SUDS, or Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems, combine individual water management products, processes and facilities in a way that harmonies with the draining of surface water with the local environment. It is a more sustainable approach than the traditional rapid conveyance of water through a pipe into a watercourse.
It is important that SUDS, and all that they entail, are properly understood as the floods and Water Act has transformed the SUDS approach from one of an ecological nicety to a legislative requirement.
Just as geography and landscapes vary, so do the requirements for sustainable water management. One project solution cannot necessarily be automatically transferred to another project; there is no “one size fits all”.
Delivering SUDS solutions is now the great challenge for engineers, architects and house builders, and understanding what tools are available from the SUDS product toolkit and how they fit together is now more critical than ever.
