Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS)–what it is and where do we stand today?

Abstract

Stormwater management is a topic of growing complexity. It includes all measures in mitigating stormwater runoff. Various studieshave identified stormwater as a major carrier of variouspollutants and other contaminants. The utmost motive behindthe implementation of stormwater management strategies is to use a suite of Best Management Practices to reduce sediment load, nutrients and chemical pollutant loads in stormwater before they reach natural watercourses downstream. Mitigation of the flood threat is another objective. Mitigation measures have been implemented in many countrieswith the same objectives. The relevant factors to be considered when adopting stormwater management measures are the geophysical aspectssuch as the climate, hydrology, land, soil and topography, law and social factors as well as thetechnical and economic issues. The world is moving more towards green concepts in mitigating stormwaterrunoff. Some of thesemeasures are Low Impact Designs, Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) and Water Sensitive Urban Design. SUDS are more attuned tothe green concept. The primary goal of SUDS is to switch from pipe-engineered system to practices and systems that use and enhance natural processes, i.e. infiltration, evapotranspiration, filtration and re-use. While conventional drainage systemsfocus only on the stormwater quantity, SUDS pay attention to all three aspects of quantity, quality and amenity/biodiversity. These measures have their own advantages and shortcomings. This review targets thepresent the state of the art of SUDS and itsimportance in stormwater management