The driveway tweak that could reduce the risk of your home flooding
Gardens are at the forefront of the fight when it comes to adapting cities to a rapidly and dramatically changing climate. Gardens act as green puddles, allowing excess rainwater to escape and helping cities cool during the summer months.
Gardens could provide all these (and other) benefits if they weren’t embodied, and research shows this happens quickly. Around 54% of front gardens in the UK are now covered with concrete, up from 46% in 1991.
As winter storm season approaches, the risk of flooding increases. Urban areas face a double threat from climate change and more intense rainfall due to soil becoming more impermeable due to paving gardens.
At least one in six people in the UK are at risk of flooding as heavy rainfall increases. Insurance claims related to extreme weather conditions are increasing.
A recent report from the Royal Horticultural Society, published on 30 October, highlighted that front gardens in England now comprise 89,000 hectares of paved or concreted area, compared to just 73,500 hectares full of plants.
On a broader scale across Europe, around 25,000 hectares of urban land such as gardens are thought to be enclosed each year through urban expansion and the use of impervious surfaces.
Green spaces in cities (gardens, parks, roadsides and urban woodlands) help prevent cities from flooding. Gardens act as channels to distribute rainwater. In the first place, they capture and slow down rainwater; They act as brakes in case of flash flooding and allow rainwater to find its natural path towards the soil water table and flow into our rivers.
Plant canopies trap and retain rainwater (in the effect of green sponges), and roots redirect surface water to deeper, safer subsurface layers (infiltration).
Plants transport water from their roots to their leaves and release it as vapor; This process works like nature’s water pump and air conditioner, cooling cities during the summer months. This process pumps tons of water back into the atmosphere every day, significantly cooling the city during the summer months. The pumping action is important because it allows the soil to dry quickly; It is necessary before the next storm arrives. Saturated soils cannot retain excess water any more effectively than concrete, so they need time to recover.
About the author
Ross Cameron is Senior Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at the University of Sheffield.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read original article.
That’s why gardens are one of the best defenses to prevent flooding of domestic properties. In residential areas of cities, 55% of precipitation forms runoff (runoff – water that has the potential to enter one’s front door), but in green areas there is only 10% runoff – the rest is absorbed and dispersed by soil and vegetation. Maintaining good vegetation in gardens and leaving the soil open so that rain can infiltrate effectively are important factors in reducing urban flooding.
So why did homeowners decide to install and seal the city’s natural sewers? Converting front gardens into driveways was motivated by the need to find an out-of-the-way place for the family car, as well as a flat surface to place litter bins and, perhaps at least rightly, somewhere that could be more easily kept clean, neat and tidy.
And owning an electric car potentially creates more problems because it means the car has to be closer to home to recharge, resulting in more pavement and concrete near homes.
Plant your driveway
But there’s another way to deal with this: Cars and plants can coexist. Blocks with permeable lattice frames that support the weight of the car can be used to create driveways. These allow plants to grow through gaps.
Alternatively, gravel driveways and paths can allow access and parking while providing opportunities for plants to grow along the edges. Many of the stunning garden designs use piles of gravel and stone to grow colorful plants that also support pollinating insects and birds.
Some gardens are even specifically designed to reduce the risk of flooding and utilize plant species that are more effective at trapping and distributing water. Rain gardens help surface runoff seep into the soil, purifying it in the process. Water is directed from gutters, sidewalks, and roads into these rain garden puddles, where it is given time to percolate into the soil. This is where the activity of soil and plant roots helps trap silt and neutralize pollutants from road surfaces.
Most people want their cars to be parked nearby, but we need to be more creative about how we place these vehicles. Driveways don’t have to be just sterile concrete areas. Permeability, plants and indeed a better sense of place can also be created and help reduce flooding along the way.
