Sustainable Urban Drainage Practices and Their Effects on Aquifer Recharge

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Abstract Between 1994 and 2006, an 18% increase of freshwater flow into the earth’s ocean was recorded, as well as extreme weather events such as prolonged drought and intense floods. Following this period was an era of increased evaporation from oceans and seas, which heightened global warming in Africa. This chapter proposes the use of man-made aquifers recharge processes as methods of draining water into the soil before the runoff water reaches water bodies. Source control involves controlling the volume of water entering drainage systems or rivers by cutting off runoff water through storing for reuse or evapotranspiration as seen in green roofs. Pre-treatment is the use of trenches to filter and remove contaminants from water before getting to water bodies. Retention systems on the other hand is controlling the rate at which water is discharged to waterways by providing water storage areas such as ponds, water retention areas, etc., while Infiltration Systems are areas that allow natural soaking of stormwater runoff to the ground naturally recharging the water table. The proposed methods will see replenishing of the water table, a great leap in the efforts of curbing global warming. This practice can easily be adopted by both individuals and government as we build more and more buildings creating a balance between the need for human settlement and the natural way of water replenishing itself. The methods do not introduce extra costs to an already existing budget. In some cases, the methods help to reduce the costs of projects especially in urban areas. Africa which hosts many of the growing countries sees and will continue to experience surges in urbanization. For such, these methods presented in this topic will be, if implemented, a best method to solve the urban drainage problems before this even occurs.

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