despite the understandable desire to have a ‘uniform set of terminology’, such a concept is flawed, ignoring the fact that terms reflect locally shared understanding. The local development of terminology thus has an important role in advancing the profession, but authors should facilitate communication between disciplines and between regio...

Stream restoration in urban catchments through redesigning stormwater systems: looking to the catchment to save the stream

Abstract: Restoration of streams degraded by urbanization has usually been attempted by enhancement of instream habitat or riparian zones. Such restoration approaches are unlikely to substantially improve instream ecological condition because they do not match the scale of the degrading process. Recent studies of urban impacts on streams in Melbourne, Australia, on water chemistry, algal biomass and assemblage composition of diatoms and invertebrates, suggested that the primary degrading process to streams in many urban areas is effective imperviousness (EI), the proportion of a catchment covered by impervious surfaces directly connected to the stream by stormwater drainage pipes. The direct connection of impervious surfaces to streams means that even small rainfall events can produce sufficient surface runoff to cause frequent disturbance through regular delivery of water and pollutants; where impervious surfaces are not directly connected to streams, small rainfall events are intercepted and infiltrated. ...

Impediments and Solutions to Sustainable, Watershed-Scale Urban Stormwater Management: Lessons from Australia and the United States

Abstract: In urban and suburban areas, stormwater runoff is a primary stressor on surface waters. Conventional urban stormwater drainage systems often route runoff directly to streams and rivers, thus exacerbating pollutant inputs and hydrologic disturbance, and resulting in the degradation of ecosystem structure and function. Decentralized stormwater management tools, such as low impact development (LID) or water sensitive urban design (WSUD), may offer a more sustainable solution to stormwater management if implemented at a watershed scale. These tools are designed to pond, infiltrate, and harvest water at the source, encouraging evaporation, evapotranspiration, groundwater recharge, and re-use of stormwater. While there are numerous demonstrations of WSUD practices, there are few examples of widespread implementation at a watershed scale with the explicit objective of protecting or restoring a receiving stream. This article identifies seven major impediments to sustainable urban stormwater management: (1) uncertainties in performance and cost, (2) insufficient engineering standards and guidelines, (3) fragmented responsibilities, (4) lack of institutional capacity, (5) lack of legislative mandate, (6) lack of funding and effective market incentives, and (7) resistance to change. By comparing experiences from Australia and the United States, two developed countries with existing conventional stormwater infrastructure and escalating stream ecosystem degradation, we highlight challenges facing sustainable urban stormwater management and offer several examples of successful, regional WSUD implementation. We conclude by identifying solutions to each of the seven impediments that, when employed separately or in combination, should encourage widespread implementation of WSUD with watershed-based goals to protect human health and safety, and stream ecosystems.

Watering our cities The capacity for Water Sensitive Urban Design to support urban cooling and improve human thermal comfort in the Australian context

Abstract: Urban drainage infrastructure is generally designed to rapidly export stormwater away from the urban environment to minimize flood risk created by extensive impervious surface cover. This deficit i...