Jack Lonsdale
Competition winner 2019
An Analytical Approach to Identifying Sustainable Drainage Systems Opportunities
“Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) are becoming increasingly prevalent as we move to promote water quality, quantity, amenity and biodiversity benefits to drainage solutions in light of modern global challenges. The identification of suitable measures and locations, and the quantification of the costs and benefits, is vital to give clarity to key stakeholders and promote the commission of SuDS.
I have developed a suite of desktop routines, building off previous work by Stantec around Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMP), to automate and quantify the identification of possible SuDS retrofit opportunities across a catchment. Using a grid-based GIS approach, a visual and quantified output is produced for a range of different SuDS and surface water measures, consisting of location, size, storage capacity, practicality and cost. It also calculates available impermeable area within the study area and uses Digital Terrain Models to map drainage paths to estimate the requirements of measures.”