The social impacts of stormwater management techniques

This paper presents the results of research into the social impacts of stormwater management techniques applied within urban environments. The main aim of the study was to compare public and professional attitudes of stormwater management practices such as Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) and river management techniques. Any new and innovative technology used in residential areas, besides being economically and environmentally acceptable, must also be accepted by the residents. There has been considerable interest in the assessment of the public perception of SUDS in the UK by consultants, developers, the Environment Agency of England and Wales as well as by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). This research was undertaken to inform such interest and also to obtain a more holistic view of the perception by professionals of SUDS. A comparative study of the perceptions of river management in three densely populated European cities facing similar storm water management problems was carried out. The selected cities were Glasgow in Scotland – U. K., an area in west London, England - U.K., and part of Athens – Greece. All sites were located within flood-prone suburban areas, and different river management techniques have been proposed or adopted.