Analysis of Alternatives for Sustainable Stormwater Management in Small Developments of Polish Urban Catchments

Abstract

Sustainable stormwater management approaches in accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) allow a source control to handle the quality and quantity of the runoff at local level or near the source. The most popular technologies applied in Europe are green roofs, porous pavements, retention basins and bioswales/raingardens. In this article, two of these solutions (retention tank with reuse, and rain garden, respectively), applied to single dwelling case studies in a suburban area in the Silesia Region (Poland), are illustrated and analyzed. The selected cases consider technical and economic aspects as the most important factors for decision on the selection of onsite stormwater management approach. Both systems have been operational for approximately two years. The retention tank proved a good solution, reducing stormwater overflows and allowing local water reuse for lawn irrigation; however, investment and maintenance costs in this case are relatively higher. The raingarden proved to work efficiently in this small scale implementation and implied much lower initial investment and costs. The economic sustainability of these interventions at single dwelling scale was analyzed, showing interesting returns, with outcome depending on the degree of possible water reuse (lower water bills) and availability of fiscal or fee incentives. Introduction of financial incentive schemes will encourage homeowners and developers to implement stormwater control solutions, allowing rapid amortization of investment costs with additional benefits to the community, such as reduced environmental impact of stormwater overflows and possible economies in the construction and management of stormwater systems.

Urban Green Infrastructure and Sustainable Development: A Review

“…They are papers that use mapping through GIS or remote sensing to describe and analyze topics such as landscape connectivity (e.g., Niedźwiecka-Filipiak et al [37]), urban sprawl (e.g., Gavrilidis et al [38]), assessing urban heat island (e.g., Marando et al [39]), water management (e.g., Wong et al; Kuller et al [40,41]) and related subjects. The remaining 27 quantitative papers focused on metrics: quantitatively evaluating variables of UGI and SD such as assessment of green development (e.g., Wu et al [42]), estimating the value of UGI or ES using cost-benefit analysis of UGI (e.g., Sutton and Anderson [43]) and analyzing the economic sustainability in storm water urban catchments (e.g., Boguniewicz-Zabłocka and Capodaglio [44]). It is also noticeable that between these 27 articles, 8 of them (the biggest number between the 27 articles) use cost-benefit analysis in their methodology (e.g., W. Liu et al [28]).…”

Evaluation of the Influence of Catchment Parameters on the Required Size of a Stormwater Infiltration Facility

“…The application of modern methods for designing stormwater infiltration systems, including hydrodynamic modeling, is limited to devices located directly at the site of rainfall, the so-called LID facilities, whose task is to reduce stormwater runoff from the catchment area [45]. However, research indicates that the best solution is to use LID elements together with more classical methods that allow, for example, the retention of stormwater [46].…”

Stormwater Harvesting from Roof Catchments: A Review of Design, Efficiency, and Sustainability

“…Urbanization helps the economy and improves living circumstances, but unplanned expansion carries many hydrological concerns, such as pollution, water supply, and drainage [5]. Increasing impermeable surfaces and poor resiliency of urban drainage system design from constant development increases peak storm runoff, which could harm urban communities and their water security in general [6]. Increased frequency of downpours due to climate change also imposes greater and intensified effects.…”