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https://theconversation.com/auckland-floods-even-stormwater-reform-wont-be-enough-we-need-a-sponge-city-to-avoid-future-disasters-198736>
"We’ve built our cities to be vulnerable to – and exacerbate – major weather
events such as the one we saw in Auckland on Friday. While almost no city in
the world could fully escape the effects of four months’ worth of rain in 24
hours, there are many things that could have been done to avoid some of the
worst impacts.
Buildings, streets and car parks are all impermeable surfaces. When it rains,
the water rushes off these surfaces and into gutters. From the gutters, the
water drains into a stormwater catch basin, through the stormwater network, and
into streams and the sea.
Herein lies the problem. The more we build, the more stormwater we need to
drain. Every new building or road replaces the planet’s natural stormwater
system: plants and soil, and channels for runoff.
The network of pipes can only hold so much water before it is fully inundated
and begins to flood. While every block typically has a catch basin or two, they
can easily clog with leaves and other debris even before a storm hits. Add an
abnormal amount of rainfall, and neighbourhood flooding is nearly guaranteed."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
