Sustainable surface water management: A handbook for SuDS

This book emphasises the SuDS philosophy and elaborates the sustainable surface water management agenda with a wealth of insights that are brought together through the experts who have contributed. By integrating physical and environmental sciences, and combining social, economic and political considerations, the book provides a unique resource of interest to a wide range of policy specialists, scientists, engineers and subject enthusiasts.The book comprises seven sections, which are collated into twenty–nine chapters. Section 1 provides a primer to the book and offers an initial background into surface water management issues and challenges (Chapter 1). Section 2 places sustainable surface water management in context, through its historical context, contemporary surface water strategy, policy and legislation, operations and maintenance (Chapters 2–4). Section 3 utilises the facets of the functions of sustainable drainage systems, to explore quantity and quality issues, together with biodegradation and geosynthetics, biodiversity and amenity, (Chapters 5–11). Section 4 attempts to untangle the complex relationship of the multiple benefits of surface water management, through natural floodwater management, energy generation and reduction, carbon sequestration and storage, plus the use of rainwater harvesting as a water saving device and its use in ecosystem services (Chapters 12–16). Section 5 announces the implementation of integrating sustainable surface water management into the built environment, through an interesting scrutiny of the cost benefits that can be derived, the possibility of sustainable drainage retrofit and conversion opportunities, and their use in the landscapes of motorway service areas, alongside human attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable drainage systems (Chapters 17–21). Section 6 contextualises global surface water management, through the use of examples from Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA, amongst others (Chapters 22–28). Section 7 congregates various aspects detailed in the earlier chapters by offering a summary of the book and propositioning many insights of the teachings that can be learnt for the future of sustainable surface water management (Chapter 29)