Urban drainage has developed from an engineering discipline concerned principally with public health and safety outcomes, into a multi-faceted vision linking drainage with environmental and wider social and economic imperatives to deliver multi-functional outcomes. UK attention is too often focused on surface water as a problem despite international progress and initiatives showing that an opportunity-centred approach needs to be taken. Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS/SUDS) as part of an integrated approach to water management, cost-effectively provide many benefits beyond management of water quality and quantity. New tools are available that can provide the means to design SuDS for maximum value to society and this requires greater collaboration across disciplines to seize all of the opportunities available. Tools and a roadmap for this are introduced, including guidance, design objectives and criteria for maximising benefits. These new supporting tools and guidance can help provide the business case for using SuDS.

Sustainable drainage systems are increasingly seen as a better way of draining urban areas, being ‘more natural’, less resource intensive and offering water quantity and quality control with amenity benefits. Sustainable drainage systems ‘greening’ can also reduce heat island effects. However, little attention has been given to assessing the real value and sustainability of the approach and uncertainties remain over performance and robustness, as well as ownership and maintenance. Received wisdom suggests that sustainable drainage systems have potential to help cope with climate change, while offering wider sustainability benefits over traditional piped drainage. The inherent adaptability of sustainable drainage systems allows them to be implemented incrementally as climate change knowledge advances. This paper provides evidence from a range of initiatives to show how sustainable drainage systems can contribute to a portfolio approach to tackling the problems of climate change. The need for political intervention and enhanced stakeholder engagement to support this type of approach is highlighted.

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