Urban drainage impacts on receiving waters

Abstract

The paper deals with the causes and consequences of urban storm drainage impacts on receiving waters and discusses available methods and tools for implementation of structural as well as non-structural measures to improve surface water quality from the deleterious effects of such intermittent urban discharges. Pollution of receiving waters must be understood on the basis of the characteristics and processes of controlling interactions within the urban water and wastewater system in order that an operational procedure for improved quality of the surface waters and adjacent corridor can be achieved. The main aspects of such a procedure involve water quality and biotic criteria as well as modelling systems which enable the user to link together the effect of changes within the catchment or surface water system with a specific quality and ecological improvement of the receiving waters.