Urban drainage in Ireland - embracing sustainable systems

摘要

The current approach to stormwater management in Ireland requires that outflows fromnew developments are restricted to greenfield values that would have occurred prior todevelopment. This typically involved the use of holding tanks constructed withindevelopments to attenuate stormwater from where it was released at a reduced rate via a control structure to a nearby drainage network or watercourse. Improved drainagepolicies now require that sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) are used to meet thisobjective. This study presents an evaluation of perceived issues that may impede theadoption of new policies. The findings are based on surveys and focus groups ofpractitioners involved with the planning and design of drainage systems. Although thestudy indicates that benefits of SuDS are reasonably well understood, their use, for many reasons, has remained less popular. Concerns with ongoing maintenance and long-term responsibility of SuDS remain impediments to the embracing of these systems in drainage strategies.