Sustainable drainage system site assessment method using urban ecosystem services

Abstract

The United Kingdom's recently updated approach to sustainable drainage enhanced biodiversity and amenity objectives by incorporating the ecosystem approach and the ecosystem services concept. However, cost-effective and reliable methods to appraise the biodiversity and amenity values of potential sustainable drainage system (SuDS) sites and their surrounding areas are still lacking, as is a method to enable designers to distinguish and link the amenity and biodiversity benefits that SuDS schemes can offer. In this paper, therefore, the authors propose two ecosystem services-and disservicesbased methods (i.e. vegetation structure cover-abundance examination and cultural ecosystem services and disservices variables appraisal) to aid SuDS designers to distinguish and link amenity and biodiversity benefits, and allow initial site assessments to be performed in a cost-effective and reliable fashion. Forty-nine representative sites within Greater Manchester were selected to test the two methods. Amenity and biodiversity were successfully assessed and habitat for species, carbon sequestration, recreation and education ecosystem services scores were produced, which will support SuDS retrofit design decision-making. Large vegetated SuDS sites with permanent aquatic features were found to be most capable of enhancing biodiversity-and amenity-related ecosystem services. Habitat for species and recreation ecosystem services were also found to be positively linked to each other. Finally, waste bins on site were found to help reduce dog faeces and litter coverage. Overall, the findings presented here enable future SuDS retrofit designs to be more wildlife friendly and socially inclusive.

Can We Really Have It All?—Designing Multifunctionality with Sustainable Urban Drainage System Elements

“…Likewise, data-driven ANFIS model was used for assessing the impacts of SUDS scenarios with consideration of the water quality criterion [52]. Amenity and biodiversity values of different types of existing SUDS structures have been assessed in earlier studies [13,32,33], but analyses of landscape architectural designs are rare. In this study, a biphasic assessment was created for both values.…”

“…Being part of the drainage network, the primary function of SUDS is to control water quantity [13] to prevent both flooding on-site and in downstream areas. Additionally, on-site water quantity management helps to preserve the natural hydrological functions of a catchment.…”

“…Furthermore, visible water and SUDS increase the amenity of urban green areas [32]. The amenity values experienced in existing urban greenspaces can be measured by scoring systems [13] or by investigating public perception (i.e., with questionnaires, such as those conducted by Bastien et al [33]). During the design process, amenity values are challenging to measure, but opportunities for recreation, education, and human contact with nature, can be maximized by enhancing ease of public access and social interaction.…”

“…In addition, along with direct water-related benefits, SUDS possess the potential to create synergies with other functions in urban areas. An increased amount of vegetation combined with visible water provides several ecosystem services, such as habitat provision, erosion control, microclimate regulation, recreation, and aesthetical experiences [12,13]. However, there is no precise understanding of the ways multifunctionality and a combination of benefits can be promoted with SUDS in an urban landscape, due to related research concentrating mainly on the evaluation of individual benefits [14,15].…”

Potential of Retrofitting Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems Using an Integrated Geographical Information System-Remote Sensing Based Approach

“…SuDS are widely used in Europe and in the US to manage surface water runoff within urban areas. Increasingly SuDS design is incorporated into new developments (Voskamp et al, 2015;Mak et al, 2017). The key objective of SUDS is to route runoff away from homes and businesses and create storage capacity either above or within the ground.…”