[Talk-GB] SuDS (Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems)

[Jez Nicholson]

My client GeoSmart are experts on SuDS, further reading at
https://geosmartinfo.co.uk/knowledge-hub/sustainable-drainage-systems/

Many/most planning applications for new developments now have to mitigate
the drainage area that has been lost to houses/drives/roads/etc. It can be
difficult to identify a SuDS installation as they are deliberately blended
into the site. It might just be a pond at the bottom of a larger dipped
area that'll take some of the bite out of a flash flood.



On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 2:46 PM SK53 <sk53.osm at gmail.com> wrote:

> Last night before visiting the pub we had a look at part of Sheffield's
> "Grey-to-Green" SuDS system. Unfortunately all my batteries ad packed up at
> this point, but there are some decent pictures on twitter
> <https://twitter.com/NigelDunnett/status/1136347921950134273>.
> The bit we looked at was outside the courthouses. It consisted of :
>
>    - A bio-swale. Planted with a colourful mixture of plants most of
>    which I've forgotten now, although I do recall Jerusalem Sage. The ground
>    was a gravel mix with presumably a geo-membrane underneath to retain water.
>    A few birches were also planted along the length of the swale.
>    Superficially this just looks from a distance like a large ornamental
>    flower bed.
>    - Concrete 'dams' periodically, along the swale, rising to within a
>    few inches of pavement level and with a v-shaped notch in the centre.
>    Obviously these are not really dams, more a type of weir, being designed to
>    moderate the flow of water through pooling behind each dam. I've seen
>    similar constructions in the Alps albeit on a larger scale.
>    - At the bottom of the swale a more obvious drainage channel. Where
>    the swale is broken for pedestrian access this runs in a recessed gutter
>    covered by a grille.
>
> There are probably other features of the completed scheme which we didn't
> see. I notice many new-build housing estates will have an area set aside as
> a water retention basin.
>
> I've previously noted a SuDS along Ribblesdale Road
> <https://web.archive.org/web/20131002214536/http://www.susdrain.org/case-studies/case_studies/nottingham_green_streets_retrofit_rain_garden_project.html>
> in Nottingham, but the features involved are on too small a scale to
> consider mapping for now.
>
> This type of infrastructure is becoming much more popular, particularly
> with extreme flooding events due to surface run-off. I'd hoped to look at
> the one in Sheffield, and fortunately Laura both remembered this and where
> it was. Larger ones are relatively simple to map the main features,
> choosing viable & appropriate tags is more challenging. I've had a go
> <https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/53.38533/-1.46791>, but am very
> open to other suggestions. I suspect the whole swale should be mapped as a
> waterway feature. For now I've used waterway=drain with intermittent=yes
> for the channel in the swale & the connecting part of the drain running in
> a covered gutter (one import in Santa Clara Co, CA opted for
> waterway=stream). However many of the features could use man-made rather
> than waterway tags.
>
> In conclusion: there's probably a SuDS near you; they're hard to tag (for
> know); but not too hard to map; we could do with thinking about better tags.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry
>
>
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