The Basics Of Storm Water Management
Engineers and builders have been concerned with storm water management since people first started building their homes closer together during the Bronze Age between 2220 BC and 750 BC. Stormwater is produced by rainwater and melting snow. Some of it evaporates into the atmosphere and another proportion soaks into the ground. What remains is called stormwater runoff. This is what we have civil engineers for.
There are three important reasons why stormwater runoff is so important. For one, if too much of it irrigates the land before it has a chance to soak into the earth, drain into the sewer system or evaporate, it causes a flood. How much of a flood depends on how large an area of land is available to soak it up, and how much is covered up with impervious surfaces such as buildings and roads.
In a natural environment, unblemished by structures or roads, nearly half of the runoff is transpired by plant life or evaporated back into the atmosphere. We call this ‘evapotranspiration’. The other half infiltrates the ground. In a highly urbanized area, three quarters to nearly all of the surface is covered by buildings and other impervious surfaces. Not only is there a smaller surface area for drainage, but less is transpired because there is not as much plant cover. More than half of the stormwater can turn into runoff.
The daily routines of human life result in the deposition of pollutants on roads, lawns, roofs, etc. As it rains, these pollutants are picked up by stormwater and dumped into natural surface waters (oceans, river, lakes). The name for this is polluted runoff and is the second of the three implications for runoff.
The third reason why runoff is so important is as a resource. The world’s population is increasing at an alarming rate and vast populations of people do not have access to clean water. Stormwater harvesting and purification are essential to enable urban environments to become self sustaining as regards this increasingly precious natural resource.
The Bronze Age ruins of the Minoan Palace of Phaistos, found on the Greek island of Crete, provide one of the earliest examples of stormwater engineering. This is a major archaeological site. It attracts thousands of visitor each year during the spring, summer and early autumn.
In the United States, managing stormwater runoff is overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Since the late 1960s and early 1970s, they have been developing and using a computerized model to assist them with this task. It provides a graphical interface for entering data and editing runoff watershed data and running simulations of hydraulic control as well as tracking real time rates and depths of water flow.
Whether it is a new build or an urban renewal project, storm water management is a crucial consideration. It applies to the design, construction and routine maintenance of bridges, highways and tunnels. With continued growth in global population, successfully managing flood risks is essential to providing safe homes for people. Climate change contributes to increasing sea levels, making this a key topics everywhere in the world.
Storm Water Management company offers environmentally friendly Drain Field Septic System for commercial, residential or mobile use.
Related Articles:
Leave a Comment