Feasibility of installing Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems in already urbanized areas of the Calderdale District, West Yorkshire. England

Ana Paula Micou

Instituto de Geografía, Fac. de Filosofía y Letras Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentine)

paulamicou@yahoo.com.ar

 

            The research and development of new methodologies for the control of diffuse pollution for the urban river restoration have grown considerable science the late nineteen-nineties in the UK, particularly in Scotland, and a number of new techniques have been developed such the sustainable urban Drainage Systems (SUDS), a range of technologies especially designed to mimic the natural process of the river catchment (Petts et al 2002).

            However, all these techniques are been built for new urban developments in order to prevent more sources of pollution, but there is a lack of work that analyzes the possibility of installing the systems in already developed areas in order to control and reduce existent pollution. These already developed areas may be important sources of urban pollution, but they may be not suitable for the installation of certain control techniques, because of constrains associated with urban areas, such as the lack of space.

            Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to construct are methodology based on a Multi Criteria analysis (MCA) using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) techniques to identify suitable areas for retrofitting urban rivers, considering socio-economical and physical variable which are determinant as concerns the possibility of building SUDS in already developed urban areas in the Calderdale District, West Yorkshire, UK.

            The MCA resulted to be a simple and useful tool to identify suitable places and the result showed that is the possible to install SUDS in already urban areas, and specially those techniques which are considered as source control techniques like swales or pervious surfaces. Site control techniques may be applied as well but some other factors must be included in the MCA.