We could spend a long time listing all the benefits that SuDS have on the built and natural environment but the CIRIA SuDS manual narrows it down successfully to these key points;
" Benefits of SuDS
- protecting people and property from increased flood risk resulting from the development
- protecting the quality of groundwater and surface waters from polluted runoff from the development
- protecting natural flow regimes (and thus the morphology and associated ecology) in rivers, lakes and streams
- supporting local natural habitats and associated ecosystems by encouraging greater biodiversity and linking habitats
- improving soil moisture and replenishing depleted groundwater levels
- providing society with a valuable supply of water
- Creating attractive places where people want to live, work and play through the integration of water and green spaces with the built environment
- improving people's understanding of how runoff from their development is being managed and used, and the benefits of more sustainable approaches
- supporting the creation of developments that are more able to cope with changes in climate delivering cost-effective infrastructure that uses fewer natural resources and has a smaller whole-life carbon footprint than conventional drainage."
Image: Page 10 CIRIA SuDS Manual 2015
Next time; The benefits of managing surface water runoff!
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By Bill Blackledge CMLI
member of LI Technical Committee