How Does Your Garden Flow? The Impact of Domestic Front Gardens on Urban Flooding
Journal Title: International Journal of Environment and Climate Change - Year 2016, Vol 6, Issue 2
Abstract
Aims: To quantify rainwater runoff from domestic front gardens as a consequence of increased impervious surface area and climate change impacts, thus allowing the runoff contribution from both newly and previously covered front gardens to be assessed in terms of the overall urban flood burden. Study Design: Numerical simulation of the runoff from a typical front garden in response to simulated rainfall events for four UK cities (Edinburgh, Manchester, London, and Exeter). Methodology: A typical front garden was simulated with varying areas of impermeable surface area (0%, 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) to represent observed trends in garden paving. Storm events representing current design and projected future rainfall intensities were applied to each of the four cities. The resultant runoff volumes were then quantified. Results: Runoff is shown to be directly proportional to both the impermeable surface area and the rainfall intensity. Areas of impermeable paving can generate substantial volumes of runoff during a storm event which can contribute to localized flooding or add to the urban flood burden. Increased rainfall intensities and frequencies due to climate change are likely to increase runoff further. Conclusion: Domestic front gardens play a vital role in managing surface water runoff in towns and cities. Growing trends of paving over front gardens put this role in jeopardy, while increasing rainfall intensities due to climate change make this role increasingly important. The quantification of domestic front garden runoff provides a mechanism for facilitating the protection, and enhancement, of this important asset in terms of water and urban flood management.
Authors and Affiliations
D. A. Kelly
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP350484
- DOI 10.9734/BJECC/2016/23728
- Views 112
- Downloads 0
Monitoring Spatial and Temporal Seaweeds Variation Using Remote Sensing Data in Al-Shoaiba Coast, Red Sea
Aims: Spatial variability and temporal dynamics of benthic seaweeds using the field investigation and Landsat Thematic Mapper images Place and Duration of Study: Al-Shoaiba area, Saudi Arabia, Red Sea was investigated an...
Effect of Climate Change on Potential Groundwater Recharge in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka
Groundwater is still an important water source for many parts of the world, especially in countries such as Sri Lanka, because, despite a huge government investment to divert some of the rivers to dry areas, there are ma...
Response of Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.) to Seed Polymerization with Micronutrients and Foliar Spray at Different Growth Stages
Aim: To study the response of Pigeonpea to seed polymerization with micronutrients and foliar spray at different growth stages. Place of Study: Field experiment was conducted during kharif 2014 at Main Agricultural Resea...
An Analysis of Climate Forcings from the Central England Temperature (CET) Record
The Central England Temperature (CET) record is the world's longest instrument-based temperature record and covers the years 1659-present. The temperature variation of 0.8°C between the Maunder Sunspot Minimum in the lat...
Integrating Weather Research and Forecasting Model, Noah Land Surface Model and Urban Canopy Model for Urban Heat Island Effect Assessment
Despite increased interest on the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon, there are limited UHI studies on cities built using the green-city concept of Sir Ebenezer Howard [1]. The administrative capital of Malaysia, Putraja...