Sustainable Urban Drainage: a brief review of the compensatory techniques of structural and non-structural measures

Abstract

The accelerated disorderly and unplanned growth of cities has had negative impacts, such as the inability of the rainwater collection network to drain the area, causing flooding. Developing sustainable urban drainage projects, integrated urban water management and compensatory techniques in urban drainage are alternatives used to reduce the negative effects of urbanization on the hydrological cycle. Planning the surface runoff of urban water should go beyond structural projects, we must consider technical, financial, political and cultural aspects, among others, which makes this process complex, although very necessary. The aim of this paper is to undertake a brief literature review presenting the main urban drainage compensatory techniques used to promote sustainable management of rainwater. It concludes that there are many compensatory techniques that can be applied to promote and make sustainable urban drainage possible, whether through structural or non-structural measures.

A General Overview of the Risk-Reduction Strategies for Floods and Droughts

“…Common structural measures, such as retention ponds, dams, river improvement, urban drainage systems, and levees or dikes, are used to store floodwater, decrease peak stage, and retain floodwater to mitigate the impact of floods [42][43][44]. Nonstructural measures include early flood warning, hydrological taxes, flood emergency planning and response, and environmental education [44,45]. Structural measures are engineering constructions that aim to reduce or remove the volume of floods.…”

“…Structural measures are engineering constructions that aim to reduce or remove the volume of floods. Some studies argue that structural measures are fundamental to solving most flood problems, but in addition to being costly, they do not by themselves effectively and sustainably resolve the most complex problems [45,46]. Nonstructural measures are applied to prevent and reduce damage through actions, legislation, standards, and programs [45,47].…”

“…Some studies argue that structural measures are fundamental to solving most flood problems, but in addition to being costly, they do not by themselves effectively and sustainably resolve the most complex problems [45,46]. Nonstructural measures are applied to prevent and reduce damage through actions, legislation, standards, and programs [45,47]. One study showed that flood impacts are more efficiently reduced with structural strategies compared to nonstructural strategies [48].…”

GIS-based multi-criteria analytical hierarchy process modelling for urban flood vulnerability analysis, Accra Metropolis

“…Urbanised landscapes, where impervious and bare areas cover extensive land surfaces are characterized by reduced in ltration and accelerated runoff which tends to increase the frequency and intensity of ood events (Chen et al, 2009;Leopold, 1968;Mojaddadi et al, 2017). Chen et al, (2009) and Albuquerque et al, (2019) further emphasized that the urban environment's waterproofed surfaces obstruct natural drainage channels or increase the likelihood that surface runoffs overwhelm the drainage capacity.…”